1-Bowl Vegan Gluten-Free Vanilla Cake

Sooo good! This was a huge hit in my family and friends. I have struggled to a great vanilla cake and icing in the past but no longer!! Try it so worth it!! The first vanilla cake I’ve ever loved and wanted more of!.

Followed recipe exactly and it turned out beautifully. Even put the berries on top like in the picture. My first time baking vegan and gluten free so I was skeptical. However, I would make it again without hesitation. Delicious!

Absolutely delicious. I used almond meal, but blended with an immersion blender first (weird, but worked).

Professional pastry chef here.
Made this cake for the first time tonight. I usually make vegan cakes but was in search of one that could also be Gluten-free and versatile to change the flavour of the base.
IT WAS INCREDIBLE!
I had no issues with the bake at all. the directions were so well explained but I can see where the few bad commenters have gone wrong.

1. The consistency of the batter is key in how the cake will bake.
I followed the ingredients and noticed before dividing amongst my pans that it was ever so slightly thinner. Give your bowl a good scrape down to make sure all ingredients are evenly mixed, I followed by adding approximately 20g extra Gf plain flour blend and was happy with the consistency.
2. Some said that this was closer to cornbread… NOT TRUE. This cake was like eating a cloud, light, delicate as lace and tender. This comes down to the quality of ingredients used. I only had almond meal on hand and as specified you must use Almond flour. I weighed all drys together and through into my food processor for 30 seconds until super fine. came out like a dream.

3. Helps to leave your vinegar and milk to sit for 5-10 minutes to thicken up.

4. REPLACEMENTS- I omitted the apple sauce as I like to use ingredients I always have on hand. I replaced the apple sauce with 42g neutral flavoured oil, in my case is was rice bran oil but you can use any neutral-tasting oil. ( this is half the metric requirement of the apple sauce taking into consideration swapping out a solid for liquid)

5. For goodness sake help yourselves and use grams/metric measurements when baking. baking is a science.. it is well proven to have better and far more consistent results. if something has gone wrong and there are many that swear by the recipe then the problem lies in human error. Give yourself the best chance for success by using grams.

THANK YOU SO MUCH for sharing this killer recipe Minimalist Baker! will definitely be adding this to my repertoire.

This was really good! The texture is between a cake and cornbread, but I liked it that way.

I didn’t have any applesauce so I used some cashew yogurt and uses about 1/4 cup coconut flour because I ran out of almond flour. I paired this with a (non-vegan) fresh strawberry Swiss meringue buttercream and it was delicious!

This cake was delicious! At first I thought it was going to be more like a mud cake, but it’s so deceiving! It was so soft and fluffy. It had the appearance of being under cooked, but it wasn’t. It was perfect. I don’t think I made the butter cream properly as I found it too sweet. The cake however had the right amount of sweetness. This is going to be my go to cake. I’m going to try it with whipped coconut cream next time I make it. 😊❤️ Had I not made this cake, I would never have believed it was vegan and gluten free.

I’ve made this cake maybe 15 times. It hits every time. Key is using blanched almond flour. (Super fine). And I let the coconut milk and ACV sit for a while together. I bring it to work and every vegan non vegan GF non GF love it. Bless you

This cake was AWESOME!!! I reduced the amount of sugar because I was making it for a diabetic, and I used your suggested swap of stevia. The amount was perfect. I served the cake with Cocowhip and fresh strawberries and blueberries. Thank you!

Hi! I was baking a cake for a friend and was at first a bit on the fence after reading reviews, seems like for some people it didn’t bake well. I risked it…and it turned out perfect! Really tasty and people definitely couldn’t tell it was vegan and gf. Thank you :)

Great recipe! The first time I made it all I had was two 9in round pans. So the layers were of course thin but delicious. Next I made cupcakes. Delicious! Next I made banana cupcakes. Switched for the applesauce. Delicious! Yesterday a 13×18 birthday cake. Made two 9×13, baked 35 minutes. A real birthday cake for an 8 year old. Thank you!

