Erin’s Recipe Rundown
Texture: Soft and fluffy with a pillowy crumb (not at all dense or gummy like other gluten-free cakes!)
Taste: Just the right amount of sweetness and vanilla
Ease: Very easy to make!
Top Tips: Skip the butter and use a combination of oil/sour cream! Oil has a lower melting point than butter and is a liquid at room temperature, so it more evenly coats the dry ingredients. This give the cake that wedding cake consistency! The sour cream gives the cake richness and flavor.
Recommended GF Flour: I have tested this recipe MANY times with different flour blends and it always turns out best using Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Baking Flour. For best results use this flour.
Would I make these again? Definitely! This is my go-to gluten-free cake recipe.It’s a great base recipe to use with many frostings/toppings. (Try turning it into strawberry shortcake with whipped cream and strawberries!)
Since publishing this gluten-free vanilla cake back in 2021, it’s received rave reviews. Some of you have even used it for wedding cakes which is such an honor!
June 2024: I’ve updated the method for mixing together the cake batter. I’ve found it turns out more reliably delicious using this new method! Also be sure your eggs and milk are at room temperature.
I also highly recommend using Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free 1:1 Baking Flour, 2% milk and vegetable oil for best results.
Featured Comment
From Elizabeth: “I have been gluten free for years, and have made many many delicious gluten free baked goods. I made this cake for my birthday and I honestly just kept saying, I think this is the best cake I’ve ever made. Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe!!”
Table of Contents
Ingredients You’ll Need
Here are a few notes on the key ingredients to make this gluten-free vanilla cake. You can find the full measurements in the recipe card below.
- Gluten-Free 1:1 Baking Flour: I use and recommend Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free 1:1 Baking Flour for this cake. I use King Arthur Flour for many of my recipes, but I really like the consistency I get from the Bob’s flour for this cake! You can also use it in these gluten-free vanilla cupcakes.
- Sour Cream: Skip the butter and use a combination of oil/sour cream! Oil has a lower melting point than butter and is a liquid at room temperature, so it more evenly coats the dry ingredients. This lends to the perfect crumb! The sour cream gives the cake richness and flavor. I also use this trick with my gluten-free blueberry muffins.
- Oil: I have tried making this cake with several neutral oils like grapeseed oil and avocdao oil, but think it turns out best made with vegetable oil. I recommend vegetable oil for best results!
- Milk: I recommend making this cake with 2% milk.
- Vanilla Extract: Use pure vanilla extract for the best results and that real vanilla flavor.
You also might like this full collection of gluten-free cake recipes.
How to Make Gluten-Free Vanilla Cake
Here’s an overview of how to make this cake. You can jump to the recipe for the full instructions!
- Dry ingredients: Whisk them all together.
- Beat the sugar/eggs/oil/vanilla: You can mix these ingredients together using a hand or stand mixer. Then mix in the sour cream. Note that you’ll add the milk later with the dry ingredients!
- Add dry ingredients: You’ll do this alternately with the milk, mixing inbetween to give the gluten-free flour time to hydrate. I usually like to scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl to ensure I’ve gotten everything mixed in.
Recommended Cake Pans
Once your batter is ready, pour it into your pan of choice and bake. I recommend making two 8-inch round cakes or one 9×13-inch cake with this gluten-free recipe.
These are my favorite 8-inch round cake pans. They are great quality for the price! For a 9×13-inch gluten-free cake I recommend this glass pan. Bake and then turn out onto a cooling rack.
Gluten-Free Cake + Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
Once the gluten-free cake layers are cooled on a wire rack, you can make the frosting. I’ve included my favorite recipe for vanilla buttercream frosting in the recipe card.
The combination of the soft, tender crumb of the gluten-free vanilla cake and the whipped vanilla buttercream frosting is simply dreamy!
The main tricks to amazing vanilla buttercream are to whip the frosting throughly and add a pinch of salt to even out the sweetness of the powdered sugar. I add a pinch of salt to any frosting I make now!
You might also like serving this cake with 7-minute frosting.
Storing/Freezing Instructions
- To Store: This gluten-free vanilla cake will stay moist and soft for up to 2 days. To store simply cover the cake tightly with plastic wrap and keep at room temperature. This cake keeps much longer than other gluten-free cakes, which is another reason I love this recipe!
