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The Best Gluten Free White Cake is tender and moist, while dense enough not to crumble at the touch of a fork, this is exactly what I want in a white cake.
Topped with creamy fresh strawberry frosting, or a classic buttercream, this cake has received more thumbs up over the past ten years than anything else I’ve baked. The flavor combination is absolutely perfect with both almond and vanilla flavors.
Gluten Free Cake Recipes
Several years ago, my best friend asked if I would make her a gluten-free white cake. In my relative newness to gluten-free baking, I assured her that I could do that. Ha.
It took me 6, maybe 7-8, different recipe attempts, (I stopping counting after I dumped the third mess into the trash.) The taste and/or texture was never quite right.
If you are familiar with gluten-free baking, then you likely already know that recipes for traditional chocolate desserts are fairly simple to convert to gluten-free most of the time.
This is evidenced by The Best Gluten Free Chocolate Cake, no one ever believes that one is gluten-free. Unfortunately, this is not true for all gluten free baking recipes.
Chocolate provides so much flavor that without it, the more “unique” flavors of the gluten free flour alternatives will often show through. This made it much harder to achieve a classic white cake flavor.
Gluten Free White Cake
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m rather picky about my gluten-free baking. (It has caused many an eye roll from my husband as I decide something just isn’t quite right, while he and my kids are happily devouring it. ha)
Because I am not restricted from eating the traditional versions myself, I often make both items side by side to taste the both versions and see if the gluten free recipe measures up. “Good enough for gluten free” isn’t something I ever want to share with you.
I’m thrilled to tell you that this is THE CAKE. This cake absolutely positively measures up. Over the past few years, I’ve made this cake with the exact recipe below countless times now and I’ve served it to over a dozen people.
It received rave reviews from every single person and they all questioned me more than once regarding whether or not it was really gluten free. (That, my friends, is a sign of gluten free recipe success!)
Gluten Free White Cake Recipe
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease (2) 8″ round cake pans with butter and line the bottom of each pan with a greased parchment circle.
- Stir together the dry ingredients and set aside.
- Beat the eggs and the sugar together until creamy.
- Add half of the dry ingredients and beat again.
- Add the buttermilk, butter, vanilla and almond extracts and beat to combine.
- Add the remaining dry ingredients and beat just until combined.
- Divide the batter between the greased cake pans.
- Bake in the center of the oven for 35-40 minutes, until the cake is very lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Remove and let cool at least 30 minutes, before inverting onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
- Frost as desired.
Once you’ve fallen in love with this cake the way that we have, you can use this recipe to make a Strawberry Poke Cake, a Pineapple Crush Jello Cake, or this Strawberry Mousse Cake.
The Gluten-Free White Cake recipe works great as cupcakes for a gluten-free birthday cake. My middle son loves this cake with Fluffy Chocolate Frosting. The possibilities with this cake recipe are endless.
Check out all of the Gluten Free Dessert Recipes on this website!
Kitchen Tip: I use this sheet pan, this cake pan, or this cupcake pan to make this recipe.
The Best Gluten Free White Cake
Ingredients
- 1½ cups brown rice flour
- ⅔ cup potato starch
- ⅓ cup tapioca starch
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups white sugar
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 cup butter melted and cooled
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease (2) 8" round cake pans with butter and line the bottom of each pan with a greased parchment circle.
- Stir together the dry ingredients and set aside. Beat the eggs and the sugar together until creamy. Add half of the dry ingredients and beat again.
- Add the buttermilk, butter, vanilla and almond extracts and beat to combine. Add the remaining dry ingredients and beat just until combined.
- Divide the batter between the greased cake pans. Bake in the center of the oven for 35-40 minutes, until the cake is very lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Remove and let cool at least 30 minutes, before inverting onto a wire rack to finish cooling. Frost as desired. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
{originally published 4/1/14 – recipe notes and photos updated 8/17/21}
Best gluten free cake I’ve ever had!! Thank you for sharing this!! 😆
I tried to half this recipe for a small family of 3 with 2 dinner guest. The flavor is good but, remains dense and dry as to be expected of gluten free products.
I made this for my daughter’s birthday. She is gluten free, sugar free and artificial color and flavor free.
Instead of sugar i used 1C of erythritol and 1/2C of Pyure which is a erythritol and stevial blend (like Truvia).
I mixed the eggs and “sugar” for a couple minutes based on other comments i read until they were very fluffy.
I doubled the vanilla and cut the almond by half per comments.
And i bake it at 325* rather than 350* per some comments
I baked the cake the day before and wrapped it in plastic cling wrap and left it on the counter.
next day I frosted the cake with this Sugar Free Swiss Meringue Buttercream
https://tjstaste.com/swiss-meringue-buttercream/
Served it at her small family fuction and everyone said it was good. The general opinion was that it was not as “fluffy” as a regular cake. More of a pound cake consitancy. I don’t know if this is because i didn’t bake it the same day that i served it. But it was still good.
I will be making it again in a few days for my oher’s daughter’s birthday with the same restrictions.
