Gluten Free Vanilla Cake Recipe

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Gluten-Free Vanilla Cake is the perfect recipe for a layer cake or any other cake that you want to hold its shape well. Whether you need a gluten-free cake for a child's birthday party, a baby shower, an anniversary, or any other special occasion, this is the one! The cake is moist, light, and neutral - a great base for fancy frostings or whatever decorations you might want to add. And - it tastes great!

round white layer cake decorated with red and blueberries.

I like mine with fresh berries, a minimally sweetened filling, and topped off with freshly whipped pure cream or my cream cheese frosting.

Gluten-Free Vanilla Cake Ingredients

ingredients for gluten free vanilla cake in small bowls with labels

Cathy's Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour: While you can still make this cake with the four different flours and xanthan gum as listed, I have since developed a flour mix that works well in this recipe. By mixing up one big batch and keeping it on hand, you save yourself a lot of time and effort each time you want to make cake or cookies. Use 2½ cups (400 g) for this recipe.
Potato Starch: This is different from potato flour. Don't mix them up!
Tapioca Flour: On the other hand, this is the same as tapioca starch, so they are interchangeable.
Raw Cane Sugar: This acts a lot like refined sugar in a recipe, but is less refined!
Baking Powder: Use gluten-free baking powder to make the recipe truly gluten-free.
Butter: Allow your butter to come to room temperature so it will whip nicely.
Milk: I have successfully made this cake with coconut milk, almond milk, and regular dairy milk.

See the recipe card below for exact quantities.

Instructions

Whisk the dry ingredients together.

beaten eggs in mixing bowl with paddle mixer.

2. Cream butter and sugar; add eggs.

3. Combine the milk, oil, and vanilla. Whisk them together in a 2-cup measuring cup.

creamy, moist, beaten batter in mixing bowl.

4. Add the dry mixture in 3 parts and the liquid, alternately in 2 parts, to the butter and egg mixture and blend.

raw batter smoothed into two round cake pans.

5. Smooth the batter into pans that have been lined with parchment on the bottom.

6. Bake the cake layers in a preheated oven and cool on wire racks.

Assembly

Place one cake layer on a platter, rounded top side down. Spread a filling over it. Jam makes a great filling between cake layers. I like a strawberry chia jam that isn't too sweet.

strawberry jam spread over a single layer of vanilla cake on a pedestal plate

Set the second layer on top of the first, with its flat bottom side down. I spread the jam over the top layer, too, before adding whipped cream. Then I spread whipped cream over that, topping it with fresh, seasonal berries.

Strawberry chia jam between the layers makes it even better the second day!

If you'd like to keep things even simpler, use whipped cream for the filling and frosting.

Recipe Tips and FAQ's

What is the best gluten-free flour for baking cakes?

This is a question that people often ask. My answer is always that there isn't one gluten-free flour that you can simply substitute for wheat flour. Good gluten-free baking requires a blend of flours. The specific blend you use depends on what you are making. Use the flours or blend that have been tested in the recipe you are following. Read more about that in Gluten Free Flours.

How do you grease a pan for a gluten-free cake?

A little tip that I like to use for greasing gluten-free cake pans actually works well for any kind of cake. I grease the sides of the pan with butter or lard residue that remains on the wrapper before discarding it. Then I simply trace the bottom of my cake pan onto parchment paper, cut out the shape, and press it into the bottom of the pan.

These recipes are useful for building out this basic cake.

I've made some improvements to this recipe since it was first published. It's just getting better all the time!

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