Fourth of July has always been one of my favorite celebrations! It is such a fun, nostalgic celebratory day, that holds so many memories. These Patriotic Strawberry Cake Bites fit right into that feeling for the 4th too. They are super fun to eat and great for parties! Plus, of course, they are gluten-free and dairy-free!!
My parents moved to the house they live in now about 20 years ago, and one of the things I loved most about it was the amazing view they have of the annual city fireworks. Their porch overlooks a pond and each year the fireworks go off on the other side of the river, right above the house. Follow me on instagram to see this years festivities at their house!
It is truly the best seat in town!
When I was a kid, my house was always the one everyone went to for the 4th. It was the party that was always a blast and the night ended with a spectacular fireworks!
I have missed only a few 4th’s as an adult and that was when I lived in California.
For the last 4 or 5 years, I have always made some type of patriotic dessert, along with summer cookies (usually smores cookies!). I love to make a pretty white cake with some red and blue colors to make it really pop!
Summer around these parts is always 100 degrees plus, humid, and you always have bugs flying around. Having a large cake is pretty, but it really isn’t optimal. So, I decided this year I would turn my cake into little cake bites that can be eaten really easy, covered easy, and very little mess to clean up!
These patriotic strawberry cake bites are also dairy-free and making them gluten-free is also really simple! All I did was swap out regular AP flour for gluten-free, and smores cookies!
- 1.5 cups flour **
- 1 cup sugar, granulated
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk or your favorite
- 2 large egg whites
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/8 cup coconut oil
- 1 cup white icing anything you love
- blue food coloring
- 1 cup sliced strawberries
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 9x9 circular cake pans, and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the flour (if using gluten-free see notes below), sugar, baking powder, and salt until combined.
- In a separate larger bowl, add the egg whites, oil, extract, and milk and mix on medium with a hand mixer until nice and fluffy (usually about 1 or 2 minutes).
- Add in the dry ingredients in two batches, mixing until just combined after each one. Make sure to not over mix at this point, batter will bake harder due to the egg whites (it will still taste good though).
- Bake about 20 minutes until cakes are just done.
- Allow to completely cool.
- With a circular cookie cutter, cut out round discs from cooled cake. Depending on the size of the disc, you will get about 10 or 12. If you disc is larger, it will make less. You can even do mini sized ones!
- Add the food coloring to white icing, yogurt, or any type of white glaze you enjoy on cake. I always use gel food coloring and added at least 5 drops to get dark blue.
- Mix it up, and leave some white swirls in it. Add to the cake bites, top with strawberries!
If using gluten-free flour, always add in xantham gum. Please read these gluten-free baking tips to see the recommended amount.
I always use homemade vanilla extract in baking, check out this post to see how you can too and always have some on hand!
You can also get fancy and stake them like this! Double or even triple layers can look cute. The possibility is endless!
I do a combination of all types and put them on a pretty platter for serving. You can also add some blueberries for color as well. I like to use strawberries since they are flat and to add a pop of red to them!
I can’t leave you without a chemist tip! So, these cake uses egg whites instead of eggs. For white cakes, I always use egg whites because they will keep the batter white and it really makes the cake light and airy. Perfect summery cake option.
Using regular eggs will work fine, but your cake will be a little bit more dense and thick. The addition of whipped egg whites creates these really nice air pockets, so it almost reminds you of an angel food cake like consistency while still being a regular cake.
And always remember to not OVER mix this batter once you have really whipped up the wet ingredients. You definitely don’t want a gummy, touch cake. It will still taste great, but the texture won’t be soft.
If you want to make this one big cake, you can just pop it into one cake pan and increase the baking time 🙂
What are your plans for the 4th of July?
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Linking with Met Monday and these link parties!
Super cute and festive! And they look DELISH 😀
Green Fashionista
Thanks girl!!! They are really yummy!
Happy Monday! How pretty! These cakes look so light and airy, almost angel food-y. I like them when they are stacked 2 high… maybe with a a pastry/banana cream filling? And they are small enough that I can eat a whole bunch! 🙂
They are very much like angel food cake! So light and fluffy!! They would be great with all types of filling, the possibilities are endless!! Happy Monday 🙂
Love this post! I can envision the 4th at your parents’ home and in my mind it is fab!
Thanks girl!! I really love their house during the 4th, it is just so much fun!!! 🙂
Perfect for 4th July or Memorial Day and of course they look delicious too!
They are definitely a great patriotic treat!!! And they are yummy too 🙂
How cute are these?! So festive!
Thanks Courtney! They are definitely festive and so easy to make!! 🙂
So festive and I like the ingredients you used. I’d love for you to link this on Thursday too at my Party at My Place linkup. It will be perfect for the Fourth of July posts. Appreciate you linking at Tuesday Talk.
Thanks Michelle! I will definitely be linking up with you tomorrow 🙂
These little cakes are SO cute! I could eat so many…
That’s really the only problem…you can’t eat just one!!! 🙂
Alexis- you have done it again!
These are precious and the vivid blue icing is darling.
Thank you for always sharing your wonderful recipes at TOHOT.
You are so sweet Laura, thank you!! These are great for the 4th 🙂
So fun, cute, tasty and perfectly timed too!
Happy Thursday!
Jemma
Thanks Jemma!!
I plan on making these for the 4th!
Oh good, let me know how they turn out!
Sounds delicious and they are so festive too!
Happy Thoughts of Home and thanks so much for joining us each week. We love having your beautiful and smart posts.
Thanks Stacey!!!
These are amazing and great for next weekend. Thank you so much for linking up at Dishing it and Digging it link party. We love having you and so happy I am hosting because I enjoyed stopping by your lovely blog. It was great having you Alexis.
Thanks Vanessa!! I can’t wait to make these for the 4th!! Thanks for the link party 🙂
These look delicious and fun! Thanks for sharing your recipe at Motivation Monday on Mom Home Guide!
Thanks Lauren!! These are so yummy and delicious!!! And easy too 🙂
Looks so yummy and festive! Thank you for linking up at Funtastic Friday!
Thanks Lacie!! They are really yummy!
Yum, these are the perfect patriotic bite! I wanted to let you know I shared them as a feature this week at #FoodieFriDIY! You can check it out here – http://bowl-me-over.com/foodie-fridiy-102-happy-4th-july/ Thanks for linking up & hope to see you again this week, we are live now!
Thank you Debra!! I made sure to link up 🙂 Happy 4th of July!!!