Sara Kidd

Gluten-Free Vegan Vanilla Cake

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I promise this is truly my BEST cake recipe ever. This gluten-free vegan vanilla cake will not fail you. It’s a no-fail, no sink, no weird flavours, one bowl, gluten-free vegan vanilla cake that is insanely easy to bake. It tastes like a normal vanilla cake. You won’t be able to tell the difference. It’s also a go-to recipe if you’re looking for a Gluten-free vegan sponge cake as it’s really light in texture.

Gluten-free baking can sometimes be a baker’s worst nightmare. We all remember back in the day when gluten-free meant we were about to embark on eating something with the texture and taste of a brick covered in a layer of cinnamon dust – early gluten-free bread gave me nightmares. Thankfully, that good old G-F has come along way and we now have the knowledge and power to create godlike goodness of everyone to enjoy. Here are my top tips to get you started. 

GLUTEN-FREE VEGAN BAKING TIPS

  1. Use extra vanilla when baking. It will help balance out those nutty flavours that appear in gluten-free baking. 
  2. The smaller the better. I always recommend making cakes no larger than 6 to 7 inches or smaller. I find that the smaller the cake, the better the bake. 
  3. Don’t be afraid to under-bake your cake slightly. You want to retain extra moisture in your cake as GF cakes can be a little dry. I usually bake it for 5 minutes less and test it with a skewer. If the skewer still has a few crumbs and a tiny bit of moisture on it, it’s ready to come out of the oven. 
  4. Use 25 percent more raising agents (baking soda or baking powder) if you’re converting a recipe to gluten free.
  5. Do worry about over-mixing your batter even though there is no gluten to overdevelop. It still affects the outcome of your cake. Just mix until just combined.
  6. If you’re finding your GF cake is coming out dry, try using a vegetable shortening as your main fat source, this can add extra moisture.
  7. If you’re converting a recipe to gluten free, experiment with adjusting the temperature of your oven 10C/50F lower. 

WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT GLUTEN-FREE BAKING? CHECK OUT MY LATEST GLUTEN-FREE WORKSHOP.

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You can bake this cake along with me and I also show you how to decorate this cake in a naked cake style.

Gluten-Free Vegan Vanilla Cake
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Never Fail Gluten Free Vegan Vanilla Cake

This gluten-free vegan vanilla cake will not fail you. It’s a no-fail, no sink, no weird flavours, one bowl, gluten-free vegan vanilla cake that is insanely easy to bake. It tastes like a normal vanilla cake. You won’t be able to tell the difference. It’s also a go-to recipe if you’re looking for a Gluten-free vegan sponge cake as it’s really light in texture.
Course Cake
Cuisine Dessert
Keyword vegan cake
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 27 minutes
Total Time 42 minutes
Servings 1 3 layered 6 inch cake
Author Sara Kidd

Ingredients

DRY

  • 1 1/2 cup white rice flour
  • 3/4 cup almond meal (almond flour is even better)
  • 1/2 cup potato starch
  • 3/4 cup white sugar
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt

WET

  • 1 1/2 cup soy milk
  • 1 1/2 tbsp white vinegar
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 tbsp pure vanilla or 1 tsp vanilla bean paste

EGG REPLACER

  • 3 tbsp ground flaxseed meal
  • 7 1/2 tbsp hot water

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 160C/320F.
  • Grease and line three 6-inch cake tins with vegetable oil and baking paper and then dust with a tiny amount of gluten-free flour to coat the cake tin.
  • Make your flaxseed egg by mixing flaxseed and water together and set aside to thicken.
  • In a large mixing bowl sieve flours, starch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar together and give it a quick whisk to combine ingredients.
  • In a large jug, mix vinegar with soy milk until it becomes thick. Then add oil and vanilla and mix together. Add thickened flax egg and stir.
  • Pour liquid into flour bowl and gently fold ingredients together with a whisk until just combined.
  • Pour batter into each cake tin making sure they both have the same amount of batter and tap on the bench to release air bubbles.
  • Place tins into the middle of your oven and bake for 25 minutes or until a skewer poked into the middle comes out almost clean.
  • Allow to sit in the cake tin for 10 minutes before turning onto a cooling rack. Run a knife around the outside of the cake before flipping it onto your cooling rack.
  • Let it completely cool down and ice with your favourite vegan buttercream.

Video

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Comments

  1. I’ve made this cake a couple of times and it’s simple and yummy. I only have one 6 inch tin, so I did 2/3 of the recipe and cooked it slightly longer, it worked beautifully. So wonderful to have a recipe that my whole family can enjoy (I’m vegan, sister is gf, MIL is gf and dairy free).

    Reply

  3. Fabulous recipe! I made this into cupcakes and added raspberries…yum!
    Just wondering, was I meant to add extra water mentioned in step 5…couldn’t spot it in the ingredient list…or is this the water that is in the flax egg? Either way, it was delicious!!!

    Reply

  4. Hi! Thank you for this recipe! Could I use almond milk instead of soy milk? I know that soy milk “curdles” better than almond milk when blended with vinegar, but I need a cake recipe that is both gluten free & soy free.

    Reply

  5. First, let me rave about this fabulous cake! As long as I followed the cup measurements. Mostly I bake following weight measures, but your converter does some strange things when selecting Metric or US Imperial. In metric the volumes for the default single 3 layered 6 inch cakes adds about 25% volume. Selecting US Imperial (being Canadian, I assumed that was the default cup measurements), it now shows to measure flour in fl oz, and I can never get back to the initial cup measurements. Just fyi. And, many thanks for the extra tips.

    Reply

  7. I’m considering using vegetable shortening in place of oil to create more moisture as I felt it was a tad dry. Should I use the same quantity ie 1/3 cup melted vegetable shortening? Also, could you recommend a vegetable shortening to use as I’ve never used it before! Thanks so much

    Reply

  9. 5 stars
    This is a fabulous recipe when you follow the recipe! I accidentally forgot to add sugar, wow, I have never done that before in my cake baking life. Turned out, as you imagine, a savoury cake, which was actually really yummy though, but not what I need. Luckily I was making the cake in advance and can try again tomorrow!

    Reply

  10. Hi Sara,

    I made this recipe but with almond milk and coconut oil. It was really tasty but dry like bread. Not sure if it was the oil or the almond milk or both that made it dry. I don’t have access to vegan shortening. I’d love to make it myself if I knew how.

    Reply

  11. Am not gluten intolerant, but i tried baking this for the birthday of a gluten intolerant friend. She can’t stop thanking me since 🙂
    How did u do the frosting. Any gluten and lactose free frosting recipe plz?

    Reply

    • Hey Amy
      Unfortunately this recipe doesn’t work as cupcakes. I do have a GF cupcake recipe in my recipe book if you have that…
      Sara x

      Reply

  16. I made this recipe and its amazing but would it work if i doubled it for 3 8inch cake for a celebration cake?

    Reply

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