This red, white, and blue marble cake is moist, festive, and easy to make. A box cake mix provides the marbled effect and then the baked cake is topped with Cool Whip and fresh berries. It is the perfect dessert for patriotic holidays like the 4th of July and preparing this dessert takes very little effort.
When having a patriotic celebration, it’s so much fun to create recipes that stay on theme with the red, white, and blue colors. This marble cake is so simple to make and can feed a crowd depending on how large you cut the squares. I love that you can make the cake base ahead of time and decorate just before serving. It makes party day less hectic and you can free up your oven for your main course.
If you are planning a Fourth of July celebration, you may also like these patriotic cupcakes and my 4th of July poke cake. They both have vivid colors and are a simple and festive treat that can be served to a crowd. 4th of July jello shots, blueberry caprese salad, and a big pitcher of strawberry sangria will round out the desserts and side dishes for your celebration. For frozen treats, serve these red, white, and blue bomb pops – festive and fun for the whole family! Look at this list to find more 4th of July menu ideas.
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🇺🇸 Ingredients:
- box cake mix – we used white which will give you the best effect for a red white and blue cake, but you can also use our white cupcake recipe as your base.
- egg whites – using just the egg whites instead of the yolks keeps the batter as white as possible. If you prefer to just toss in the whole eggs, your base cake color will be slightly more yellow.
- oil – we used vegetable oil, you could also use canola.
- water – adds moisture to the cake.
- Red and blue gel-based food coloring – the gel works better than the liquid.
- Cool Whip or frozen whipped topping – be sure to thaw before using.
- fresh berries – to add to the top of the cake. Strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries are all great options – choose at least one type of berry that’s red and one that’s blue!
For a full list of ingredients and their measurements, 📋 please view my printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Optional Garnish:
We chose to garnish our cake with fresh strawberries, raspberries, fresh blueberries, and blackberries that go nicely with the whipped cream. You could also use patriotic sprinkles across the top.
Substitutions and Variations
- To make a layer cake – divide the batter into three bowls, tinting two of the bowls of batter (but not the white layer), then divide into three round cake pans. Bake and cool according to the instructions. Then add whipped topping between each of the cake layers using a spatula to spread or a piping bag. You may need additional Cool Whip to cover the outside of the cake.
- Frosting – the Cool Whip is nice and light, but you can also use Swiss meringue buttercream or cream cheese buttercream frosting. For more color, you can make blue frosting or red by tinting with the gel food coloring.
- Homemade Cake mix – using a box mix is easiest, but you can also make a white cake from scratch.
- Whipped Cream – make your own whipped cream by whipping 2 cups of cream on medium speed until stiff peaks form. To sweeten, add powdered sugar.
- Sprinkles – if you don’t want to use fruit, red, white, and blue sprinkles are a fun way to jazz it up.
- Marble cake for other holidays – use this same recipe but different colors to make other festive marble cakes. Or make a chocolate and vanilla marble cake using my recipe and video for a great visual on how to swirl the layers together.
🔪 Instructions:
PREP: Grease a 9×13 baking dish using cooking spray and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Step 1: Beat the cake mix, oil, water, and egg whites using an electric mixer in a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Scrap down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Step 2: Divide batter evenly into three separate bowls.
Step 3: Tint one bowl of batter using the red food coloring, then tint the next bowl of batter blue. Leave the white batter by itself and do not add any food coloring.
Step 4: Rotating colors, drop large dollops of batter in the baking dish.
Pro Tip: Do not over swirl the batter or the colors will run together too much and will not look marbled once the cake has baked.
Step 5: Slightly swirl the colors using a knife.
Step 6: Bake for 25-30 minutes. Allow the cake to cool completely.
Step 7:Use an offset spatula to spread the Cool Whip over the top of the cake.
Step 8: Add the berries on top.
SLICE: Slice and serve!
Recipe Tips for Red White and Blue Marble Cake
- If using a stand mixer, the paddle attachment works best for mixing the batter. You do want to beat the cake batter for a couple minutes to add some volume and aid in a nicely risen cake.
- Yellow cake mix would work for this recipe (as far as taste goes), but it doesn’t tint as well as as the white and the colors won’t be vibrant, not to mention we’re going for red, white, and blue – not red, yellow, and blue.
- Gel food coloring works better because you can use less and get a better color. We used Americolor Super Red and Americolor Sky Blue.
- Feel free to use any red, white, and blue fruits to keep this a patriotic dessert. We used strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries. You can also use the fruit to make a flag pattern on top like I did one year on my 4th of July poke cake.
- Avoid over swirling the batter or the colors will become “muddy”.
Fun Fact
Marbled cake actually made it’s debut in Germany and was originally a yellow and chocolate mix. – Cakere
Recipe FAQs
Cover the dish with plastic wrap, or store cake squares in an air tight container.
To freeze, wrap the cooled cake tightly in plastic wrap then in foil. Decorate with whipped topping and berries before serving. While the berries will freeze fine, once they thaw, they’ll likely be runny and leak juices on your cake. Fine for leftover, but maybe not for setting out at your party!
Marble cake gets its name from its appearance, which resembles the pattern found in marble stone. The marbling effect is created by swirling together different-colored batters.
More Fun & Festive Patriotic Recipes
If you tried this Red White and Blue Marble Cake or any other recipe on my website, please please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you liked it in the 📝 comments below.
Red White and Blue Marble Cake
Ingredients
- 1 – package white cake mix
- 3 large egg whites
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup water
- Red and blue gel-based food coloring
- 8 oz. container of Cool Whip or frozen whipped topping thawed
- 3 cups mixed fresh berries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9×13 glass baking dish with nonstick baking spray and set aside.
- Beat together cake mix, egg whites, oil, and water until fully combined.
- Divide the cake batter evenly into three bowls.
- Tint one bowl of cake batter with the red food coloring and one bowl with the blue food coloring. Leave the third bowl white.
- Drop large dollops of the cake batter throughout the prepared baking dish, rotating the colors. Use a knife to swirl the colors slightly – do not over swirl or the colors will become muddy and mixed.
- Bake the cake for 25-30 minutes, until the cake is set and a toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs when poked in the center.
- Allow the cake to cool completely.
- Top the cake with the thawed Cool Whip and spread evenly.
- Sprinkle berries over the top of the cake.
- Slice and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
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