The WORST recipe ever. I followed it exactly and embarrassed myself at the baby shower. Do NOT use this recipe. Middle was so gooey and borderline raw but the outside was cooked and almost burned. The temperature of the oven was exact and the state that I live in was average temperature. Flavorless and too chewy don’t waste your time or money making this.

This is a GREAT recipe! I used it to make a wedding cake for a friend who has celiac, and everyone cleared their plates. So moist and yummy. This will be my go-to recipe for many cakes to come!

I made this for my husband’s birthday party and everyone loved it. I find that GF and vegan treats often have more flavor and texture than conventional baked goods and this was no exception. The almond flour and the “butter” cream pair deliciously and we enjoyed leftover cake for breakfast the next day.

Alterations: I doubled the vanilla for more intense flavor. I also added some very strong coffee to the icing to give it some contrast to the vanilla in the cake.

Keep in mind: This cake does not rise very high, so the double or triple layer is going to make for a more attractive dessert than the sheet version. Next time I make it, I’ll try adding whole strawberries to the icing between the layers to give it some height.

Complete disaster. These measurements don’t work for almond flour at all. I didn’t check how much I was supposed to use in grams and measured it by cups… with 3 cups I ended up using 500 g of flour! No wonder I got a cookie dough instead of a proper batter. I poured a whole box of almond milk to try to fix, but of course it doesn’t work like that. A whole bowl of batter landed in a garbage. What a waste of products and time…

I found this cake to have a distinctive baking soda aftertaste. The ingredients were carefully measured.

I’ll try it again without the baking soda. Maybe I’m sensitive to this taste, as I’ve had this problem in the past with other recipes from different sources.

This cake didn’t turn out for me. It was really hard and crumbly and the flavor was more like a corn bread than a cake. I’ve made so many of your recipes so I had high hopes! I made it twice and both times it was the same.

I just made this cake. It was super delicious and moist. No one could tell it was Vegan and GF. I got lots of compliments. Thank you for such a delicious cake. I did make a few slight changes.
first. I did not have 1 scant cup potato starch (not flour) So I had to sub with 1 scant cup of arrowroot. I also used the 1/3 cup arrowroot starch like the recipe states. I noticed that the batter was very liquidy. I added about 1/4 cup of extra almond flour. I made this is a springform pan. I felt I only had enough for two layers for a 9in cake. I cooked it at 350 F for 25 minutes but I had to add a few minutes at the end when I noticed the middle wasn’t completely cooked. For the frosting I really messed up. I whipped it way too long. It came out flat and gritty looking. The taste was on point but the appearance was off. This was truly a great cake. My best critic husband said it was so moist like a cookie dough. But it was amazing. He asked for me to make it again. This is truly a winner. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.

I made this recipe using a granulated monk fruit sweetener (1:1 substitute for the regular sugar), and it turned out wonderfully. Very moist, not too sweet, and the people who tried it couldn’t tell it was gluten or sugar free (and vegan to boot!). It was incredibly easy as well, so this is going to be my go-to recipe for gluten free cake!

Made this cake for a family birthday, so good!! I followed the recipe instructions as written. Bob’s Red Mill super fine almond flour was used. The coconut whipped cream was my choice of frosting but I couldn’t find the brands recommended in the local grocery stores. So, I purchased two 9 oz cartons of CocoWhip(coconut whipped topping), in the freezer section at Natural Foods. It was enough to frost between 3 6″ layers and the outside with a bit left over. This cake was a hit with adults and kids at the birthday party!!

I love this cake. I’ve made it twice, and both times it was delicious. The second time I didn’t have applesauce, so I substituted coconut oil. It turned out great! (The only challenge was that the oil solidified in the milk when I mixed them, so I had to warm it all up.)

…this cake is our favorite – loved by all family members with or without food restrictions! I was drawn to this recipe because it didn’t require a “gluten free blend flour”…so many no-no’s in those pre-mixes for us.

I’ve made as written…and have made it many times over the last year. Thank you for sharing.

