The 4th of July will be an unusually eventful day in the UK after prime minister Rishi Sunak sprung a surprise by revealing he was calling a general election. But for any American friends you have, there will always be some fireworks on that date.

While Britons work out whether to keep or change the government, our friends stateside will celebrate not actually being ruled by anyone British at all. Independence Day is a big deal, even if the sequel to the film of that name was dreadful, and if anyone loves to be patriotic and put on a big party that is bigger than anyone else’s idea of big, it’s the Americans.

Things were not always so friendly, especially back when independence happened in 1776, but nowadays, what with the ‘special relationship’ and all that, you may want to share the occasion with your UK-based American friends. Considering it’s election year across the pond too, they will also probably fancy a distraction from all that politics. 

The big challenge for a party like this may be coming up with a cake suitable for the occasion. Needless to say, eggless cakes will be a great idea for anyone with dietary restrictions.

A great idea could be to decorate it in the colours of the stars and stripes. Forget all that party political red and blue and go for a bit of patriotism instead.

This could be done with coloured icing, but one great idea, posted on the Dinner then Dessert website, is to use fruit. Use slices of strawberry lined up to create those red strips, then blueberries in one corner with the vanilla-flavoured gaps between them providing the white of the ‘stars’.

This could be combined with all sorts of other traditional American food, of course, such as apple pies, hamburgers and fried chicken. No doubt you can add some themed bunting, music and drinks to create a true American feel. And because the cake will be egg-free, nobody will be left out.

A few fireworks may also be let off, although being July it will get dark late and it is a school night, even if some adults will be staying up late to watch the results start to come in (and some fanatics will be up all night).

Then again, if some folk celebrating have taken the next day off (or can drink a gallon of coffee), it may be the cake can help sustain them through the small hours of swingometers, victory speeches, resignations, and the real contest to see who out of Count Binface and Lord Buckethead can get the most votes.

Your American friends may find all this somewhat amusing, but then we can laugh at a lot of the goings-on over there as well. That’s how it is with two nations once at loggerheads but now ready to have a party together and enjoy some fantastic cakes.

Best of all, while independent nations sit back and enjoy the fact they can hire and fire their leaders, let us also enjoy the fact that Independence Day can also mean being independent of eggs.