Red and Blue Velvet Cake and Dollar Tree gone cold

My all time favorite cake is red velvet. While in the grocery store line today, I saw a Red ad Blue Velvet cake on the cover of Woman's World Magazine. I thought how unique and cool looking is that for a dessert for the 4th of July. So I knew that some amazing person in blogland would have done this already .... sure enough found this beauty from Liz at Cake or Death.

Red and Blue Velvet Cake

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cocoa powder
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1-1/2 cups buttermilk, room temperature
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 tablespoons red food coloring (or more, depending on your brand)
• 2 tablespoons blue food coloring (or more, depending on your brand)
• 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

One thing I have learned ... you may not have time to make a cake from scratch but always MAKE time to make your frosting!! It tastes soooooooo much better than the can! Plus it really isn't that hard.

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 pound cream cheese, softened
• 2 sticks butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

For the cake:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray two 9" cake pans and line them with parchment.In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In a large mixing bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, vinegar, and vanilla. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined, scraping down the sides several times. Divide the batter in half and gently fold the red food coloring into half, and the blue into the other half. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for about 20 to 22 minutes, turning the pans once, half way through. Test the cakes with a toothpick for doneness. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. Increase the speed to high and mix until light and smooth.

The fondant stars are actually marshmallow fondant that Liz made and the recipe is here.

I went into my usual favorite Dollar Tree today and things were moved around...I was like...what is going on?? To my surprise, they have added a Dairy & Frozen food section. WHAT??? What frozen and dairy food could be a dollar???? ...it must be all no name brands, right??? I was shocked at the stuff that was in the coolers!! Maybe where you live ... you already had this??? I spotted these red, white and blue pops and they reminded me of my childhood Fourth of July holidays. My mom always bought these and watermelon...every 4th of July. Eight for a dollar---good deal!

Then I spotted Italian ice and Icee brand so you know what I'm thinking???? It was a sign for me to do a budget ice cream Fourth of July buffet and share it with my peeps...just in case you wanted to add a little something extra to your 4th festivities!! (on a budget of course)

I will post the budget 4th of July Ice Cream buffet tomorrow.