I really think that you could serve this to any group of people, gluten free or not, and no one will ever guess that it's a gluten free cake.
Every layer bakes up fluffy, with a perfectly flat top, a light and tender crumb, and a gorgeous vanilla flavor. No weird after taste. No dense or grainy consistency. Just a perfectly delicious vanilla cake that can easily become your go-to gluten free recipe for wedding cakes, birthday cakes, shower cakes, anniversary cakes, or just because cakes.
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"Oh my goodness, you saved me. I was commissioned for a gluten free vanilla (funfetti) wedding cake. Not being gluten free myself, I am inexperienced. I tried a few with commercial flours and thought I found one that was workable and just ok IMO, then I tried yours. It came out great and tastes so good. Thank you." - Sandy
Baking a truly delicious gluten-free cake is not an easy thing.
(And all the gluten free bakers of the world sigh and say, "No sh*t Sherlock.")
This matters because there are so many traditional foods that are seeped into our culture, conditioning our pallets AND our social expectations. Just a few examples off the top of my head: birthday cakes, Christmas cookies, Thanksgiving pie, breakfast and brunch pastries, bread in every form at every meal.
ALL of these culinary staples were created with wheat and all rely on gluten for their structure and flavor.
So, if you're gluten free, or cooking and baking for someone who is gluten free, you have two choices: give up all those cultural culinary staples, or try to make copycat gluten free versions.
Most of us (myself included), when faced with choices like this, quite literally want to have our cake and eat it too. But finding ways of combining other ingredients to mimic everything that wheat and gluten contributes to foods is NOT an easy task.
Today's grocery store shelves are stocked with an ever growing variety of gluten free baking mixes and flour substitutions. But they tend to be on the pricy side and many (most, even) are not very good. The frustrating thing is that in order to know that they aren't very good you have to purchase them and try them out, resulting in time and money spent on something that is most likely going to end up in the trash.
Why this recipe works
When I started working on a recipe for Gluten Free Vanilla Cake, I really wanted to find a prepared gluten free flour substitute that I could use instead of the cake flour in my favorite Vanilla Cake recipe. So, that's where I started.
Several gluten free flour mixes and many cakes in the trash later, I gave up on that idea and embraced the fact that I was going to need to create a specific blend just for this cake.
I DO think that a few of the gluten free flour mixes I tested might be fantastic in certain cakes and muffins. But, they didn't work in this vanilla cake.
The thing I love so much about my favorite Vanilla Cake recipe is that the flavors are so clean and bright. Every bite offers a mouthful of sweet buttery vanilla flavor, without any weird after taste or competing flavors mucking it up. That's what I wanted for the gluten free version, and I just couldn't get it from a pre-made mix.
Mix and match: More frosting options for this cake
This cake is the perfect match for Vanilla Italian Meringue Buttercream, but here are four other delicious frosting recipes that pair beautifully with this cake:
- Cream Cheese Buttercream
- American Buttercream {with Butter and Heavy Cream}
- Quick Chocolate Buttercream with Heavy Cream
- White Chocolate Ganache Buttercream
- Chocolate Orange Buttercream {3 Ingredients}
- Milk Chocolate Buttercream
- How to Make Chocolate Ganache
- Mascarpone Frosting
- Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting
- Maple Miso Brown Butter Frosting
- Cherry Frosting ~ Extra Creamy!
- Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
Key ingredients in this recipe
After playing around with several different combinations of gluten free flours, I settled on a blend of:
- Superfine Brown Rice Flour
- Potato Starch
- Tapioca Flour, and
- Nonfat Dry Milk Powder
Let's talk a bit about why each of these ingredients are important to the final texture and flavor of this vanilla cake.
Superfine brown rice flour. The first thing I want to say here is that it's super duper important to use SUPERFINE brown rice flour. Rice flour not labeled "superfine" or "extra fine" will result in a cake that's gritty and crumbly rather than soft, light, and fluffy. One of the biggest advantages to using rice flour in gluten free baking is that it contains a high percentage of protein - about 7% - without the grittiness that comes with other high protein gluten free flours.
One caveat with rice flour is that it doesn't absorb liquid and fat in the same way wheat flour does. This can cause a sort of mushy consistency in cakes. The solution, which you'll see in the recipe, is to blend the rice flour with buttermilk and let it sit for a few minutes, giving it time to absorb the liquid, before adding it to the cake batter.
Potato Starch and Tapioca Flour. Potato starch is flavorless and contributes structure, tenderness and binding to this vanilla cake. But, too much results in a dry, crumbly texture. Tapioca Flour contributes a chewy texture, and some elasticity and structure to this cake. But, too much can make the baked texture too dense.
(Just to confuse us, Tapioca Starch and Tapioca Flour ARE the same thing. But, Potato Starch and Potato Flour are NOT the same thing. For this cake recipe, make sure you're using Potato Starch.)
Nonfat Milk Powder. I found that just ½ cup of potato starch and a little over ¼ cup of tapioca flour was the perfect amount to take advantage of their ability to add structure and elasticity to the cake without ending up with a dense, crumbly, hockey puck. But, the cake had a of starchy texture that I wanted to try and get rid of.
