Easy red, white, and blue marble bundt cake recipe! This moist vanilla bundt cake makes a perfect 4th of July dessert!
I’ve been making homemade marble cake for years. I’ve tried lots of ways to get the swirls just right, but several years ago I started making swirl cakes with this technique, and I’ve never looked back!
This red, white, and blue marble cake looks like it’s much more complicated than it is. It’s actually just a sweet vanilla cake batter that’s dyed and then layered. Easy peasy!
And you end up with a vanilla bundt cake that reminds me of a cross between a butter layer cake and a pound cake. It’s great served as-is, dusted with powdered sugar, or with a dollop of whipped cream on top.
Ingredient notes and substitutions
- Cake flour: Cake flour helps to make this cake tender. To make a cake flour substitute, you can use this recipe.
- Buttermilk: You can use regular or low-fat buttermilk in this recipe. If you would like to make a substitute, you can use this recipe.
- Food coloring: I used a 0.25 ounce bottle of liquid red food coloring and half of a 0.25 ounce bottle of blue food coloring. Depending on the type of food coloring you use, you may find that you need to use more or less to achieve your desired colors. If you want deeper color but don’t want to use a lot of food coloring, try gel food coloring.
How to make red, white, and blue marble cake
Step 1: Grease and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan. Set aside. Be sure to grease the pan well to keep the cake from sticking.
Step 2: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or with an electric mixer), beat together butter and sugar until well-combined.
Step 3: Add eggs and egg whites one at time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in vanilla until combined.
Step 4: Mix in buttermilk until well-combined.
Step 5: Add cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir in on low just until incorporated.
Step 6: For the red swirl, scoop out 1 ½ cups of the batter and place it into a separate bowl. For the blue swirl, scoop out an additional 1 ½ cups of batter and place it into a third bowl.
Step 7: Mix in the red food coloring into plain batter that you scooped out. Mix the blue food coloring into the other bowl of plain batter that you scooped out
Step 8: Using a 1/4-cup measuring cup, drop one scoop of plain batter into prepared bundt pan.
Step 9: Using a separate scoop, drop 1/4 cup of red batter on top of plain batter.
Step 10: Using a third scoop, drop 1/4 cup of blue batter on top of the red batter.
Step 11: Continue to alternate between plain and colored batters until all three batters are gone Give the pan a couple of taps to level out the batter, if necessary. Do not stir.
Step 12: Bake until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool cake in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes.
Recipe Tips!
- Whiter batter: For slightly whiter batter, use clear vanilla extract instead of real vanilla extract.
- Greasing the pan: I use a baking spray with flour in it to coat the bundt pan. You can also grease and flour the pan or use pan release. Either way, generously grease the pan to keep the cake from sticking.
- If you’d like to make mini bundt cakes instead of a regular bundt cake, this cake will make 12 1-cup bundt cakes. Reduce the baking time to about 20-25 minutes.
Storage
Store any leftover cake in an airtight container at room temperature. The cake will keep for up to 4 days when properly stored.
More red, white, and blue recipes!
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Red, White, and Blue Marble Cake
Equipment
- Bundt Pan
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter at room temperature
- 2 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 4 large egg whites at room temperature
- 1 cup buttermilk1 at room temperature
- 3 cups cake flour2
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Red food coloring3
- Blue food coloring
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or with an electric mixer), beat together butter and sugar until well-combined.
- Add eggs and egg whites one at time, mixing well after each addition.
- Stir in vanilla until combined.
- Mix in buttermilk until well-combined.
- Add cake flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Stir in on low just until incorporated.
- For the red swirl, scoop out 1 ½ cups of the batter and place it into a separate bowl.
- For the blue swirl, scoop out an additional 1 ½ cups of batter and place it into a third bowl.
- Mix in the red food coloring into plain batter that you scooped out.
- Mix the blue food coloring into the other bowl of plain batter that you scooped out.
- Using a 1/4-cup measuring cup, drop one scoop of plain batter into prepared bundt pan.
- Using a separate scoop, drop 1/4 cup of red batter on top of plain batter.
- Using a third scoop, drop 1/4 cup of blue batter on top of the red batter.
- Continue to alternate between plain and colored batters until all three batters are gone.
- Give the pan a couple of taps to level out the batter, if necessary. Do not stir.
- Bake for 50-70 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Cool cake in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes.
- Invert the cake onto wire rack, and cool completely.
Video
Notes
- Regular or low-fat ok. You can make your own buttermilk substitute with this recipe.
- It’s best to use cake flour. However, you can make your own cake flour substitute with this recipe.
