Current Mood: Cue the Sparklers.

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June is almost over already? Julyin! Usually, I’m making a birthday cake for my husband this weekend since he’s an end of June baby, but he decided (read: work made him) he’d rather go hang out in the Southern Hemisphere for his birthday, so I was left with no birthday to bake for…except for America’s! It’s been a few years since I’ve busted out the red, white, and blue luster dust, and well, since I have an absolute sprinkle addiction and was probably a sparkler in a previous life, I knew it was time to shine….

I do hate when the hubs has to be away for work, but I try to look for the silver linings: I can binge watch six seasons of The Great British Bake Off in two days, I can go to bed at 8 p.m., and I can make and eat so, SO much chocolate cake (he’s not a fan). So this red, white, and blue cake painted with luster dust fireworks on top is quite literally the fudgiest chocolate cake of all time. And I don’t even have to share…so it’s a good thing each slice is only 281 calories a *pop.* It’s more like the Fork of July in my house…I realize it’s still June, but when you’re content creating for Instagram and Pinterest, you live life several delicious weeks in advance.

To make a fudgy cake that anyone who hates chocolate would never dare go near you need:

• 1 box of King Arthur’s gluten free chocolate cake mix (or regular chocolate ke mix if not gluten free)
• 4 eggs
• 152 grams (2/3 cup) fat free Greek yogurt (this is what makes the fudge factor)
• 1 1/3 cup skim or fat free milk

Preheat your oven to 350 and prepare three 6-inch round cake pans with cooking spray and bake even strips. Add all eggs, yogurt, and milk into a stand mixer, whisking on low for one minute before switching to the paddle attachment and adding the cake mix. Blend on medium high for two minutes. Pour batter evenly into each pan and bake for 35-40 minutes. A toothpick should come out of the center of the cake with a few crumbs. Let rest in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out to cool completely on a cooling rack before frosting.

I went with my usual yogurt cream cheese frosting to save on calories, but a traditional American Buttercream would be perfect (and, well, patriotic) with this chocolate cake. To make the yogurt cream cheese frosting, you need:

• 225 grams (8 ounces) of 1/3 the fat cream cheese, softened
• 226 grams (1 cup) of fat free Greek yogurt, strained overnight to remove moisture
• 16 ounces (4 cups) Lakanto powdered monkfruit or regular powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp citric acid (helps balance out the sweetness)
• 1-2 TBS milk
• Red and navy gel dyes
• Silver or gold star sprinkles
• Red, white or silver, and bright blue luster dust
• Food safe paint brushes

Whip the cream cheese and yogurt with a paddle attachment in your stand mixer until fluffy, about three minutes. Add in half the monkfruit, citric acid, one tablespoon of milk, and the extract. Blend well, then scrape the bowl before adding the remaining monkfruit and one more tablespoon of milk. To assemble, you just need to slather a layer of buttercream on top of a cooled cake layer, then add another layer (I always place them face down so the smooth surface on the bottom of the cake is now on top), then place the final layer on top. Smooth out any excess that pops out of the sides.

Now, divide your remaining frosting. Put a third of the plain white frosting into a piping bag and set aside. Split the remaining frosting into two bowls; dye one red and the other navy. Place each into their own piping bags as well; no tips needed. I wanted the top of the cake to be a dark night sky, so I started on the bottom of my cake with the bag filled with red frosting. I snipped the tip and drew red circles around the cake up to the end of the first layer of cake.

Now, I realize this looks like a disaster, but I promise things will get cleaned up. Take the white frosting bag, and draw circles around the middle layer of the cake.

Take the navy bag of frosting, and pipe around the top layer and on the top of the actual cake. You will want to make sure your cake is on a turn table at this point if it isn’t already. Grab your bench scraper, plastic scraper, any device that can make big, clean passes around the cake.

Simply make a pass around the cake with the scraper pressed closely to the side while turning the cake table. Once you’ve gone fully around the cake once, stop, and clean off your scraper. Make another pass, clean off the scraper again, and continue this process until you’ve smoothed out your frosting and your three color layers have come together. There will be a little bleeding onto the white, but it gives off a ~vintage vibe~ that our Founding Fathers would have probably been super into, so it’s all good. Now, place your cake in the freezer for 45-60 minutes. Once the frosting has firmed up a little, you can come in with a Viva paper towel pressed gently on the sides of the cake and use your hand to smooth any weird bumps. Repeat with a new towel each time you need to do this so more color doesn’t transfer. You can also do this on the top of the cake.

To paint the fireworks, you need to take 1/2 a teaspoon of luster in a small bowl (I have these little sauce-sized containers that were perfect), and then mix in 1/2 a teaspoon of clear vanilla extract; the mixture should be thick like syrup, so add more luster if needed. You can use any clear extract, really, just make sure the flavor compliments the frosting and cake. You can also use vodka (it evaporates), but in what I will now refer to as The Great Mystery of 2023, we somehow have not a drop of vodka to be found anywhere in this house, and I swear, I had nothing to do with it.

To make the fireworks, just take a clean paintbrush, dip it into one color of luster mix, and dot little explosions on the cake top. Then come in with another paintbrush dipped into another color of luster mix, and accent with little dots between the original color. I will say my paintbrushes were nowhere near small enough, so the top of the cake is kind of a “We accidentally set off all the fireworks at once,” explosion and not a “Oohhh, ahhhh,” experience. I finished off with a dusting of silver star sprinkles.

It is perfect? No. Is it cake? Yes. So you better believe it’s getting eaten.

Look, this cake lights up my life. It took all of 30 minutes to go from blank canvas to completely decorated minus the time it needs to chill in the freezer. It would make any and all sparklers look foolish at your 4th of July backyard BBQs. It’s heavenly chocolate fudge and tangy cream cheese frosting. It’s so decadent and sweet, the Brits would totally hate it, so essentially, it’s the perfect cake to celebrate the most American of holidays. Bonus- if you’re busy eating this cake, there’s way less of a chance of losing a digit to firework accidents…unless you’re trying to steal the last bite from someone else’s plate, then you’re 100% bound to be spending time in the ER due to fork-related hand injuries. ‘Til next time, my fellow eaters!

Recipe & Instructions