Ina Garten has shared how to make her famous flag cake for Memorial Day.
On 23 May, the Be My Guest with Ina Garten host shared the recipe for her beloved berry-clad flag cake recipe on Instagram in honor of Memorial Day. In the caption, she wrote: “Memorial Day is not just a day off from work; it’s a time to remember all the people that sacrificed their lives serving our country. Isn’t a flag cake a great way to honor them?”
She continued: “It’s big and dramatic and you can give everyone a piece to take home!”
In a time-lapse video, the Barefoot Contessa star walked viewers through the decorating aspect of the recipe, showing them how to decorate the cake. The full recipe - from her 2002 cookbook Barefoot Contessa Family Style and found on her website - is a vanilla sour cream sheet pan cake frosted with cream cheese buttercream on top. What makes this cake patriotic is the flag designed with blueberries, raspberries, and piped frosting.
Garten has been rolling out old recipes as she prepares to promote her upcoming memoir Be Ready When the Luck Happens, set to hit shelves on 1 October. In an interview with People, Garten noted that she never thought she’d write a memoir, nor did she think people would be interested in her life story.
“I just didn’t think anybody would find my life that interesting,” she said, noting that her friend and book collaborator Deborah Davis convinced her otherwise four years ago.
“She said: ‘Somebody’s going to write your memoir and it should be you,’” she recounted. “I thought: ‘Oh, my God, she’s right.’”
In the past four years, the two friends have been hard at work writing about Garten’s life, including never heard before details about her “difficult childhood,” according to a press release. The memoir will also include an insight into her love story with her longtime husband Jeffrey Garten.
“Jeffrey used to write letters to me when we first met, when I was in high school. And then through college. And then when he was in the military, he would write to me almost every day,” Garten revealed. “And I kept all those letters.”
The press release noted that Garten’s memoir would be a “no-holds-barred” reflection on her life.
“In her unmistakable voice (no one tells a story like Ina), she brings her past and her process to life in a high-spirited and no-holds-barred memoir that chronicles decades of personal challenges, adventures (and misadventures) and unexpected career twists, all delivered with her signature combination of playfulness and purpose.”
Be Ready When the Luck Happens will be released on October 1, with the e-book and audiobook being read by Garten herself.
