4th of July Cake

Every year for as long as I can remember, my mom has made a flag cake for the 4th of July and my grandma did it every year before that! Being in Texas and away from family was sad because the 4th in Caribou County, Idaho is the best experience ever! But, I wanted to keep the tradition alive! My mom always uses just frosting to make the flag, but I thought I'd switch it up a bit!

I made a strawberry cake (from the box). I was going to use red velvet, but the strawberry sounded better last minute and still gave the red cake effect.

Cream cheese frosting:
1 8oz. fat free cream cheese
1 cup white sugar (you can use powdered for a firmer frosting)
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

In a small bowl:
Beat whipping cream until stiff peaks form and set aside

In a large bowl:
Combine cream cheese, sugar, salt and vanilla. Beat until smooth then fold in whipping cream.

Slice strawberries in half or thirds, depending on size so they'll lay flat and lay out like stripes. Use blueberries for stars (yes, I know the stars are white with a blue background, but you get the idea).

We always laid out a real flag to get the spacing right and make sure we had the stripes and stars in the right places! Enjoy and Happy Fourth of July!

Heather