4th of July Cake

Step 1For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 17-by-12 1/2-inch sheet cake pan. (Note: this recipe may be halved for a smaller pan, as this recipe feeds an army.)

Step 2In a bowl with a mixer, mix the butter and sugar together on high speed until light and fluffy, about a minute or so. Add the eggs, 2 at a time. Mix after each addition. Add the sour cream and vanilla.

Step 3In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cornstarch, kosher salt and baking soda. Turn the mixer to low and gradually add the flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture, one scoop at a time. Mix after every addition. Keep adding the flour mixture until just combined. Do not over mix!

Step 4Pour the thick cake batter into the prepared pan. (It's much thicker than regular cake batters.) With a knife or offset spatula, spread the cake batter evenly over the pan.

Step 5Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, 20 to 30 minutes. I baked mine for exactly 20 minutes, so you probably want to start checking then.

Step 6For the the cream cheese icing: Add the cream cheese and butter to the bowl of a mixer. Whip to combine. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Mix until thoroughly combined, scraping the sides once during mixing.

Step 7Put about half of the frosting on the cake. Mark off the area of the stars with a toothpick. (No need to be proportionately accurate; just guesstimate.) Prepare a pastry bag with a large star tip and fill up to 2/3 with icing. Fold down both corners to keep icing from splurging out the top.

Step 8Grip the folded-down end tightly under your fingertips and start squeezing two lines of frosting at the bottom of the cake. Make two rows of raspberries on the cake, then add another two lines of frosting.

Step 9Keep repeating: 2 lines of frosting, 2 lines of raspberries, 2 lines of frosting, etc.

Step 10Fill the square in the corner with a nice layer of blueberries. With the star tip, squeeze little dollops of frosting all over the blueberries to look like stars.