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.
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!