• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Rhian's Recipes

  • About
    • Contact
    • Work With Me
  • Recipes
  • Subscribe
  • Thanksgiving/Christmas Recipes
  • Cookbook
  • Blogging Tips
menu icon
go to homepage
search icon
Homepage link
  • About
  • Recipes
  • Subscribe
  • Thanksgiving/Christmas Recipes
  • Cookbook
  • Blogging Tips
×
Home » Recipes » Baking & Desserts

Gluten-Free Vegan Wedding Cake

Last updated - July 15, 2021; Published - October 6, 2017 By Rhian Williams 34 Comments

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

This Gluten-Free Vegan Wedding Cake is easy to make, deceptively impressive and seriously delicious.

Gluten-Free Vegan Wedding Cake

Whether you're just looking for some inspiration for your special day, in charge of baking a gluten-free vegan wedding cake for your friend, or in need of something to ask your caterer to make for you, I really hope this recipe will come in useful!

Gluten-Free Vegan Wedding Cake

For the sponge, I used my go-to gluten-free, vegan and refined sugar free sponge cake recipe, which I love because it comes together easily in one bowl and requires simple, familiar ingredients. It's also very versatile, as you can use any type of oil you want, any type of liquid sweetener, and any type of milk.

Gluten-Free Vegan Wedding Cake

Although I've used this sponge recipe to create all sorts of cake flavours such as chocolate, matcha, red velvet and coffee, I decided to go with a simple, vanilla-flavoured one as the base for this cake. I also added some lemon juice for a little brightness, and it also works well to balance out the richness of the cashew buttercream.

Gluten-Free Vegan Wedding Cake

Although I usually use sweet potato or coconut whipped cream for frosting cakes, I decided to go with cashew nuts for the buttercream frosting for this cake. I added some cacao butter to the icing too, which creates an elegant white chocolate-like flavour.

You'll also love the texture of this buttercream - it's super rich, melts in your mouth just like real buttercream, and is just perfect for spreading around the edges to create one of those 'naked' wedding cakes that seem to be so trendy nowadays.

Although cashew nuts and cacao butter can be expensive, and they make for a much richer frosting than, say, sweet potato purée, if you're not going to splash out on your wedding day, when else can you?

Gluten-Free Vegan Wedding Cake

I also decided to spread some strawberry jam in between the layers of the sponge - where's nothing better than a simple vanilla sponge sandwiched with some sticky jam and smooth buttercream.

This, paired with the luxuriously creamy texture of the blended cashews means the cake ends up tasting a lot like these Strawberry Chocolate Truffles --> SO good.

If you're not into strawberry, you can use any other flavour of jam you like. And if you'd like to keep the cake refined sugar free, be sure to use a naturally sweetened jam, or you could even make your own!

Gluten-Free Vegan Wedding Cake

Although this cake might look a little fancy, it's seriously much easier than most other celebration cakes as I've gone for a 'naked' style cake, which means all you need to do is roughly coat all the outer edges using a spatula or knife, rather than fussing about with fondant icing and such.

I then decorated with a handful of edible flowers (which I luckily managed to find in my local supermarket!) and some adorable little wild strawberries, which I had growing in my garden. You can really decorate with whatever you like though, anything like dried fruit, freeze-dried fruit, rose petals, fresh fruit, cacao nibs, nuts or seeds would work well.

Gluten-Free Vegan Wedding 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 Wedding 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

palette knife for frosting

Gluten-Free Vegan Wedding Cake

Gluten-Free Vegan Wedding Cake

This Gluten-Free Vegan Wedding Cake is easy to make, deceptively impressive and seriously delicious.
4.67 from 9 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Global
Keyword: gluten-free wedding cake, refined sugar free wedding cake, vegan wedding cake
Prep Time: 45 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes
Total Time: 1 hour hour
Servings: 20
Calories: 303kcal
Author: Rhian Williams

Ingredients

For the sponge:

  • 120 ml (½ cup) coconut oil (or sub olive or vegetable oil)
  • 400 ml (1 â…” cup) unsweetened almond milk (or any other plant-based milk)
  • 4 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 190 ml (â…˜ cup) maple syrup (or sub any other liquid sweetener)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Pinch salt
  • 300 g (2 ½ cup) ground almonds (almond meal) *
  • 300 g (2 ½ cup) gluten-free flour blend (or sub plain flour if not gluten-free)
  • 4 heaped teaspoons baking powder (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
  • ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

