Captain America Red, White, & Blue Cake
Updated: Aug 26, 2020
Captain America Red, White, & Blue Cake
This shield cake is the perfect way to pay homage to an Avenger near and dear to my heart, Captain America! The base of the cake is a white wedding cake, so we can say it pays tribute to his happily ever after with Peggy Carter!
This white cake has three layers dyed red, white, and blue, filled with delicious buttercream frosting sprinkled with stars. It’s a perfect treat to celebrate the end of a Captain America movie marathon! Which one is your favorite?
Servings: 12
Prep Time: 4 Hours
Total Time: 7 Hours
Ingredients
White Cake (x3)
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (3 cups total)
6 large egg whites, room temperature (18 total)
1 + 1/4 cup milk, room temperature (3 + 3/4 cups total)
2 + 1/2 teaspoon baking powder (7 + 1/2 teaspoons total)
1/2 teaspoon salt (1 + 1/2 teaspoons total)
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract (3 teaspoons total)
1/4 cup vegetable oil (3/4 cup total)
1 + 3/4 cups granulated sugar (5 + 1/4 cups total)
1 + 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (5 + 1/4 cups total)
Buttercream frosting (x2) + Decorations
1 cup pasteurized egg whites, room temperature (2 cups total)
4 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
6 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon clear vanilla extract
Red, white, & blue sprinkles
48 ounces red fondant
12 ounces white fondant
6 ounces blue fondant
Star cookie cutter
Instructions
Cake: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and line a 10-inch round baking pan with parchment paper. We will be making 3 total 10 inch cakes, so you can prep additional pans if you have them available. When we made this recipe, we did one cake at a time. However, feel free to combine all of the ingredients at once and then divide the cake into three portions. Whatever is easiest for you!
Cake: In a large bowl, beat 1 cup of unsalted butter until fluffy (about 1-2 minutes). Add 1 & ¾ cups of granulated sugar. Beat until creamy and smooth (about 2-4 minutes). Set aside.
Cake: In a medium bowl, whisk together 1 & ¾ cups of all-purpose flour, 2 & ½ teaspoon baking powder, and ½ teaspoon of salt. Set aside.
Cake: In another bowl, whisk together 1 & ¼ cup of milk, ¼ cup vegetable oil, and 1 teaspoon of clear vanilla extract. Set aside. You can use ½ teaspoon of almond extract if you don’t have clear vanilla extract. You can also use regular vanilla extract; the cake just won’t be as white.
Cake: Add the egg whites to the sugar and butter mixture. Beat until well-combined (about 1-2 minutes).
Cake: Alternate the addition of the flour and milk mixture into the sugar, butter, and eggs. Alternating half of each at a time works perfectly. If you are making the white cake layer, put the batter in the prepped 10 inch pan. If you are making the red or blue layer, add the red or blue food coloring and mix until the desired color is achieved. Then place in the 10 inch pan.
Cake: Bake the cake for 25-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out with only a few crumbs. Allow the cakes to completely cool. As mentioned above, if you opted to make the cake layers one at a time, repeat the above steps for each layer of the cake.
Cake: Once the cakes are cool, level the cakes using a cake leveler or a large serrated knife. For the cleanest look, also trim along the sides of the cake.
Frosting: You will need two batches of frosting to cover the cake. We made ours one batch at a time, but you can make them all at once. Whatever is easiest for you. The measurements for doubling the recipe are above, otherwise follow the instructions below twice.
Frosting: In a large bowl, beat ¾ cup of unsalted butter together until creamy (about 2-3 minutes). Add 5 & ½ cups of powdered sugar and beat until smooth.
Frosting: Add 1 tablespoon of clear vanilla extract (or almond or regular extract, whatever you have on hand; though if you use almond extract, only use ¼ tablespoon), ¼ teaspoon of salt, and 6 tablespoons of heavy cream. Beat until smooth.
Frosting: In one batch (or in half of the batch if you’ve opted to make one batch), add in the desired amount of sprinkles. We will use this layer for the inside of the cake, and the clean white layer for the crumb coat.
Assembly: On a round cake base, place a dollop of frosting to root your cake. Place the blue layer down first. Cover the top of the blue cake with the sprinkled frosting. Then add the white cake, and cover with the sprinkle frosting. Lastly, add the red cake.
Assembly: Frost the outside of the three cake layers with a thin crumb coat of the icing. Go back over the crumb coat with a more generous layer of frosting, and smooth over with an icing smoother so that you have clean lines. Set aside.
Decorations: Knead the red fondant together and roll out to 1/8 of an inch. It’s a lot of fondant, so be careful when handling. Once rolled out, roll half of it over the top of the rolling pin and transfer over the top of the cake. Using a fondant smoother, smooth across the top of the cake and pull the fondant down to cover the edges. Cut off any excess. Smooth the sides with a fondant smoother. Save the excess, as we will be using it for the remaining shield.
Decorations: Knead and roll out the white fondant to 1/8 of an inch thickness. Use a 8 inch round cake pan to cut out a circle and place on top of the red fondant on the cake. In the remaining white fondant, cut out several sizes of stars. Set aside.
Decorations: Roll out the excess red fondant again. Using a 6 inch round cake pan, cut out a circle. Place on top of the white fondant on the cake.
Decorations: Roll out the blue fondant to 1/8 of an inch. Find a cup that matches the size of the largest cookie cutter white star you made. Cut out a circle using the cup, and place on top of the red fondant on the cake.
Decorations: Place the largest white star on the top of the blue fondant on the cake. Wet one side of the remaining white stars and scatter along the sides of the cake. We also used large white gum balls for the bottom of the cake, but that’s up to you!
Enjoy!
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