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.
Raul
Amazing recipes
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much!
Nitya Nadar
Thanks a lot Rhian. I wanted a good foolproof recipe for a friend who is gluten allergic. I made this cake and it was mind blowing !! She is not vegan, so I added regular milk, 1 1/2 cups sugar and 2tbsp Vinegar. Baking time was increased to 40 mins . I came out fluffy, soft and yum!
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, so glad you like it!!
miriam
You are the best! thanks a lot!
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much!
Bren Underwood
This cake looks delicious! Could I use plain flour instead of almond flour/gluten free flour?
Rhian Williams
You can replace the gluten-free flour with plain flour, but the almond flour is still necessary. It can be replaced with ground walnuts, though the colour will be a bit different.
Joy
The cake never rose properly, was kind of dry and was not sweet enough 🙁
Rhian Williams
So sorry to hear that! Did you use the right amount of baking powder? Did you make any substitutions? What type of gluten-free flour did you use?