For the buttercream:

  • 200 g (1 â…” cup) raw cashew nuts soaked in cold water overnight or in hot water for 15 minutes
  • 50 g (1.7 oz) cacao butter
  • 3 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 12 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk (or sub water or any other plant-based milk)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

To frost and decorate the cake:

  • 10 tablespoons strawberry jam  (ensure refined sugar free if n)ecessary
  • Suggested decorations listed below **

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,  maple syrup, vanilla, salt 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 into greased baking tins lined with baking paper (I used two 7inch/18cm baking tins and then used four metal rings lined with greased baking paper, which each measured 4.5inch/11.5cm, 3.5inch/9cm, 2.5inch/6cm and 2inch/5cm. Or you can use baking tins if you have ones of varying sizes).
  • Bake in oven for around 15 minutes until risen and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
  • Turn all the cakes out onto wire racks to leave to cool completely before frosting.

For the buttercream:

  • Drain soaked cashews and add to a food processor or blender along with all the other ingredients***.
  • Whizz until completely smooth.
  • Taste and adjust flavour if necessary, adding more maple syrup, salt or vanilla if you wish.
  • Put the mixture (keep it in the food processor but you can transfer to a bowl if you wish) into the fridge and leave to harden slightly before using to frost the cake.

To frost and decorate the cake:

  • Cut the smaller cakes in half horizontally using a cake slicer or a bread knife.
  • Place half of the biggest cake onto a large plate or cake stand.
  • Split the buttercream into even thirds.
  • Using a spatula or knife, spread a third of the buttercream over the bottom layer of cake.
  • Next, spread over 5 tablespoons of the jam.
  • Finally, place the other half of the cake on top.
  • Next, place the bottom layer of the second biggest cake on top, and spread half of another third of the buttercream onto this layer of cake.
  • Then, spread over 2 tablespoons of the jam.
  • Now, place the other half of that cake on top.
  • Repeat this process for the remaining cakes, going in order of decreasing size. Divide up the remainder of the second third of the buttercream and the remaining jam between these cakes.
  • Once these are all done, use a spatula or knife to spread the remaining third of the buttercream around the tops and sides of all of the cakes.
  • Decorate however you wish - see notes for some suggested decorations.
  • Best when fresh, but keeps in the fridge for up to a couple of days.

Notes

*You can alternatively use almond flour.
**Suggested decorations:
  • Edible flowers
  • Wild strawberries
  • Fresh fruit
  • Dried fruit
  • Freeze-dried fruit
  • Rose petals
  • Cacao nibs
  • Nuts
***If your food processor isn’t very powerful, it may have trouble with the cocoa butter. In this case, melt the cacao butter first using a bain-marie before adding to the food processor.
Nutrition Facts
Gluten-Free Vegan Wedding Cake
Amount Per Serving
Calories 303 Calories from Fat 171
% Daily Value*
Fat 19g29%
Saturated Fat 6g30%
Polyunsaturated Fat 1g
Monounsaturated Fat 3g
Sodium 71mg3%
Potassium 126mg4%
Carbohydrates 32g11%
Fiber 3g12%
Sugar 14g16%
Protein 7g14%
Vitamin A 1IU0%
Vitamin C 2mg2%
Calcium 103mg10%
Iron 2mg11%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Made the recipe?Tag @rhiansrecipes on instagram and use the hashtag #rhiansrecipes!

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.

More Baking & Dessert Recipes

  • A slice of gluten-free vegan yogurt cake on a plate with a fork
    Gluten-Free Vegan Yogurt Cake
  • A sliced loaf of vegan apple bread on a wire rack
    Vegan Apple Bread (Gluten-Free)
  • A vegan lemon drizzle loaf cake with three slices next to it on a marble background
    Vegan Lemon Drizzle Loaf Cake (Gluten-Free)
  • Three baked banana oatmeal bars topped with pecan nuts on a marble background, with a bite taken out of one
    Baked Banana Oatmeal Bars (Vegan + Gluten-Free)
  • Share
  • Tweet

Reader Interactions

Comments

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




  1. Lydia

    September 05, 2019 at 6:48 am

    Hi
    Hoping to make this for my parents wedding anniversary cake, mum is wheat, dairy and egg free diet.
    But also can’t have citrus- so can I leave out lemon or substitute with something else?