- To Freeze: To freeze two cake rounds, wrap each round tightly in plastic wrap, followed by a layer of aluminum foil to prevent freezer burn. Place the wrapped rounds in a resealable freezer bag, label with the date, and store them flat in the freezer for up to three months.
How do you make a gluten-free cake more moist?
The trick to making moist gluten-free cake is to use a combination of sour cream and oil for richness. Sour cream and oil work better than butter as butterfat causes gluten-free flour to clump up and make a denser crumb.
Can I make this gluten-free cake dairy-free?
You can make this cake dairy-free by using dairy-free sour cream and dairy-free milk. Opt for a dairy-free milk that has fewer ingredients like Elmhurst Cashew Milk for best results. Added gums and stabilizers in dairy-free milks will effect the texture of the cake.
Which gluten-free flour is best for cakes?
Gluten-free cake turns out best when you use a high-quality 1:1 gluten-free baking flour. Look for a blend that contains xanthan gum so the cake has the structure it needs. My personal favorite flour blend for gluten-free cakes is Bob’s Red Mill.
More Gluten-Free Cake Recipes
Gluten Free Vanilla Cake Recipe
Video
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 2½ cups (375g) gluten-free measure-for-measure flour (I recommend Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free 1:1 Baking Flour)
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
Other
- 2 cups (400g) granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs at room temperature
- ½ cup (120ml) vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup (120g) sour cream at room temperature
- 1¼ cups (300ml) 2% milk at room temperature
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
- 1 cup (226g) salted butter at room temperature
- 4-5 cups (480-600g) powdered sugar
- ¼ cup (60ml) heavy cream or milk of choice
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- pinch of kosher salt
Instructions
- June 2024: I've updated the method for mixing together the cake batter. I've found it turns out more reliably delicious using this new method! Also be sure your eggs and milk are at room temperature.I also highly recommend using Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free 1:1 Baking Flour, 2% milk and vegetable oil for best results.
For the Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray two 8-inch round pans with cooking spray, line with parchment paper rounds, then spray the parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the gluten-free flour, baking powder and salt.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, or using a hand mixer, beat together the sugar, eggs, vegetable oil and vanilla extract until fully combined, scraping down the bottom and sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add the sour cream and beat until well-combined.
- With the mixer running on low, add ½ of the dry ingredients, followed by ½ of the milk. Mix to combine. Add the remaining ½ dry ingredients and ½ milk, then mix until just combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean.
- Remove the cakes from the oven and let cool in their pans for 15 minutes. Remove each cake from its pan and transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
For the Frosting:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, or using a hand mixer, beat the butter on medium-high speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add 4 cups powdered sugar along with the cream/milk, vanilla and salt. Mix on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to medium-high speed and whip for a full 2 minutes.
- If the frosting is too thick, add a little more cream/milk. If the frosting is too thin, add more powdered sugar to get a spreadable consistency. Frost the cake as desired.
Notes
- To Store: This gluten-free vanilla cake will stay moist and soft for up to 2 days. To store simply cover the cake tightly with plastic wrap and keep at room temperature. This cake keeps much longer than other gluten-free cakes, which is another reason I love this recipe!
- To Freeze: To freeze two cake rounds, wrap each round tightly in plastic wrap, followed by a layer of aluminum foil to prevent freezer burn. Place the wrapped rounds in a resealable freezer bag, label with the date, and store them flat in the freezer for up to three months.
Thanks for this recipe! I am going to try it next weekend for my celiac daughter’s birthday. I don’t bake, but our local GF bakery closed, so I am going to attempt this. A few questions –
What parchment paper are you using? And can you recommend a GF cooking spray?
Any thoughts on putting fresh strawberries in between the layers?
Hi Erin, thank you for your questions! We don’t have specific parchment paper or cooking spray brands we recommend. For parchment paper you just want to go with a high-quality, nonstick parchment paper. For cooking spray, there’s several good options, like avocado or coconut oil spray as well as major brands of cooking spray that are gf. Adding strawberries in between the layers should work well! We’d recommend slicing them thinly, and patting them with a paper towel so they don’t add too much moisture. We hope your daughter has a great birthday!
YUMMY
We’re so glad you loved the cake, Sara! Thank you for sharing your positive feedback. Happy baking!