Delicious cake I made for my best friends birthday. It was absolutely incredible, moist, flavorful and not overly sweet. I used 2 teaspoons of vanilla in the cake instead of one and the flavor was perfect. I also used arrowroot starch for grain free. My friend and her husband (who isn’t gluten free or vegan) both described it as cake crack. Tried a slice today nearly three days later and it was still as moist and delicious as day one. Definitely going to make it again. Feeling inspired for what’s possible in vegan and gluten free baking. Thank you, MB!

I made this and it is marvelous. I had no applesauce but I had black currents in the freezer. I boiled the black currents and mashed them and used that instead. I replaced the sugar with xylitol. It worked. It’s moist and light and purple!

I loved this recipe! I’m newly gluten free for health reasons so this was my first birthday with a gluten free cake. I am happy to say the flavor was just the same (in my opinion better) than regular cake! The texture was more dense than/not as fluffy as normal cake but this is common with gluten free baking. Bonus that it made my whole house smell like yummy vanilla heaven! I only used 3 cups almond flour and 1 cup cane sugar and I used 1/2 cup arrowroot starch + 1/2 cup coconut flour in place of the potato starch. I did need to add 1 additional cup of unsweetened almond milk (added in 1/4 cup increments) as the batter was quite thick at first. I paired this with the date-sweetened chocolate frosting (AMAZING!). Overall, very pleased with how it turned out. Thanks, Dana!

Hi! The taste of this cake was phenomenal and I love your recipes. But it had such a strange texture-like it felt like there was too much potato flour that made it not moist like a cake but felt kind of stiff. I want to say it was more breadlike but that’s not quite the word-it was just off texturally- starchy rather than cakey. Should I reduce the starch?

For all those in the comments wondering if you can substitute with almond meal, you certainly can! I have made this recipe before with almond flour and it was delicious but I didn’t have any in my pantry this time and needed it for a birthday cake. I took the risk and just ground up raw almonds in my blender and the cake came out fluffy and I would say even more moist compared to with the almond flour. My husband also preferred this version (he’s very picky when it comes to healthy deserts haha). We made it with whipped coconut frosting with maple syrup and layered with strawberries. I also only used about 3/4 cup of sugar in the cake only because I didn’t want it too sweet. Yum yum yum all around! Love this recipe!!

I made this cake and loved it! Didn’t think a tasty gf/vegan cake would be possible, but this proved me very wrong. I had to make some significant changes to the flour content because I didn’t have enough in my pantry — ended up being 2.5 cups almond meal, 1.25 cups self raising gluten free AP flour, and 1 cup cornstarch. Everything else was exactly the same as the recipe as written. I was very skeptical, but it turned out great! For being both vegan and gluten free, it has a great crumb and flavor. It tastes even better the next day, as more of the almond flavor develops. Would certainly recommend!

So delicious! My first vegan, gluten-free cake and everyone loved it. Will be my new go-to vanilla cake recipe now that I can’t do dairy or gluten. Does not feel like you’re sacrificing an ounce of flavor.

👋🏽 Hey

I have made this twice over the past week as everyone that has tried this absolutely LOVED it. I used metrics and baked for 30 mins and it was perfect!

Thank you 😊

This cake came out a disaster. Even after baking it for four hours now the batter is really moist and raw on the inside. When making the batter, it was thick like chocolate chip cookie batter. I followed the instructions to at milk so the batter is thick and pourable. This worked because the batter was so thick is stuck to the spoon when scooping it up, but if the spoon was held upside the batter slowly slipped off and “poured.” From the outside the cake looked baked and had a nice golden-brown appearance. However, that was just a “crust layer” no part of the cake on the inside or bottom was cooked. I adjusted the oven to 275 degrees and baked the cake for about two more hours, but it was still moist on the inside. Then I turned the oven back up to 350 degrees and moved the cake to the bottom rack so it wasn’t browning so fast at top. However, after another hour the cake was still moist, as if we never baked it. Watered ingredients, wasted time. If I had seen the future I would have just left the batter as a “cookie batter,” when we used the exact amounts of ingredients needed, and would have just tried to make cookies. Adding milk to make the “cookie batter” “pourable” was a fail!