- I used a 0.25 ounce bottle of liquid red food coloring and half of a 0.25 ounce bottle of blue food coloring. Depending on the type of food coloring you use, you may find that you need to use more or less to achieve your desired colors.
- Nutrition values are estimates.
Nutrition
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Reader Interactions
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Comments & Reviews
Lana says
Made this last 4th July & it was hit!
I am baking this again this year on the 4th just to have as a dessert over the weekend 😋
Kate Dean says
Thanks! I’m glad you liked the cake!
Renee says
Made for my husband to take to work on July 4th! The marbling looks perfect, and everyone is obsessed. It is light, moist, and delicious. Can’t wait to adjust the colors and make again for other holidays!
Kate Dean says
Thank you! I’m glad that the cake turned out well for you!
Jane says
Cake was absolutely delicious!
Kate Dean says
Thank you!
Mary Ann Klug says
I made the red , white and blue marble cake. It turned out purple with no marbling. What did I do wrong?
Kate says
It sounds like the colors mixed together. Did you swirl the batter?
Peggy says
Can this marbling look be achieved if I want to make round layer cakes?
Kate says
Hi! I’ve used this technique to marble bundt cakes and loaf cakes, so I would guess that it would also work for round pans.
Dewanna Raite says
I made this but my blue and red were pastel. How did you get the colors so vibrant? It did taste good
Kate says
What type of dye did you use? Gel food dyes will almost always give you the brightest colors. Also, with regular food dye, you may have to add more to get brighter colors.
Sharon says
It was delicious! Everyone enjoyed it!! So pretty with the red, white and blue!! Happy 4th of July!!
Kate says
Thank you! Happy 4th of July to you!
Cheryle says
I made this yesterday with my little granddaughter for our family party and it was a huge hit! The cake turned out beautiful even though I now need to get a wood floor cleaning to get the red and blue out (toddlers are sooo sneaky haha). Thank you so much for sharing!!
Kate says
I’m glad that it was a hit!
Debbie says
Hello, I made this cake tonight, did the white, red, blue layers, and I don’t know why but it looks like it’s red and green marble! Maybe the white wasn’t pure white but slightly yellow, so mixed with blue I got green! I’ll see when I cut it! So it’ll be my Italian version! Did this happen to anyone else?
Kate says
Hi! How did it turn out? I don’t know that it has, but I’m happy to help you troubleshoot if you’re interested.
Debbie says
Even though it appeared to look green on the outside, once cut, the inside was perfectly red, white and blue! It turned out amazing! I decided to glaze it with blue and patriotic sprinkles.
Debbie says
Although I made it as written in the past, I’m short on time this year, do you think using a white box cake mix as the base could work as well?
Kate Dean says
Yes, you could use the same marbling technique with a white box cake mix, and that should work just fine.
Candi says
Happy 4th!!!! Follow the recipe and you won’t be disappointed!!!
Kate says
Thank you!
Carrie says
In your video for the recipe you show 4 sticks of butter (1#) going in the bowl but in the recipe you show 1c (2 sticks), can you please clarify which is the proper amount for the recipe?
Kate says
Hi! Sorry for the confusion! The sticks of butter were cut in half to better fit on the plate. The recipe is correct as-written.
Rose says
Just made this and it was delicious! The cake was so moist, will definitely make it again!
Kate says
Thank you so much!!
Sheila says
My kids love this cake. They think it’s the prettiest cake they’ve helped make.
Sarah says
Just made a test cake for our July 4th get-together and the cake came out perfect. It is moist, delicious and has a great red, white and blue marbling. Thank you!
Kate says
Thank you for commenting! I’m so glad that it turned out well!
Lisa says
Hi Kate, do you have a recommendation for a different flavor extract for this recipe? Thank you.
Kate says
Hi! The cake is a butter cake, so you could use just about any flavor of extract with it. Almond extract is nice. You could also flavor an individual batter. For example, you could use a strawberry flavor with the red batter.
Jen says
Oh no, Kate! I hope it wasn’t this virus! Whatever it was, I hope you’re feeling better. We missed you and your delicious recipes! Your posts are like a ray of sunshine that we can all use right now. This cake looks beautiful! Thank you for sharing.
Kate says
Thank you so much!! No, I happened to have something else happen. I really appreciate your kind words!! I can’t tell you how much that means to hear!!
Barbara says
So glad to see you posting again. Was worried about you and your family during these crazy times.
Kate says
Thank you so much!! I was sick for about two months, and I’m grateful to be able to be posting again! =)