My birthday is this week which means the people at work expect me to bring in treats.   This year I decided to bring something on the day after Independence Day.  A flag cake with fruit would be perfect!

Little Chick went with Mama yesterday to the local pick-your-own strawberry patch.  This was her idea of “helping”:

I did manage to keep ahead of her in picking so she didn’t eat them all before we came home, but it was slim pickins this year!  I’m not sure if their patches were hit hard by other pickers scrambling to finally be able to pick?  The berries we have are juicy and sweet, but they are small.  And I only got about 1/2 a flat in the hour we spent picking.   Hopefully enough to make a small batch of jam this year.

Small berries meant my flag cake wasn’t as neat and tidy looking as I’d hoped – I was having to slice lots of little strawberries instead of nice big, plump ones.  As you can see there are also blueberries and a few raspberries on the cake to give it some added flavor.

The recipe for the cake is one I won’t print here as I didn’t change anything.  You can find it at Life as a Lofthouse under the title White Texas Sheet Cake.   It’s a nice cake for this – firm yet not dry.  Almost like a pound cake.  The recipe itself reminded me of the Hot Milk Cake recipe we like so much where you’re adding boiling water (or milk) to the batter to get it the right consistency.

The frosting is one I experimented with as I wanted something light and fluffy.  It turned out awesome!  Not overly sweet but just the right touch for unsweetened berries.  We are definitely keeping this recipe to make again.  There was just enough frosting to give a nice 1/8″ layer across the whole of this cake.

Fabulous 4th Frosting

8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
4 Tbsp butter, softened
1/3 cup powdered sugar
7 oz jar marshmallow cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 pint whipping cream

In a large bowl, mix the cream cheese and butter until thoroughly combined.  Add the powdered sugar.  Blend in the marshmallow cream and vanilla extract.

In a medium-sized bowl, whip the cream until stiff peaks form.  Gently fold half of the whipped cream mixture into the cream cheese mixture.  Add the rest of the whipping cream and gently fold until completely combined.

Spread over a cooled cake.  Keep refrigerated.