Summer is finally here and I couldn’t be more thrilled! It truly is my favorite time of year. Not only are the skies bright and the weather warm, but the fruit is outstanding. So many delicious fruits are in season during summer, but hands-down my favorite has to be cherries. Cherries and summer always go together in my mind, and that’s why I think cherry desserts are so perfect for July 4th. This cherry vanilla cake will make a real splash at your cookout. Whether you’re hosting or just bringing dessert, everyone will love you for it.
The cake itself is a moist vanilla butter cake, spiked with dark-sweet cherries and accented with a little almond extract. For the frosting, you can use whatever you like best. My favorite is this Swiss meringue buttercream, because of the silky texture and lightly sweet taste. But really anything would work; it’s more about the cool swirl effect than anything else.
To add some fireworks to the cherry vanilla cake, make some red, white and blue swirl frosting. Just divide your frosting into three separate bowls, one big and two smaller. Place the white frosting in the larger bowl, tint one of the smaller bowls of frosting red, and the other blue. (For a true-blue, similar to what’s on the American flag, use a combination of royal blue and violet gel food coloring.) Frost the whole top of the sheet cake with white, then drop a few dollops of the colored frosting on the cake and swirl around until you’re happy with the look. Finish with a sprinkling of edible star glitter for a festive look that’s just perfect for the holiday!