Recipe: Healthy Flag Cake

Summary: adapted from Kraft’s Wave Your Flag Cake

Ingredients

  • 2/3 – 3/4 loaf pound cake
  • 4 c. strawberries, divided (about 1 qt.)
  • 1-1/3 c. blueberries, divided
  • 4 c. Dole’s Berry Blend or other 100% fruit juice
  • 4 tsp. agar powder -OR- 7 Tbsp. agar flakes  (or 2 Tbsp./2 env. unflavored gelatin)
  • 1 pt. heavy cream
  • 4 Tbsp. powdered sugar or mild-flavored honey

Instructions

  1. Slice pound cake 1/2 – 3/4″ thick. Cover the bottom of a 9×13″ baking dish with slices.
  2. Sprinkle agar over fruit juice in a pan and let soak for 15 minutes. Slice 1 cup of strawberries. Simmer agar in juice until dissolved (about 10 minutes for flakes). Let sit until thick, then stir in sliced strawberries and 1 cup of blueberries. Pour over pound cake and let sit until juice is firm.
  3. Whip cream until foamy, add sugar or honey and continue whipping until peaks form. Spread sweetened whipped cream gently over juice.
  4. Place blueberries on top of whipped cream to form the blue field of the American flag. Cut remaining strawberries into halves or quarters (depending on size) and place on whipped cream to form stripes.
TO USE GELATIN instead of agar:  Sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 c. of the juice and let it sit for a few minutes to soften.  Meanwhile, heat the remaining juice.  Stir all together until well-dissolved, then refrigerate to set.
NOTES: If you use the agar, it will set up at room temperature and will not melt in hot summer weather.  (It’s also vegan.)  However, the gelatin is less expensive and easier to come by.

Diet type: Vegetarian

Meal type: dessert