Patriotic Cake

Preheat oven to 350 F. Make sure all your ingredients are room temperature.

In a medium sized bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder and soda and mix. Set aside.

In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, blend butter, sugar and vanilla at medium speed until pale and fluffy.
Add eggs and egg yolks one at a time, scraping the bowl after each addition.

Reduce speed to low and add a cup of flour mixture followed by 1/3 of the buttermilk. Repeat this 3 times, until you have incorporated all the flour and buttermilk.

Separate batter equally into 3 bowls. Add red food coloring into the first bowl and mix (may take a few drops depending on what brand you use). Repeat with blue food coloring in the second bowl. Keep the third bowl white.

Grease two 8 inch cake pans. In the first cake pan, add 1/2 blue batter and spread it around the pan. In the middle of the blue batter add 1/2 of the white batter and spread out a bit, gently. Finally add 1/2 the red batter into the center of the white batter. Repeat with second pan using the rest of the 3 batters.

Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. Remove pans from oven and set on a rack. Cool for 10 minutes then remove cakes from pan and allow to completely cool on a cooling rack.

For the buttercream frosting:

Beat butter and extract in the clean bowl of your stand mixer for 2 minutes. Add powdered sugar, salt and milk or cream. Beat with whisk attachment for 3 minutes on high. Frost cooled cake using your preferred method and decorate as desired.