As it turns out, nonfat milk powder does a wonderful job of coating all those starchy granules and creating a texture that's nearly identical to a cake made with wheat flour.
What is Xanthan gum?
Xanthan Gum sounds like something you might not really want to put in your food. In actuality, it's a natural carbohydrate, made from corn sugar that's been fermented with the bacteria Xanthomonas campestris. As you might have guessed, the bacteria is where Xanthan Gum gets its name.
Even though you mostly hear about Xanthan Gum in relation to gluten free baking, it's actually found in all sorts of common foods, from sauces and dressings to ice cream and yogurt.
Xanthan Gum is essential to nearly all gluten free baked goods because it replaces some of the thickening power and elasticity normally provided by gluten. When Xanthan Gum is mixed with liquid, it becomes gel-like. When mixed into cake batter, those binding properties hold the batter together and keep the finished cake from turning into a crumbly mess.
How to fill and frost this cake
This is a true all-purpose recipe for gluten free vanilla cake, and the number of frosting and filling options are limitless.
I am a sucker for vanilla cake and Vanilla Italian Meringue Buttercream, but I certainly wouldn't turn down a slice filled with my favorite pastry cream, strawberry rhubarb jam or peach preserves.
This cake also pairs well with pretty much any variety of flavored version of Italian Meringue Buttercream - fresh berry, lemon, chocolate, caramel, and coconut maple buttercream are just a few of my favorites. Sometimes I flavor only part of a batch of Italian Meringue Buttercream, filling the layers with the flavored version and keeping the outside frosted in vanilla buttercream. Other times, I frost and fill with whatever flavor strikes my fancy.
This cake is also delicious frosted with classic American buttercream or raspberry cream cheese frosting, both of which only take about 10 minutes to make.
And, of course, vanilla cake is pure heaven when iced with Milk Chocolate Buttercream.
The only thing I'd be cautious of when deciding how to fill and frost this vanilla cake is adding fresh fruit. Fruit jam, preserves, or fruit flavored buttercream work really well. But, fresh fruit generally contains too much moisture.
As the moisture leaks out of the fruit, it can soak into the cake layers making them kind of soggy and even causing the layers to slip, toppling your cake over.
📖 Recipe
Gluten Free Vanilla Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups MINUS 2 tablespoon superfine brown rice flour (plus more for dusting the cake pans)
- 1 cup buttermilk, full fat, at room temperature
- 5 whole eggs, separated, at room temperature
- 2 egg whites, at room temperature
- 2 ¼ cups sugar, divided
- ¾ cup butter, at room temperature
- ¾ cup shortening
- 1 tbs pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon lemon extract (optional)
- ½ cup potato starch
- ¼ cup tapioca flour
- ¼ cup dry nonfat milk powder
- 3 teaspoon Xanthan gum
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
Instructions
- Whisk the superfine brown rice flour and buttermilk together in a medium size bowl until smooth. Set aside.
- Heat oven to 325. Using superfine brown rice flour and butter or shortening, grease and flour three 8 or 9-inch round cake pans, and line the bottoms with a round of parchment paper that is also slathered with a bit of butter or shortening.
- Separate the 5 whole eggs, placing the 5 yolks in a small bowl and the whites in a separate medium
size bowl. Add the 2 additional egg whites so that you have a total of 7 egg whites. Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until frothy. Slowly pour in ¼ cup of the sugar, beating as you pour. Continue to beat until the meringue is glossy and stiff peaks form when you lift the whisk from the beaten egg whites. Set aside. - Fit the standing mixer with the whisk attachment and cream the butter, shortening, and remaining 2 cups of sugar until very light and fluffy, about 6 minutes. Stop the mixer to scrape down the sides of the bowl a time or two. Beat in the vanilla and lemon extracts until well combined.
- Add the egg yolks one at a time, beating each until fully incorporated, about 20 seconds, before adding another. Stop to scrape down the sides of the bowl from time to time.
- Add the potato starch, tapioca flour, nonfat milk powder, Xanthan gum, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg to a medium bowl and mix with a wire whisk to combine.
- Add the buttermilk and rice flour mixture to the stand mixer bowl along with the dry ingredients. Beat on medium-high speed for about 60 seconds, until the batter is completely smooth.
- With a rubber spatula, gently fold the beaten egg whites into the batter just until incorporated. Be
gentle - you want to retain as much air in the batter as possible. - Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake for 40-50 minutes. When done, the cakes will be golden brown and pulling away from the sides of the pan. To check for doneness, stick a toothpick into the center of one of the layers. Remove the toothpick and look for signs of raw batter. If only cake crumbs stick to the toothpick, the cake is done. You can also scoop a tiny amount of cake from the center of one of the layers to check for doneness. (You’ll be covering the cake with frosting anyway.)
- Let the cakes cool on wire racks for 5 minutes in the pan, then gently turn them out of the pans onto the wire racks to cool completely. If you don’t plan on frosting the layers immediately, wrap each tightly with plastic wrap. The layers can be stored at room temperature for 1 day, or frozen for up to 2 months.
