Drumroll, please! Friends, we present a perfectly fluffy, tender, sweet vanilla cake that’s vegan and gluten-free! Let’s bake!
This recipe is easy to make, requiring 1 bowl and 10 ingredients.
The base starts with vegan “buttermilk” made by mixing dairy-free milk and vinegar. Then add in applesauce for (oil-free!) moisture and natural sweetness and vanilla extract for that quintessential vanilla flavor. YUM.
For the dry ingredients, after much experimentation, we went with a mixture of almond flour, potato starch, and cornstarch. This combo totally nailed it! So stoked for that fluffy, crumbly texture.
Once your cake is baked, it’s time for frosting!
We included two options: one is coconut whipped cream and the other is classic vegan buttercream frosting. Both are delicious, but we were feeling classic vibes, so we went for the buttercream.
We hope you all LOVE this cake! It’s:
Fluffy
Tender
Perfectly sweet
Vanilla-infused
Easy to make
& SO delicious
This would make the perfect cake for holidays or special occasion celebrations. Besides being delicious with coconut whip or vegan buttercream, it’s also amazing on its own or even with chocolate frosting!
For more vegan + gluten-free cakes that impress, be sure to check out our BEST Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake, Vegan Gluten-Free Chocolate Hazelnut Cake, Gluten-Free Birthday Cake, and Vegan Gluten-Free Carrot Cake.
If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo @minimalistbaker on Instagram. Cheers and happy baking, friend!
1-Bowl Vegan Gluten-Free Vanilla Cake
Ingredients
WET INGREDIENTS
- 1 ⅔ cup dairy-free milk (we used boxed coconut milk // almond or rice would also work)
- 1 ½ tsp apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice)
- 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
DRY INGREDIENTS
- 3 ¼ cups almond flour (not meal // we prefer Wellbee’s brand)
- 1 scant cup potato starch (not flour)
- 1/3 cup cornstarch (or you can try subbing arrowroot starch for grain-free)
- 1 ⅓ cup organic cane sugar*
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt (optional)
VEGAN BUTTERCREAM FROSTING (optional)
- 2 sticks vegan butter, softened (we prefer Earth Balance soy-free buttery sticks)
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 3 ½-4 cups organic powdered sugar (sifted)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (176 C) and lightly grease two standard 8-inch round cake pans, one 9×13-inch, or three 6-inch round pans* (with vegan butter or coconut oil) and dust with gluten-free flour. Shake out excess and set aside.
- In a liquid measuring cup, measure out dairy-free milk and add vinegar. Let set a few minutes. Then add applesauce and vanilla. Whisk/stir to combine.
- Add dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Then add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until well incorporated and no large lumps remain. The batter should be thick but pourable (see video). Add more almond flour if too wet or dairy-free milk if too thick.
- Divide batter evenly between prepared cake pans and bake on a center rack for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the edges and surface appear golden brown.
- Let cool 15 minutes in the cake pans. To remove from pans, run a dull knife around the edge of the pans to loosen the cakes. Then place a plate or cooling rack on top and quickly invert. Let cool completely (preferably overnight or at least 6 hours on a wire rack) before frosting.
- Frost with coconut whipped cream and berries for a lighter application (see inspiration here), or frost generously with my 3-ingredient Vegan Buttercream Frosting (see below).
- Store cake covered at room temperature for 2-3 days or in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. Freeze up to 1 month.
- FROSTING*: Add softened butter to a large mixing bowl and beat for 1 minute. Then add vanilla and mix once more. Gradually add sifted powdered sugar 1 cup at a time and beat until a thick, spreadable frosting is formed. I found about 3 1/2 cups to be the appropriate amount per 1 full cake recipe.
- If too thick, the frosting will be too hard to spread (add 1/2 tsp almond milk at a time if too thick). If too thin, the frosting will slide off the cake. If too thin, continue adding powdered sugar until you get the right texture.
- Use immediately or cover and store in the refrigerator up to 5 days. Let come to room temperature before frosting.
Video
Notes
*To reduce sugar, each 1/4 cup of sugar can be swapped with 1 packet (1/2 tsp) of powdered stevia, but the texture will vary. Or you could try subbing a mix of maple syrup and coconut sugar, but I haven’t tested it this way and can’t guarantee results.
*Nutrition information is a rough estimate calculated with the salt and without frosting.
