A moist and easy gluten-free vanilla cake made in one bowl with just 8 ingredients. With a light crumb and a sturdy texture, it’s perfect for layering and frosting, making it an ideal base for birthday cakes.
Recipe Highlights
- Ready in 40 minutes. A homemade and budget-friendly cake without a long wait.
- One bowl: Easy to mix with minimal cleanup.
- Just 8 ingredients: Simple ingredients you likely already have.
- Light and moist: A tender crumb without being fragile.
- Great for layering: Sturdy enough to stack and frost.
- Versatile: Use it as a birthday cake or make the easy chocolate variation.
Gluten-Free Vanilla Cake Ingredients & Substitutions
- Gluten-free flour blend – Provides the structure. Use a high-quality 1:1 “measure-for-measure” blend containing xanthan gum, rather than a single-grain alternative (like straight millet, rice or almond flour). Because different flour blend brands absorb liquid differently, weighing your flour (360g) is highly recommended over measuring by volume for the best results.
- Olive oil – keeps the crumb soft and moist even after refrigerating. Gluten-free batters have no gluten structure to firm up as they cool, so oil (which stays liquid at room temp) keeps the cake tender in a way butter can’t. Swap: any neutral oil, like avocado or liquid coconut oil.
- Milk – adds moisture and richness. Swap: any dairy-free milk works in equal measure.
Tips For The Best Moist Vanilla Cake
- Weigh the flour. Gluten-free blends vary widely by volume; weighing gives a consistent crumb every time.
- Don’t overmix. Whisk just until smooth, overworking the batter after the flour is added makes the cake dense instead of light.
- Cool completely before frosting. Frosting or decorate with buttercream a warm cake melts the frosting and causes sliding layers.
- For a chocolate version, whisk in 1 cup cocoa powder with the dry ingredients and increase the oil by an extra 1/4 cup to offset the cocoa’s dryness.
- Room-temperature eggs and milk blend more evenly into the batter, giving a more uniform crumb than cold ingredients, and a better lift keeping the cake light.
Simple Way to Serve Layer Cake
Serve at room temperature, layered and frosted, or just dusted with powdered sugar. I used my Ermine Frosting (Old-Fashioned Buttercream) and sprinkles to decorate, but this cake can easily be transformed into a festive layer birthday cake!”
You may also want to check out my Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free Coconut Pineapple Layer Cake or my Italian Gluten-Free Cannoli Layer Cake. But my favorite one to try is the Gluten-Free Layered Orange Cake.
Make-Ahead & Storing to Keep it Fresh
Bake layers up to 2 days ahead; wrap tightly in plastic once fully cooled and store at room temperature. To freeze, wrap unfrosted layers in plastic then foil and freeze up to 2 months, thaw overnight in the fridge before frosting.
Craving muffins instead? My famous gluten-free basic vanilla muffin batter is the only base recipe you’ll ever need, swap in any mix-ins you like, or add cocoa powder and make it chocolate.
Hi, I’m Kristina I’m a professional gluten-free recipe developer, and every recipe on this site is created and personally tested in my kitchen. If you love this recipe, please leave a ⭐ star rating and a quick review below, it helps other readers find my recipes!
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