- Frost with Vanilla Italian Meringue Buttercream, or Classic American Buttercream.
Notes
No buttermilk? No problem. DIY Buttermilk: How to make your own
Sandy LaPointe says
Oh my goodness, you saved me. I was commissioned for a gluten free vanilla (funfetti) wedding cake. Not being gluten free myself, I am inexperienced. I tried a few with commercial flours and thought I found one that was workable and just ok IMO, then I tried yours. It came out great and tastes so good. Thank you.
Rebecca Blackwell says
Hi Sandy! I am so happy to hear that this recipe worked out so well for you! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment for me! I truly appreciate it! Also, how fun to choose funfetti for a wedding cake!
JoAnna says
Can I use regular rice flour instead of brown? I am assuming the Asian rice flour I have is super fine as it looks just like confectioner sugar.
Rebecca Blackwell says
It sounds like the rice flour you have will be fine JoAnna. The important thing is that the flour is very, very finely ground. If yours is the consistency of powdered sugar, I think it will work well. Please let me know if you have any other questions! And I'd love to hear what you think of this cake after you make it! xo
Robin Visser says
This is by far the best GF cake I’ve ever had. My daughter has Celiac's Disease and really misses home baked birthday cakes. Last year her best friend said this cake tasted better than the full gluten ones. That is high praise indeed.
Rebecca Blackwell says
This comment just made my day Robin!!! Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know that you and your family like this recipe! I truly appreciate it! xo
Sarah says
Could coconut milk and coconut milk powder be used in place of the buttermilk and powdered milk?
Rebecca Blackwell says
Hi Sarah! Yes! I don't see any reason why both of those substitutions wouldn't work well. Please let me know if you have any other questions! And, I'd love to hear how this cake comes out for you! xo
Karine Cassidy-Robar says
Hi! This cake looks amazing, and I am wondering if you have tried to make it a marble cake? I have a marble gluten free cake to make, so Im wondering if taking 1 cup of prepaired batter and adding 1/ 6 cup cocoa powder and a tbsp of hot coffee would work?
Rebecca Blackwell says
Hi there! I haven't tried to make this into a marble cake, but I think you're on the right track. However, I think you might have greater success with adding some melted chocolate instead of cocoa powder. When I was working out this recipe for a "regular" marble cake, I tested versions that used cocoa powder and melted chocolate and much preferred the flavor and texture of melted chocolate. I imagine the same technique will work for this cake as well. I'd divide the batter in half and stir about 4 ounces melted semi-sweet chocolate into one half of the batter. Spread half the vanilla batter into the pan, dollop the chocolate batter over it, cover with the remaining vanilla batter, then swirl with a knife.
Please let me know if you have any other questions! And, if this works out well for you, would you let me know? I'm sure other readers would appreciate knowing that they could do the same thing. xo
Audrey says
But for sure a great recipe and closed I got on anything on first try. Thank you for sharing it!
Audrey says
So what’s does The consistency and the end with the batter supposed to look like? It looks like play-Doh given I can’t use rice flour at all so I used coconut flour... I not sure about what I can out with but the batter tastes good just not batter looking?! 🙈
Rebecca Blackwell says
Hi Audrey! By now you've most likely baked the cake. How did it bake up? I'm guessing that the thickness of the batter had to do with using coconut flour instead of rice flour, but am curious about how the cake came out?
Audrey says
It tastes really great! But yeah the consistency was heavy more like a cookie 🙈 their is a cake brand I used to buy for my boys birthdays that didn’t use rice with lot same ingredients. This past year they changed the ingredients and add rice. I was so sad... I used some dairy but it was goats milk and lactose free milk. (So I also skipped on powder milk) I did use regular butter. He can’t hardly have any dairy or wheat and cannot have rice at all So their were some differences. This the first time doing a cake from scratch for him and even tho it was to heavy it tasted like cake. It is so hard to find him baked goods or recipe that work.
Rebecca Blackwell says
It's super challenging (in my experience) to get a good consistency in gluten free cakes without using cake flour. If you also can't use powdered milk, that's even more challenging. I feel for you! Even with all of those obstacles, I love that you forged ahead and made him this cake anyway. If I come across any good gluten free flour mixes that don't use rice flour or milk powder, I'll be sure to send them your way!
Keri says
Thank you so much for this recipe! I’m baking cupcakes for a large crowd with a few gluten intolerant guests Saturday & wanted to find gf recipe everyone will love. I’m excited to try your recipe, especially after reading the reviews! I’m wondering how I should bake these as cupcakes? I know the time will be less, but about how much? And should I change the oven temperature? Thanks!
Rebecca Blackwell says
Hi Keri! I'm excited that you're baking this recipe too! Keep the oven temperature the same - 325 degrees, and bake the cupcakes for 20 minutes. Peak at them, and if they look like they might be done, stick a toothpick in the center of one, pull it out, and see if there's any evidence of raw batter. If they're not quite done, let them bake longer, checking them every 5 minutes.
Please let me know if you have any other questions! And, I'd love to know what you think of this recipe after you bake them! xo