I made this cak with a chocolate buttercream frosting (per my son’s request) and it is divine! I’ve only ever made a gluten free cake with cake mix and it has come out so-so. We really enjoyed this recipe and I like that it is not overly sweet. I feel it didn’t need the full 35 minutes (probably just my oven) so next time I make this I will check it at the 30 min mark. Thank you for your wonderful recipes. :)

This recipe is amazing! I was skeptical, but it really tastes like a traditional (gluten & dairy-full) baked good. I made this into a funfetti cake with sprinkles and used Miyoko’s cultured vegan butter and JOI organic almond milk. Ended up using more almond flour than the recipe called for as the batter was a bit runny. Turned out great!

This cake was really excellent – happy faces from all (gluten free and non-gluten free). I made the recipe as written first time, which was perfect (and easy) and I’m making again today. Thank you for this recipe, it’s good to be able to make ONE great dessert to share and satisfy everyone.

Hi,
I made this for my daughter’s birthday and it was a huge hit. Loved this cake so much. I made a small variation though, I saw in one of the comments about adding lemon zest to the batter and frosting so tried that. As for the cake texture , it was really good compared to the other gluten free cakes I have tried over the years. This one is a keeper. Thank you so much! I’m going to try the Chocolate cake for my birthday next. :)

I made this for my nephew’s first birthday; he had a laundry list of food allergies that contains everything that goes in regular cake except for the sugar. I subbed arrowroot starch for corn starch and used a mix of baking soda + cream of tartar in place of baking powder. I made it twice, once with almond milk and once with coconut milk. The combination of almond flour and almond milk yielded an end product that was too almond-y for my taste, so I would recommend the coconut. The texture was a bit gummy and more resemblant of cornbread than cake, but I expected this going in. The only issue I had with the recipe was that the outside cooked very nicely but the inside sank and remained gummy and undercooked even when left in the oven long enough that the outer edges would burn if cooked longer. I did increase the amount of almond flour in the recipe, but I would decrease the amount of liquid ingredients if making it again. Overall, this is a pretty solid recipe and made it possible for a one year old to have cake for the first time

Love this cake! I find it tastes a bit like a vanilla/almond cake – which is lovely! The second time I made it I added the zest of one lemon to the batter and added lemon zest to the icing and it was a delicious lemon cake!

Incredible recipe!
I can’t believe its softness and fluffiness even when it’s made without eggs and almond flour!
Some modifications I made:
I add 1 1/2 tbsp of liquid stevia instead of sugar, and add 1 cup of grated carrot. It came out delicious. Thanks!
I love your website.

I have made this cake many times and it is amazing! I don’t like gluten free flour so I love how this uses almond flour. Wondering if I could add some cocoa powder to make it chocolate flavor? What would I need to take out? Thanks

I just baked this cake for a bridesmaids lunch tomorrow. Bought all the ingredients and crossed my fingers after following a new recipe and using new ingredients for the first time. This recipe was sadly a flop for me. I could see from the batter something wasn’t right but using these different ingredients, I didn’t know what to try except some extra almond milk to thin out the batter a bit. The cakes are like play dough after 40 minutes in the oven. Will have be a store bought cake for lunch tomorrow. :-(

The best most versatile cake. I’ve made a chai version and my personal favourite lavender with lavender infused buttercream. A favourite for all! Will be making a lavender earl grey for an upcoming birthday 😋

I’m coming back because this cake is too too good. Not “good for a gf cake” but really really good. My husband said the texture reminded him of the spice cakes he has when he was a boy. So I’m adding spices next time with a vanilla frosting.

Oh, my sweet goodness. This cake is ridiculous. I wasn’t surprised, because your recipes always are good. But my experience with gluten free cakes has been lackluster. It is so light and fluffy, and delicious! This cake was easy peasy to make. I prepared it as directed with one substitution of coconut sugar in place of cane sugar. I made a frosting with coconut butter, cacao, maple syrup, and vanilla. Thank you for this recipe. Yum yum yum.

