Easy Delicious Vanilla Cake for the 4th

My very favorite 4th of July cake is a good white sheet cake covered with whipped cream and decorated like the flag with horizontal stripes of strawberries or raspberries and a top left corner filled with blueberries. There's nothing more delicious or summerlike than fresh whipped cream, berries, and a good light textured cake like this one contributed by Alice Waters in the Magical Melting Pot cookbook. It's fun to decorate and very festive!  Enjoy!

1-2-3-4 Cake
(makes a 9 x 13" layer or two 8 or 9" circles)

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks) at room temperature
2 cups sugar
3 cups cake flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk
1 pint (2 cups) cold heavy/whipping cream
Fresh strawberries or raspberries and blueberries, rinsed & drained

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Grease & flour the cake pans.

3. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar.

4.  Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.

5. Separate the eggs, letting the whites fall into a medium size bowl. Add the yolks to the sugar & butter. Beat in the yolks to incorporate well. Add the vanilla extract.

6.  Add half the flour to the butter mixture & lightly stir.  Add half the milk & stir.  Then add the remaining flour, followed by the remaining milk.

7.  Beat the egg whites with a wire whisk or electric mixture until they're fluffy and hold a soft peak shape when you lift the whisk.

8.  Gently fold a small amount of the egg whites into the batter to lighten it. Then add the rest of the egg whites, gently lifting up batter from the bottom and folding it over the whites. Fold several times, just until the egg whites are mixed in.

9. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared cake pans. Bake approximately 25 minutes, or until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Remove from the oven and cool on a rack. You can keep the cake in the pan and decorate it, or very carefully place a knife around the edges to loosen it and invert the cake onto a large serving tray.

10.  Whip the cream until soft peaks form. Spread the whipped cream over and around the sides of the cake. Decorate with berries to look like the American flag.