Ina Garten flag cake from Barefoot Contessa tops a buttery sour cream sheet cake with cream cheese icing and rows of fresh berries shaped into a flag. And at approximately 715 calories per serving for about 20 slices, the bake itself takes only 20 to 30 minutes at 350°F.
Where most flag cakes use a basic white cake or box mix, Ina adds sour cream and cornstarch to the batter. So the crumb bakes denser and more tender, which supports the heavy cream cheese icing without collapsing under the weight.
Cooling the cake completely before icing is the step that separates a clean flag from a melted mess. Since warm cake softens the butter-heavy frosting on contact, the piped white stripes lose their shape and the berries slide out of line.
Source: Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa), verified from source content
Ina Garten Flag Cake Recipe
Course: Desserts4
servings30
minutes40
minutes300
kcalCreamed butter, sugar, eggs, and sour cream mix with sifted flour and cornstarch before baking in an 18×13 sheet pan at 350°F. Then a thick cream cheese icing spreads across the top, and blueberries fill one corner while alternating rows of raspberries and piped icing form the stripes.
Ingredients
- For the cake:
18 tablespoons (2 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 cups sugar
6 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup sour cream, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
- For the icing:
1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 pounds cream cheese, at room temperature
1 pound confectioners sugar, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- For assembly:
2 half-pints blueberries
3 half-pints raspberries
Directions
- Preheat the oven: Heat to 350°F and butter and flour an 18x13x1 inch sheet pan.
- Cream the butter and sugar: Then beat them in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment on medium for 3 minutes until light and fluffy.
- Add the wet ingredients: Once fluffy, add the eggs 2 at a time on medium-low, then mix in the sour cream and vanilla.
- Scrape and smooth: After mixing, scrape down the sides and stir until smooth.
- Sift the dry ingredients: Then sift the flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking soda together in a separate bowl.
- Combine the batter: With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture and mix until just combined.
- Pour and bake: Then stir the batter with a spatula, pour into the pan, smooth the top, and bake 20 to 30 minutes.
- Check for doneness: Once a toothpick comes out clean, remove the pan and cool completely to room temperature.
- Make the icing: While the cake cools, beat the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla on medium speed until very smooth.
- Add the sugar: Then add the sifted confectioners sugar on low and stir with a spatula to make sure it is well mixed.
- Ice the cake: Once the cake is cool, spread three quarters of the icing evenly across the top.
- Outline the flag: Then use a toothpick to lightly trace the flag design onto the icing.
- Add the blueberries: Once outlined, fill in the upper left corner with blueberries for the blue field.
- Start the stripes: Then place 2 rows of raspberries across the top of the cake for the first red stripes.
- Pipe the white stripes: Put the remaining icing in a pastry bag with a star tip and pipe 2 rows of white below the raspberries.
- Complete the flag: Then alternate 2 rows of raspberries and 2 rows of piped icing until the flag is finished.
- Finish the blue field: Once all stripes are done, pipe icing stars on top of the blueberries.
FAQs
Can I use a smaller pan if I do not have an 18×13?
The 18×13 sheet pan gives the cake a thin, even layer that supports the flag proportions correctly. And a standard 9×13 pan holds only about half the batter, so you would need to split the recipe and bake two layers.
But a half sheet pan at 18×13 is the same size most bakeries use, and they are sold at restaurant supply stores for a few dollars. Since Ina designed the flag layout for this exact shape, changing dimensions throws off the stripe spacing.
Why does the recipe call for room temperature ingredients?
Cold butter does not cream properly with sugar, so the batter stays dense instead of light and fluffy. And cold eggs can curdle when they hit the creamed butter, which breaks the emulsion and makes the cake grainy.
Ina even notes to add a teaspoon of warm water if the butter is too cool during creaming. So pull the butter, eggs, sour cream, and cream cheese out at least an hour before starting, since that one step affects every texture in the finished cake.
How far ahead can I make the flag cake?
Bake the cake a day ahead and store it covered at room temperature, because the sour cream keeps the crumb moist overnight. But ice and decorate on the day you serve it, since the berries release juice within 6 to 8 hours on the frosting.
And if you must assemble the night before, blot each berry dry with a paper towel before placing it. Since surface moisture is what bleeds color into the white icing, dry berries hold the flag pattern longer.
Can I pipe all the icing instead of spreading it?
Ina spreads three quarters of the icing as a base coat and only pipes the remaining quarter for the white stripes. And that thick base layer gives the berries something to press into, which keeps the rows straight.
But if you pipe the entire surface, the ridged texture makes it harder to place blueberries evenly in the corner. So stick with the spread-then-pipe method, since the smooth base holds the flag layout much more cleanly than an all-piped surface.
What can I substitute for raspberries or blueberries?
Sliced strawberries work for the red stripes, though their flat shape sits differently than round raspberries. And since strawberries release more juice than raspberries, slice them right before assembly so the cut surfaces stay dry.
But the blueberries are harder to replace, because their small round shape is what fills the blue corner evenly. And dried fruit or candy does not have the same fresh look, so if blueberries are out of season, frozen ones thawed and patted dry are a closer match than any other swap.