*Prep time does not include cooling the cake.
*Recipe inspiration from The Vegan 8.
char says
I made this cake i think 2 years ago ? For my friends birthday and she loved it! I want to make it again but in cupcakes… Will all the ratios be okay for cupcakes ? Any modifications I should look out for?
Hi Char, We’re so glad this cake was a hit last time you made it! You can definitely make it into cupcakes – just bake for less time. We’d suggest baking at 350 F for ~25-30 minutes. You’ll know they’re done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Hope that helps!
LT says
I can’t wait to make this. I was wondering, would Oat flour be an OK substitute for almond flour? I just cannot stand the taste of almond flour in baking and find it is all you can taste when used.
Thanks!
We’re so excited for you to try it! We wouldn’t recommend using oat flour here. It will create a cake that is dense and gummy. It’s also more absorbent than almond flour, so you would need to use quite a bit less of it. The next best option would be cashew flour! Hope that helps!
NJ says
Simply loveeee this recipe and have made it dozens of times… thank you so much for it.
Was wondering, can we swap the cane sugar with normal refined sugar just in case? Will it work?
Thanks!
Yay! We’re so glad to hear you enjoy this recipe and keep coming back to it. Thank you for the lovely review! Yes, normal refined sugar should work similarly!
Tara deVos says
This recipe is amazing, so easy and so delicious! We needed a vegan gf cake recipe for our Tomte gingerbread house cakes so I used this delicious recipe and added gingerbread spices and a touch of maple sugar for added festive flavor. It did not disappoint! The kids had a blast decorating their cakes with maple butter and vanilla-orange frosting. The cake was so sweet, moist and fluffy. On its own this cake is amazing and it’s just a bonus that it’s the perfect base for added fun flavors!
How fun! Thank you for sharing your experience, Tara! xoxo
Ella says
Many thanks for this great, and so easy to make, recipe :)
I made this cake twice, both with slight modifications.
Oat milk (Overherd) instead of coconut milk
Juggery instead of sugar*
And
First time, I cooked apples with whole cardamom, (fished the cardamom out after the cooking)
Second time, I didn’t have apples so mushed a small banana and added nutmeg
I didn’t have vanilla so I didn’t use it
*The juggery worked really well. The stages were:
1 – add cider vinegar to the oat milk
2 – While the oat milk and cider vinegar got acquainted with each other I cut the juggery into small pieces.
3. Blended the juggery into the liquids. I used a stick blender. Obviously can use a food processor of some kind
I didn’t make any kind of icing. This cake is lovely on its own, or with cooked apples and/or vanilla ice cream
Amazing! Thanks so much for sharing your experience with different modifications, Ella! We love your creativity with it :)
Michelle says
Hi there,
I am planning on making this recipe and prefer to bake in grams. Using the metric option at the top of your recipe, I believe it is showing some differences in weight with the potato starch and the corn starch to what is the true weight on the back of the bags.
Would you be able to clarify that your numbers are accurate and I should measure the same as stated on the recipe.
Super appreciate your help! I also wanted to note I am using the same brands you referenced in this recipe
Hi Michelle, we just double checked all the measurements and it’s looking pretty accurate to us! But keep in mind there is going to be some variability in brands in terms of what’s listed on the label for cup to gram conversions. For example, based on what’s currently listed on the Bob’s Red Mill nutrition panels, the potato starch looks like it would currently convert to 168 grams (instead of ~150 g) and the corn starch would convert to 43 grams (instead of 37 g). The slight differences (especially for the cornstarch) are unlikely to make a difference in the final result. We’re hesitant to change it in the recipe because the metric measurements throughout our site are consistent and based off of what was listed on the nutrition panel closer to when this recipe was developed. Just for your knowledge – we do not specifically test the recipes in grams. We test in US customary and convert to metric. That means there’s going to be some variability and we account for that at the end of step 3! We hope this information is helpful and that your cake baking is a success :) Keep us posted on how it goes for you!
Maryanne says
I love this cake! I have made it multiple times. However, I’m trying to cut back on fat. Is there anyway to make it with whole wheat pastry flour, oat flour, spelt flour, etc?
Hi Maryanne, hmm, we’re not sure that would work well..it would like be dry. If you want to do some experimenting, just keep in mind almond flour is less absorbent than those flours, so you would likely only need about half the amount of flour. We would suggest starting by only replacing a little of it.