I made this cake for my moms birthday (she is vegan and gluten free) and it was loved by all the vegans and non-vegans alike!! I was impressed with how easy it was too! I have made vegan/gluten free cakes before, this by far was the easiest recipe to follow.

I topped it with strawberries, blackberries, and “plumcots” (plum/apricot) with some mint leaves to make it extra pretty. It was just so so good.

This cake is amazing super moist super delicious!!!

The cake was so good! I didn’t expect it to be as light as it was.
I substituted some of the almond meal with Hazelnut meal and made a Vegan chocolate Ganache for the centre. This was my first attempt at a Vegan Gluten free cake and it was great! Thank you so much :)

i give this cake maybe an 8/10. i’ve never baked a cake from scratch so it turned out just fine for my first time but it was a bit too dry. the flavor was good but something about it was a little overwhelming. i put coconut whip and berries on it which helped the dryness. i assume my oven was what made the cake dry, although i baked it for the recommended time. this cake is definitely worth a try though!

I made this cake for my husband’s birthday and he loved it! Initially he was skeptical about gluten free cakes but he LOVED IT! I followed the recipe and everything turned out exactly as it is!

Thank you

I love this recipe. I t is delicious and even my non gluten free friends love it. I have used the cashew buttercream frosting and decorated it with strawberries or other berries.
It’s perfect, and also looks fantastic.
I used lemon juice instead of apple cider vinegar. Thank you for this amazing recipe, I am very grateful for this GF delicious vanilla cake.

This worked well for me!! The first gf, vegan cake recipe that ever has. I made a double batch of cupcakes, baked at 355 for 30 min, prob could have done 25 min. Thank you!

The first I time I made this was a trial run and included a substitution for the potato starch. I was not totally happy with the result. When I made it again for my daughter’s wedding last week, I made it exactly as written and measured carefully. It was fabulous! The cake was 4, 8″ layers (2 recipes) and was very stable. The filling was pineapple/mango fruit spread and whipped coconut creme. I added vegan cream cheese to the frosting to temper the sweetness. It was perfect and helped me feel proud that I could do this for her important day. Thanks for your efforts to share this recipe!

This cake came out perfect! So easy to make and it was mt first time baking a cake! So happy came out so good! My husband loved it as well! We did cut back on the sugar and next time I will cut back on it some more as the frosting was still just a little too sweet for our liking. I also baked it using 4 cup pyrex glass storage containers as its less toxic to bake in. Just add 10 minutes to baking time. This cake is seriously addictive though. This is definitely going to be my go-to cake recipe!

Minimalist Baker…. YOU NEVER DISAPPOINT!!! I have made this recipe twice now, both times, into cupcakes, because that’s what my children requested for their birthdays. This recipe makes about 2 dozen cupcakes, that are the most delicious cupcakes you will ever wish to eat! Even the gluten non-vegan crowd approves! This time, we added a small amount of beet juice to the icing to make it pink!

Loved this! I made it into a naked cake with vegan fruit filling layers (strawberry and blueberry!). I used the buttercream frosting on top and the sides to blend the fruit layers. It was so pretty and delicious!

Delicious! Best GF Vegan baking recipe I’ve tried so far. I am celiac and have a sensitivity to eggs so baking GF has been a challenge. After reviewing some the comments and tips, I halved the recipe and made a Lemon Poppy Seed Cupcake version by doing 50/50 Lemon Essence and Vanilla Extract, added a little lemon zest and 1 tbsp of poppy seeds. Baked for about 20-22min for delicious cupcakes/muffins! Currently making the 1 Bowl Vegan GF Chocolate Cake, I anticipate it will be just as good! Thanks for these delicious recipes.

This is by far the BEST gluten free, vegan cake I’ve ever made and it’s become my go-to recipe. Love that it’s simple to make and doesn’t have a ton of ingredients. I made it with coconut whipped cream and everyone without dietary restrictions absolutely loved it. I’ve made it in a bundt pan and in cupcake form and they both came out amazing. Thank you for this fantastic recipe!!!