We celebrated my mom’s 80th birthday this past weekend and she has to eat gluten free, so I made her this cake. It was amazing. I bought a regular Publix cake for those who wanted a regular cake, but those who ate this cake said they liked it better than the regular cake. It did not taste GF at all. It was great. Thank you!
Aww, thank you for such kind feedback, Leah! We’re so pleased to hear how much everyone loved this cake. Happy baking!
So good–light fluffy and delicious! I made it as cupcakes but look forward to making it as a layer cake. .
We’re so happy to hear how much you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for your positive feedback, Bethany. Happy baking!
I want to make this cake but was hoping to do 3 smaller layers. Do you have any advice on cooking time or would it stay the same?
Hi Abby, thank you for your question! It depends on how small of a pan you want to use. For example, this recipe should be enough to make four 6″ round pans or two 8″ round pans. You could make thinner layers in the 8″ pans and reduce the baking time by 10-15 minutes or you could make 1.5x the recipe to do three full 8″ rounds and stick with the recipe’s baking time. For the 6″ round pans, you’d want to start checking them sooner as they won’t take as long to bake. We hope this helps!
I want to try this cake and I live at 7,000 ft elevation. Any recommendations on adjustments for the high altitude? Please let me know ASAP as I need to make it in a couple of days. 🙂 Thanks bunches
Hi Leslie, yes high elevation can make baking interesting! Our recipes were designed at sea level so typically adjustments will need to be taken if baking at an elevation of 3,000 ft or higher. For cakes that means increasing the oven temperature and decreasing the bake time, but sometimes measurements need to be adjusted too. To start, try increasing the oven temperature by 15-25 degrees and reducing the baking time by 5-8 minutes for every 30 minutes of baking. A toothpick is a great way to assess doneness when adjusting the baking time too. We hope this helps!
I’m looking for a gluten free cake to make for Mother’s Day and might have to try this out. What percent fat sour cream are you using? 14%?
Hi Dominique, we tend to use full-fat sour cream (roughly 18% milk fat). Dairy-free alternatives (usually 10-15%) will also work. We hope you enjoy the cake!
Can you add frozen berries to this recipe? I have some huckleberries I’m looking to add to possible dessert recipes.
Hi Annette, we haven’t tried it ourselves, but if you decide to test it out, we would suggest: lightly coating them with gf flour and adding them to the mixture last. This addition may impact the cake’s texture/consistency as it is a light, fluffy cake without the fruit and may not handle the added berries well. Frozen berries are also more likely to bleed color into the batter quickly. If you decide to give it a try, we’d love to hear how it goes!
I made this recently and it was tasty. But the layers fell soon after I took them out of the oven and the cake was pretty dense. Any thoughts about what I did wrong?
Hi Ann, we’re sorry you had this experience, but we’re glad you enjoyed the flavor! Did you use the recommended Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free 1:1 Baking Flour, 2% milk and vegetable oil? These 3 things ensure the best results with this cake. Beyond that, several things can cause it to turn out dense, such as overmixing, too cold dairy/eggs (they need to be room temperature), inaccuracies with the oven temperature, etc. We hope these ideas help!
Thanks for your response! I may have overmixed. And, my milk and sour cream were perhaps not truly room temperature, but they had been out more than an hour. Is it safer to have these items sit out longer?
Hi! Can I use whole milk instead of 2%?
Hi Paula! We recommend 2% milk because that level of fat content produces the ideal texture, but you can definitely use whole milk. It could cause the cake to have a little more moisture or be slightly denser, but the impact should be very minimal. We hope you enjoy the recipe!
This was SO moist. I made a 1.5 recipe and baked 6 layers in rainbow colours for Easter dinner and everyone raved. Even the gluten eaters thought it was delicious. I do make a different buttercream icing from a very old recipe for red velvet buttercream icing which incorporates a flour and milk “sauce” into the creamed butter and sugar. DIVINE! Thanks so much for this great recipe!
We’re so pleased to hear everyone enjoyed the cake, Johanne! Thank you for taking the time to share your positive experience with us. Happy baking!
I made this cake for Easter and it was a huge hit! I used King Arthur Measure for Measure GF flour. The cake was so moist and delicious, and the frosting was just the right amount of sweetness without being too sweet. Everyone LOVED this and I can’t wait to make it again. Thank you for creating delicious GF recipes so those of us with allergies can feel included and enjoy delicious food too!
