Who Wants a Piece of Our Ombre Independence Day Cake?

Note: This is a very tall cake and takes a little time to assemble and bake. If you want to make it easier, use two boxes cake mix and divide batter into five bowls for five layers. Tint two layers shades of blue, leave one layer white, and tint the other two shades of red. Follow the remaining directions below and use three tubs of frosting to assemble.

Ingredients:

– 3 boxes white cake mix

– 4 tubs of whipped vanilla frosting

– 6 egg whites

– 36 ounces diet Sprite (4 ½ cups)

Special ingredients/equipment:

– Red food coloring

– Blue food coloring

– Strawberry (or any red color) Pop Rocks (!!!!)

– 3 9-inch cake pans

– 3 medium bowls

For the blue layers: Mix one cake mix with 2 egg whites and 1 1/2 cups diet Sprite; divide batter evenly between 3 medium-size bowls. Add a small amount of coloring to one bowl to make the lightest blue layer. Add more coloring to the second bowl and even more to the third bowl to create 3 layers of blue. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a fork placed in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Allow cake layers to cool. Place the darkest blue layer on a cake plate or large plate; cover with a thin layer of frosting.

Repeat with remaining blue layers and then place cake in the refrigerator to chill until the white layers are ready to be assembled.

For the white layers: Mix one cake mix with 2 egg whites and 1 1/2 cups diet Sprite; divide batter evenly between 3 medium-size bowls. Add a very small amount of blue food coloring to one bowl so that the batter is only slightly tinted blue. Repeat the same procedure with another bowl of batter but add a very small amount of red food coloring. Do not tint the last layer. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a fork placed in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Allow cake layers to cool. Place the slightly blue layer on top of the last blue layer assembled. Cover with a thin layer of frosting. Repeat with remaining white layer and then slightly red layer. Place cake in the refrigerator to chill until the red layers are ready to be assembled.

For the red layers: Repeat the procedure for the blue layers but with red food coloring. Bake and assemble according to previous instructions, beginning with the lightest red layer and ending with darkest.

Coat the outside of the cake with a thin layer of frosting and place in the refrigerator to harden for 15 minutes. This is called with “crumb coat” and seals in all of the crumbs from mixing with the final layer of frosting.

Remove cake from the refrigerator. Use the remaining frosting to generously coat the outside of the cake. Decoratively sprinkle Pop Rocks around the edges. Allow cake to chill for at least one hour before cutting.

Still want more frosting? Add another thin layer to the top of your cake and feel free to get creative with swirls and patterns, or perhaps some stars and stripes? ;)

What summer sweets are you cooking up for all your 4th of July festivities? Let us know in the comments below. And if you give this cake a try, we’d love to see photos via Twitter or Facebook. We’ll post the best ones on our blog.