The name is not something I love about these cakes, but the flavor is something I swoon for every time. Dump a mix of berries into a tray, top it with cake mix and bake with a can of sparkling water over the top. It’s a perfect cake for fourth of July with all it’s vibrant pops of color. I kept my berries separated so you can choose your own adventure! If you’re a raspberry lover, a strawberry lover, or a blueberry lover there’s a scoop for you. This is one of those delicious cakes you can serve anytime of the year as long as there’s a big scoop of ice cream served with it!

I’ve seen cakes like this baked before with sparkling sodas like sprite or root beer or mountain dew even. This cake has a lot of sugar involved in the cake mix, the fruit, and the sugar to need anymore refined sugar from sugary soda. Sparkling seltzer water seemed like a great choice because it has no sugar and an artificial flavor that help form an essence to each bake. The most amazing part of this theory is you can use ANY sparkling seltzer water flavor you’d like. Orange, strawberry, raspberry, lime, lemon, or even plain. The seltzer does help instantly lift the dry cake mix to help it steam the bottom below without being watery at all.

Start by mixing the berries together if you’d like or if you want to go with a more Dom approach keep them in sections for a choose your own adventure.

You should notice the dry cake mix and butter melting to form a streusel crust. Check on your cake halfway through baking for any spots of dry cake mix that haven’t completely baked into the cake as it cooks.. Just add more butter to the top and it will take care of it.

Let the cake cool for at least 15 minutes to help the cake settle. The end result should be this crispy topping with a creamy warm berry filling.

Don’t you dare forget this without ice cream. It tastes like the best berry cobbler and it only takes 10 minutes to prepare.