4th of July Cake

Photo & Recipe Credit to Nicole Kendrick @goldengracekitchen

Ingredients

Wet ingredients 

3/4 cup yogurt 

1/2 cup vegetable oil 

1/2 cup butter (melted and cooled)

1 cup almond milk (room temp)

2 tsp OliveNation Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract

2 tsp OliveNation Madagascar Vanilla Bean Paste 

6 eggs (room temp) 

OliveNation Natural Food Coloring Dark Red

OliveNation Natural Food Coloring Blue

Dry ingredients 

2 3/4 cup GF flour 

2 tbsp corn starch 

2 1/4 cup sugar 

4 tsp baking powder 

1/2 tsp salt 

Toppings

OliveNation 4th of July Mini Stars Candy Quins

Buttercream Ingredients

Two sticks of butter softened

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar sifted

2 teaspoons OliveNation Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract

3 tablespoons heavy cream

Sprinkle of salt

Directions 

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease 3 8 inch cake pans. Combine all dry ingredients in bowl and whisk together. In mixer, place butter and half of the sugar. Mix on medium high until fluffy. Then add the remaining sugar and your oil and mix again until fluffy. Begin adding eggs one by one, mixing after every 2 eggs. Add in your vanilla and vanilla bean paste and mix lightly. Pour in half of your dry ingredients and mix until combined. Then add in your milk and yogurt. Mix until combined. Finally add in the remaining fry ingredients and mix on medium high until all the way combined. This batter will be wet and pudding like. 

Bake on 350 for 23-28 minutes depending on your oven temp and flour used. Toothpick will come out clean when done. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before transferring to a rack. Let cake cool for 1 hour before frosting. 

To color the cake layers I used from OliveNation:

The amount of color will vary depending upon ingredient brands you use. 

For decor, 4th Of July Mini Stars Candy Quins were used.

For Buttercream:

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl and mix with the paddle attachment on medium high for two minutes. Then add the vanilla extract, powdered sugar, salt, and 3 tablespoons of heavy cream. Mix on low until slightly creamy,  then increase the speed to medium high and mix until the desired consistency has been reached. About two minutes. If the frosting is too thick, add another tablespoon of heavy cream to thin it out. To color the frosting, divide the buttercream into bowls and using a rubber spatula mix well with the colors of your choice. To pipe the top of the cake, I used a Wilton 1M piping tip. Make sure to add the edible glitter while the frosting is still wet. To add the stars around the bottom of the cake use either your hands with a rubber glove or a spatula while the frosting is still wet.