    Reply
    • Rhian Williams

      September 05, 2019 at 11:37 am

      You can substitute the lemon juice with 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar. Hope that helps!

  2. Lydia

    September 08, 2019 at 1:30 pm

    Thank you, will give that a go.

    Reply
    • Rhian Williams

      September 08, 2019 at 2:00 pm

      Thank you, hope you'll like it!

  3. Shannon

    January 25, 2021 at 6:27 am

    This seems like a great idea however, if I'm making my OWN cake then how can I store it before the big day? Can I do cupcakes?

    Reply
    • Rhian Williams

      January 25, 2021 at 4:56 pm

      It's best kept stored in the fridge. If using gluten-free flour it might get a bit dry the day after it's made, but using normal flour it would keep better for up to a couple of days. You can do cupcakes if you wish, I have a lot of different cupcake recipes on my blog!

  4. Wendy

    May 26, 2021 at 9:26 pm

    My son has asked me to make he and his brides cake. I live 3 hours away and will need to be at their rehearsal the night before. Would you recommend I bake the cake early Friday morning, cool and place in airtight containers in a cooler for transport, and then frost the cake Saturday morning for their afternoon wedding? Would it be less dry if I bake and ‘naked’ coat the cakes Friday and freshen up the frosting Saturday morning? Could I get away with baking Thursday, freezing, and assembling Saturday? Sorry for so many questions, I read the other posts but still am confused as to what would work best.

    Reply
    • Rhian Williams

      May 27, 2021 at 12:47 pm

      I'd recommend baking and naked coating the cakes on Friday and freshening up the frosting on Saturday morning! Baking on Thursday, freezing just the sponges and then assembling on Saturday would work too! Please let me know if you have any other questions!

  5. Robyn Young

    June 04, 2021 at 4:54 pm

    I am making my sons wedding cake & it’s got to be Vegan & GF so delighted to find your recipe. Did a test bake today & used the metric measurements rather than cups. The mixture was a thick batter so a bit confused by your description of add more milk if a bit thick. I poured it into tins & despite needing longer to cook (24mins) they did come out well. The cake though is quite oily & very crumbly. Most of the ingredients are double quantities of your vanilla GF cake recipe except the oil which is triple the amount. I know I can make it less crumbly by adding xanthan gum but should I reduce the oil quantity?

    Reply
    • Rhian Williams

      June 04, 2021 at 9:39 pm

      Thank you so much for your feedback! I wouldn't recommend using xanthan gum in this recipe as it can result in a very gummy texture. I've just tweaked the amount of oil in the recipe. What type of gluten-free flour did you use? This could've caused an issue too. I recommend Dove's Farm plain flour! I hope that helps!

« Older Comments
Newer Comments »

Primary Sidebar

Photo of Rhian Williams

Hi, I’m Rhian! I make easy, undetectably vegan + gluten-free recipes, including healthy comfort food and naturally sweetened desserts using plant-based ingredients.

More about me →

Popular Recipes

  • Three vegan blueberry muffins with a bite taken out of one with a bowl of fresh blueberries in the background
    Vegan Blueberry Muffins (Gluten-Free)
  • A stack of oat flour pancakes topped with desiccated coconut and syrup on a blue plate
    Oat Flour Pancakes (Vegan + GF)
  • A loaf of coconut flour bread topped with sunflower seeds and poppy seeds with two slices next to it
    Coconut Flour Bread (Vegan + Gluten-Free)
  • Five vegan coconut flour pancakes stacked in a pile decorated with fresh raspberries and coconut flakes on a green plate against a grey background
    Vegan Coconut Flour Pancakes (Gluten-Free)
  • A loaf of oat flour bread with two slices
    Oat Flour Bread (Vegan + Gluten-Free)
  • A sliced vegan baked cheesecake topped with wild strawberries and strawberry flowers
    Vegan Baked Cheesecake (Gluten-Free)
  • A loaf of quinoa bread topped with seeds with two slices next to it
    Quinoa Bread (Vegan + Gluten-Free)
  • Six vegan sausage rolls on a black slab
    Vegan Sausage Rolls (Gluten-Free)

Footer

↑ back to top

About

  • About
  • Privacy Policy & Disclosure
  • Copyright Notice

Newsletter

  • Subscribe for free updates

Contact

  • Contact
  • Work With Me

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Copyright © 2023 · Foodie Pro Theme On Genesis Framework ·