This Gluten-Free Vegan Vanilla Cake is moist and fluffy, covered in a silky buttercream and is simple yet delicious! It comes together in one bowl, is easily customisable and is refined sugar free too. A versatile dessert that suits almost any occasion: think birthdays, Valentine's Day, Easter, Mother's Day, baby showers and bridal showers!
How to make the cake
Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe.
- Mix together all the ingredients in a glass mixing bowl.
Tip: Use a measuring jug to measure out the plant-based milk.
- Transfer into two 18 cm / 7 inch sandwich baking tins.
Tip: Line the tins with greased baking paper to make the sponges easier to remove afterwards.
- Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
- Transfer onto a cooling rack and leave to cool completely before applying the frosting.
How to make the Vegan Buttercream Frosting
- Place soaked cashew nuts, maple syrup, almond milk and vanilla in a food processor.
Tip: Make sure the cashew nuts are soaked to make them easier to blend. Soak them overnight in cold water or in boiling water for at least 15 minutes.
- Whizz until completely smooth.
Tip: You will have to mix it around a few times to make it easier to blend up.
- Taste and adjust flavour if necessary, adding more maple syrup for sweetness.
How to frost the cake
- Place one of the sponges on a cake stand or a plate and apply just less than half of the frosting onto it using a palette knife for frosting.
- Place the other sponge on top and apply the frosting on the top and sides of the cake.
- Decorate as desired.
How long does this Vanilla Cake keep for?
This Vanilla Cake tastes best fresh, but keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days.
Substitutions you can make
- You can use any type of oil: coconut oil, olive oil or vegetable oil.
- You can use any type of plant-based milk: almond milk, rice milk, soy milk, cashew milk, oat milk etc.
- You can use any type of liquid sweetener: maple syrup, agave syrup, brown rice syrup etc.
- You can replace the ground almonds (almond meal/almond flour) with ground walnuts.
- For a nut-free version: replace the ground almonds (almond meal/almond flour) with ground sunflower seeds.
- You can use plain flour instead of the gluten-free flour if you're not gluten-free.
More gluten-free vegan cake recipes
- Tropical Carrot Cake
- Lemon Blueberry Cake
- Cherry Bakewell Cake
- Matcha Strawberry Cake
- Chocolate Cake
- Orange Cake
- Strawberry Cake
- Black Forest Cake
- Red Velvet Cake
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake
- Lemon Pound 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 #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.
Watch how to make this recipe
Gluten-Free Vegan Vanilla Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 60 g (¼ cup) coconut oil (or sub olive or vegetable oil)
- 200 ml (⅘ cup) unsweetened almond milk (or any other plant-based milk)
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 8 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
- 150 g (1 ¼ cup) ground almonds (almond meal) *
- 150 g (1 ¼ cup) gluten-free flour blend (or sub plain flour if not gluten-free)
- 2 heaped teaspoons baking powder (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
For the buttercream:
- 100 g (⅔ 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.
- 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.
Video
Notes
Disclosure: This posts contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you purchase any of these 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.
Beth Busche
Can I use pecans or almonds instead of the cashews? My daughter can’t have them
Rhian Williams
Well-soaked blanched almonds should work!!
Chelsea Kissiah
Can you use coconut flour instead of gluten free flour?
Rhian Williams
No sorry I don't think that would work in terms of texture!
Anne
Easy to follow. Delicious light and moist cake with a lovely creamy cashew frosting. I only had 8inch cake tins and it worked perfectly. Fab recipe for anyone wanting to avoid refined sugar.
Highly recommend.
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, so glad you liked it!
Sharon
Hi there, I actually wanted to use this for a cake. And I have found that using sugar in the same volume for maple syrup is how to measure sugar. This will weigh 100gm sugar. I assume I can add more if I am looking for a sweeter cake. As 100gm vs 375gm of flour/almond/oats is a low ratio? I am baking for a vegan with a sweet tooth. Do you know how it might effect the texture of the cake? Thanks Sharon
Rhian Williams
Hi! Yes you can use slightly more sugar. It shouldn't affect the texture of the cake, but it will probably rise a bit more than my version so make sure the pan you use is deep enough to allow for a slightly fluffier cake!
Melissa
Hi Rhian. I have tried this vanilla cake recipe for few times, taste was excellent but I just can't get the texture right and it doesn't raise much. It's soft and fluffy when it's freshly baked, but the cake texture became harder when it's cool and even crumbly after refrigerated. May I know how to solve this problem?
Thanks!
Rhian Williams
Hi - sorry to hear that! What type of gluten-free flour are you using and are you using enough baking powder?
Melissa
I am using own blend which is brown rice flour, white rice flour and potato starch. For baking powder I was follow your exact recipe.
Rhian Williams
I think it was because of the brown rice flour - I would recommend using a gluten-free flour blend that's closer to the shop-bought types, which generally only use white rice flour!
Sue
Hi I run a cafe and have gluten free and vegan customers. This cake is amazing! I am so glad I have found it. A lot of recipes out there just don’t work or have masses of almond flour in them making them too expensive. I did a coffee version by adding 2 tablespoons of instant coffee powder to the mix and it was fab. Thank you!!!
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, so glad you like it!! I actually have a coffee sponge cake recipe if you want to use that! https://www.rhiansrecipes.com/gluten-free-vegan-coffee-walnut-cake/