Aww, we’re so pleased to hear that the cake was such a hit! Thank you for your kind feedback, Natalie. We appreciate you taking the time to share with us!
Can I substitute monk fruit for the sugar or do you have a recipe for sugar & gluten free white cake? My monk fruit contaibs no sugar alcohol additives, the sweetness ratio is 1/12.
Sue D
Hi Sue, we don’t typically bake with sugar substitutes so we aren’t sure how monk fruit would do in this cake unfortunately. If you decide to give it a try, we’d love to hear how it goes!
What should be the baking time for 9×12 pan?
Hi Jennifer, the cake will typically need 5-15 extra minutes in the oven. We’d recommend baking at the same temperature though and then monitoring doneness with a toothpick. We hope you enjoy the cake!
I would like to do this cake in a 24cm ring,What will you recommend to do with the ingredients?
Hi Jolien, we wouldn’t recommend using a ring pan as this batter needs a pan with a bottom. Thank you for your question!
Hi sorry,
I asked the wrong question,
I meant to ask about the amount of ingredients you recommend for 24 cm ring pan.
Thank you
Hi Jolien, we may be talking about different types of cake rings! Are you thinking more of a tube pan? If so, the recipe should work as-is. At most, you may need to increase the ingredients by 1.25x. We hope this helps!
The flavor of the cake…hands down the best I’ve baked so far, and I’ve baked a lot. The cake was beautifully soft, so much different than a lot of gluten free cake recipes. Also, the rise was great, I got 2 well risen 8″ cakes layers.
There was just one thing that missed the mark, and Im sure it’s something I did. I wouldn’t call it gummy, because it wasn’t, but when eating I pressed down on some of the cake with my fork, and it kind of stuck together, like maybe it was underbaked, like the inside of a cake pop texture. Personally I still enjoyed it but I would love to serve this as a birthday cake so want to get the texture just right, so that no one can tell it’s gluten free. Im hesitant to bake longer as I might lose the beautiful softness of the cake that I love. Would increasing the dry ingredients a bit or reducing the wet ingredients be worth trying? I baked for 35 min in 2, 8″ cake pans, at 350°. I used fat daddios pans and wilton cake pan strips.
Thanks so much.
Hi Corina, we’re so pleased to hear how much you enjoyed the cake! It does sound slightly underbaked based on that description. A few ideas: you could try adding just a little bit more time to the baking time, slightly adjusting the dry or wet ingredients (whether a tiny bit more flour or a little less milk), or you could try without the cake pan strips (they are great for flat tops but can slow the baking time). We hope your next bake goes even better!
I am not usually a big fan of GF cake, but needed a good recipe for an upcoming wedding. I was very pleasantly surprised by the taste and texture. It was easy to ice and decorate and did not crumble like some GF cakes. This is a keeper!
Hi Lisa, thank you for the kind feedback! We’re so pleased that you found this recipe to be such a keeper! Happy baking!
I made this recipe as cupcakes. I made some swaps to make it Dairy Free as well. It turned out fabulous and my ENTIRE family raved! Thank you for this recipe!
Yay! We’re so pleased to hear the recipe was such a hit! Thank you for sharing your positive experience with us, Jeannette!
Would love to know your dairy free changes, I also need GF and dairy free
Hi Megan, we recommend using dairy-free sour cream and dairy-free milk. If possible, opt for a dairy-free milk that has fewer ingredients, like Elmhurst Cashew Milk for best results. Added gums and stabilizers in dairy-free milks will effect the texture of the cake. Happy baking!
Can you use a full fat Greek yogurt instead of sour cream?
Hi Laura, we haven’t tried Greek yogurt with this recipe ourselves so we can’t say for sure. The fat content from the sour cream makes the cake really delicious. If you decide to give it a try, we’d love to hear how it goes!
Hi Laura! This looks great, but im also a fan of using buttermilk over whole or especially 2% in my normal cakes. But im still getting to learn Gluten-free. Would you definitely recommend 2% milk?
Thanks!
Hi Melanie, we recommend 2% milk because that level of fat content produces the ideal texture. If you decide to give the buttermilk a try, we’d loved to hear how it goes!