Red, White and Blue Marble Cake

I was pretty excited about how well this turned out! And it really was easy. Oh, and this FROSTING!!! I have absolutely decided that I am the biggest fan of a frosting that has shortening in it. Just trust me.

Feel free to change up the colors to use this for other holidays and school events. This was a lot of fun to make; I hope you’ll go for it!

Cake
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 6 egg whites, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 cups cake flour
• 1 cup whole milk
• Red food coloring
• Blue food coloring

Frosting
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 5 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• Sprinkles

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two (or three) round cake pans with cooking spray.
In a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in egg whites, one at a time, followed by vanilla. Mix until well combined. Mix in salt and baking powder. Add half of the flour, mixing until just combined, followed by half of the milk. Repeat with remaining flour and milk. Mix until just combined and no streaks combined. Divide batter equally between three bowls. Using food coloring, make one bowl blue and the other red. The third bowl remains white. Add small spoonfuls of each colored batter to your cake pans. Scatter colors randomly. When all batter has been used, gently swirl colors with a butter knife. Do not over mix! Bake until cakes are done. Let cool completely.

Ashley Madden Rowton is a wife, mom and published cookbook author who lives in Minden, La.