Truthfully, I had low hopes for this recipe, simply because I’ve had poor luck with many gluten-free, vegan baking endeavors. I’ve also had things with almond flour taste mealy and healthy-seeming when you didn’t want to be eating something that tasted healthy. This cake was truly amazing! I used soy milk for the milk, but stuck to the recipe and used the buttercream frosting recipe as well. Even my husband, who has no dietary restrictions loved it. Thank you so much for providing a simple and delicious recipe to help make my 2-year old’s birthday stress-free and delicious!

The only highlight of this quarantine has been cooking your recipes!! This cake was sooo delicious. I added a heaping 1/2 cup of shredded coconut to the mix and then made a lactose-free cream cheese frosting topped with shredded coconut all over the whole cake. No one would suspect this cake is gluten free or vegan. It is fabulous. Thanks very much.

I just made this cake for my birthday yesterday. I cut out 1/3 cup of sugar, added a dash of cinnamon, and did have to add about 1/2+ cup more of almond flour to get the right batter consistently (as included in recipe instructions). I used my own chocolate frosting. The end result was really delicious! I’m so happy to have a gluten free recipe that didn’t require a million ingredients and has a normal consistency when baked. The mouthfeel is exactly what you want in a cake. Moist but not too dense. Also, I only had to bake it for 30 minutes in my oven, which seemed to be just right. Thanks for the great recipe! My whole family enjoyed it!

Here’s my update. This recipe is truly magic! I baked for 35 minutes. It’s spongy like a non-gf cake, and my kids couldn’t stop poking at it (gently), as they were incredulous too! The cross-shaped pan didn’t pose any problems with baking time and because I lined with parchment paper in addition to greasing it, I didn’t have too much trouble releasing it from the pan. I turned down the heat to 330F about 2/3 the way through because it smelled too hot. The edges and bottom would’ve burned for sure before the center set if I didn’t turn the heat down. Next time, I’ll start with the lower temp and bake for longer. This is fantastic! And so easy!

It’s in the oven now and I can’t wait til it’s done! I’ve been baking gluten free for 8yrs and have also come across some great gf vegan recipes but this is my first “real” cake that’s egg free. (I’ve made plenty of amazing vegan pizookies that are cake-like but this recipe is totally different.) I decided to sub out most of the sugar for erythritol and the batter tastes wonderful. I don’t like things too sweet. I did add more vanilla extract. I plan to use coconut whip to frost but instead of maple syrup or honey which I usually use to sweeten, I’ll go ahead and use powdered sugar to balance out the cake if it’s not sweet enough for my guests and to not impart any distinct maple or honey flavors. So excited! Thanks for the recipe. I’ll report back later with the results! I’m also using a cross-shaped cake pan so we’ll see how that turns out!

I made this recipe, but I used organic coconut palm sugar instead and it worked beautifully! I also made cupcakes instead of a cake and I got 21 cupcakes out of it (I probably could’ve got 24, but my portioning for making cupcakes is never consistent lol). I baked them for 22 minutes @ 350°F and they were amazing! They were just as good as (if not better than) a regular dairy and gluten cake. I can’t wait to use this recipe for birthdays and other events since a lot of people in my family have gluten allergies, so it’s nice to finally have a dessert that we can all share and enjoy. I highly recommend this recipe because it was super simple and delicious!! Happy baking everyone! :)

Hi everyone! I made this cake once and followed the recipe to a T, and it was AMAZING. Delicious, great texture, easy, huge success. After making it once, I wanted to make it again, but I only had a gf flour blend instead of almond flour. After reading the label, I decided to substitute the blend for all the flours in the directions… I cannot overstate this: BAD IDEA. What was once a perfect recipe turned into a completely horrible disaster. The cake looked okay, but tastes like uncooked bread dough. PLEASE do yourself a favor and follow the recipe. The minimalist baker will not steer you wrong, just follow the recipe and save yourself the disappointment of ruining what could be a perfect cake.