This Gluten-Free Vegan Vanilla Cake is:
- moist and fluffy
- covered in a silky buttercream
- simple yet delicious!
A vanilla cake may sound boring, but the elegant pairing of the delicately vanilla-infused sponge with the velvety, vanilla-infused buttercream frosting is just magical.
The base of this Gluten-Free Vegan Vanilla Cake is my go-to sponge recipe: it comes together easily in one bowl, requires familiar ingredients and is really versatile. You can use any type of oil you like, any type of milk, and any type of liquid sweetener.
It’s honestly undetectably vegan, gluten-free and refined sugar free, tastes sweet and buttery, and has a moist and fluffy texture.
The next step is the buttercream frosting – it’s made using blended cashews and it’s luxuriously rich, melt-in-your-mouth creamy and perfectly sweet.
It’s easy to make, and the texture is great for spreading.
Once you’ve frosted your cake, you can decorate it with whatever you want! I went for freeze-dried raspberries, but other delicious toppings include fresh fruit, chopped nuts, dried fruit, edible flowers, or anything else you like!
As Gluten-Free Vegan Vanilla Cake is about as neutral as you can get, it’s really versatile and suits a wide range of occasions – it’s perfect for:
- birthdays
- Easter
- Mother’s Day
- baby showers
- weddings
- and anything else in between!
For more simple yet delicious cake recipes, check out my:
- Strawberry Cake
- Lemon Blueberry Cake
- Pineapple Upside Down Cake
- Coconut Cake
- Lemon Drizzle Cake
- Victoria Sponge Cake
If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I’d really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.
Helpful tools to make this Gluten-Free Vegan Vanilla Cake:
For the cake:
glass mixing bowl
measuring jug
18 cm / 7 inch sandwich baking tin
baking paper
cooling rack
For the frosting:
food processor
blender
hand-held stick blender
palette knife for frosting
Gluten-Free Vegan Vanilla Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 60 g (1/4 cup) coconut oil (or sub olive or vegetable oil)
- 200 ml (4/5 cup) unsweetened almond milk (or any other plant-based milk)
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 8 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
- 150 g (1 1/4 cup) ground almonds* (almond meal)
- 150 g (1 1/4 cup) gluten-free flour blend (or sub plain flour if not gluten-free)
- 2 heaped teaspoons baking power (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
For the buttercream:
- 100 g (2/3 cup) cashew nuts - soaked in cold water overnight or in hot water for 15 minutes
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk (or sub water or any other plant-based milk)
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit)
- Place the coconut oil in a large bowl and melt over a saucepan of boiling water or in the microwave (skip this step if using any other oil)
- Once melted, add the milk to the same bowl along with the lemon juice, vanilla, maple syrup and ground almonds
- Sift in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda
- Mix well, adding a tiny splash more milk if it’s looking too dry
- Transfer mixture between two greased baking tins lined with baking paper (I used two 7inch/18cm springform baking tins)
- Bake in oven for around 15 minutes until risen and an inserted skewer comes out clean
- Once done, turn the cakes out onto wire racks and leave to cool completely before frosting
For the buttercream:
- Drain soaked cashews and add to a food processor or blender with all the other ingredients (a hand-held blender works too)
- Whizz until completely smooth, adding more milk or water if necessary
To frost and decorate the cake:
- Place one half of the cake onto a plate or cake stand, and spread just less than half of the frosting onto it
- Place the other half of the cake on top of that and use rest of the frosting to spread on top and around the sides of the cake
- Tastes best when fresh but keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days
Notes
almond flourDisclosure: This posts contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you click through and purchase any of the products, a small percentage will come to me, with no extra cost to you! This income will go towards the running of this blog – thank you.
EM
Hi, this cake tastes very good; however, it did not rise for me at all. I used Better Batter as my flour other than that no other substitutions, Oh, I used cane sugar instead of maple syrup. What did I do wrong or is it not supposed to rise. Thanks
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much for your feedback. I’m glad you liked the taste, but so sorry you had a problem with the texture. Did you use enough baking powder?
Yasmeen
Looks so good.. I plan on making it for our anniversary celebration. Can I bake it in one pan then cut it? Or will it crumble? We’re not gluten free so I plan on using regular flour.
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much! Yes making it in one pan and cutting it in half should be fine! Just make sure to adjust the cooking time accordingly – it’ll probably take around 30 minutes to bake if you bake it in one pan!
Efka
Thank you for your recipes. I can’t use baking powder (tartar intolerance), but I can use baking soda. I always replace a teaspoon of baking powder with 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda. However, I have noticed that many vegan recipes use both (why?). Can I use 2 teaspoons of baking soda instead of baking powder/baking soda mixture in this recipe?
Rhian Williams
Thank you! This recipe uses both because the alkali baking soda reacts with the acidic lemon juice to create a fluffy batter. If you can’t use baking powder you could substitute both the baking powder and the baking soda with 1 teaspoon baking soda, I think that should work. But it might give the cake a strong taste of baking soda…would love to hear how you get on if you try it. Thank you!
Efka
I used 1 heaped teaspoon of baking soda. The taste was OK, but the cake definitely wasn’t flufy.
Rhian Williams
Hi, so sorry to hear that. Seems like the baking powder is essential then. Thank you for your feedback!
Maryan
Hi, pls can you tell me how many tablespoons of Apple cider to sub the lemon juice
Rhian Williams
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar!
Katie
I am interested in making this cake for my wedding cake and was wondering if I could use coconut flour in place of the gluten free flour blend. Also can I use coconut sugar in stead of maple syrup in the batter?
Rhian Williams
Hi, thank you! You probably can replace the gluten-free flour with coconut flour, but I haven’t tested it that way so can’t guarantee results. It should work though. I would only use a fifth of the amount of coconut flour though, because coconut flour soaks up much more moisture so you need to use much less. And yes coconut sugar can be used instead of maple syrup. Would love to hear how you get on!
Anonymous
Coconut flour is very dry so I would search for a cake recipe that uses coconut flour. It does not act the same as other flours in baking.
Rhian Williams
Yes – if using coconut flour instead of ground almonds in this recipe only use a fifth of the amount!