I attempted this with Bob’s Red Mill GF flour, the kind where the primary ingredients are garbanzo bean flour, tapioca starch, and potato starch. That batch ended up greasy, gooey, unset in the middle, and kind of dark yellow. I then tried the recipe with Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Flour, where brown and white rice flour are the primary ingredients along with tapioca/potato starch. There is also Xanthan gum pre-blended in the mix. The second batch was much fluffier, lighter, and non-greasy. I’d say the rice flour makes a huge difference in this recipe! Just in case anyone wants to try one of the pre-blended GF flours, choose one with a similar rice/tapioca/potato profile to this recipe!
if the recioe calls for:
1 1/2 cups brown rice flour
2/3 cup potato starch
1/3 cup tapioca starch
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
How much of the Red Mill 1 to 1 did you use? And did you use it instead of the tapioca starch, potato starch and brown rice flour????? Or what? Thanks!!
Yes, I am curious about this too. I used to make my own GF flour mixing all the ingredients you suggest, but I find that the cup for cup versions have gotten much better and I generally just use those. Most of the ones I’ve tried are made up of exactly the flours you recommend (and xanthum too, as opposed to psyllium). I’d love to know the amount of GF flour you recommend if not mixing our own. Thank you!
2 and 1/2 cups of the flour mix has worked well for me. I have used “Better Batter” which is a mix of rice flours, potato starch and tapioca starch so I just added those amounts… (1 1/2 + 2/3+1/3= 2 1/2) It also includes xanthan gum so I don’t worry about the 1 tsp of that! The recipe has turned out great multiple times. I am currently making 60 cupcakes for my GF friend and her twins’ birthday party!
I’m about to try this recipe for my daughter’s birthday party this Saturday. I’m ordering the Better Batter mix today from Amazon. Did you follow the rest of the recipe and instructions or did you make any other changes? Also, would I be able to make it a day ahead and leave the cake in the fridge overnight?
Can you provide the ingredients (more so the flours) in weight…I find my baking turns out completely different when I use cups cc weight. Thanks. Plus I thought all baking should be done by weight.
Measurement by weight or cups is really personal preference when it comes to baking. For the most part, I don’t bake by weight, so my recipes aren’t written that way. There isn’t a “right” or “wrong” way to do it.
Has anyone tried a dairy free version of this recipe?
Yes, I use a nut milk with a little lemon juice instead of the buttermilk, and it turns out beautifully (although I have to drastically reduce the amount of liquid whether I use dairy or not, in order to have the right consistency).
How much did you reduced the liquid? Drastically sounds scary without specifics.
Hey….my cake didn’t rise.. . Like at all. Any insights? Used new xantham gum and baking powder.
I have no clue! I’ve never had that happen with this recipe. Was the cake fully cooked through? The three most common reasons might be old baking powder (if you just bought yours, double check the expiration date.), over mixing or whisking too much (you want plenty of air bubbles in the cake and over whisking will defeat that), and if the oven is too cold it might cause a cake not to rise. I’m so sorry for your frustration. I’ve been there myself plenty of times over the years. Definitely check that baking powder though, I’ve tossed cans before when things like this happen. That’s my best guess.
I find stuff to rise better with aluminum free baking powder (for gluten free baking)
I bought it once because it was new at my store, not realizing that it was different and never went back!!
My cake didnt rise…at all and is dense….any idea y?I used new baking powder and xanthan gum
I adapted this recipe using honey instead of sugar and added fresh peaches to the batter. It was incredibly moist and delicious. I would have never guessed it was gluten free.
How much honey did you use?
Hi, since you are in the US and your cup sizes are different to the rest of the world do you have this in actual weight measurements please?
Google can help with that. Just search for converting cups to grams. I’ve converted back and forth, and it’s pretty easy. Good luck!
My husband has been gluten free for 10 years. I’ve tried A LOT of cake recipes over that time. NEVER has one been good enough to pass for a fantastic REGULAR cake…TIL NOW… Not only is this the best gluten free cake I’ve ever had, it may be the best cake I’ve ever had. Period. RAVE reviews from my husband and kids! My new go-to cake recipe!!!
*Didn’t have the rice flour or starches so just substituted with Schar gluten free bread flour (still added the xanthum gum)…gorgeous and delicious!
I made this cake for my son’s 12 birthday party and it was the best cake I’ve ever had. He’s had celiac disease for years and I’ve tried so many different recipes for gluten free cake and most of them ended up tasting like dried sponge. So happy to have found your recipe. Thank you.
Hi there! Just baked this cake and it was awesome, loved the texture and the flavor was perfect. My question tho is how did your cake come out so white? I used Bob Red Mills brown rice flour, which was a tad darker than white flour. Would you mind sharing the brands of ingredients you used? Thanks for this recipe, looking forward to trying some of your others!
I use Bob’s Red Mill for all of my GF ingredients. I’ve noticed that sometimes the cake is more white and other times it is more yellow. My best guess is that the eggs affect it, but I honestly don’t know how to make it happen one way or the other.
Can you use all purpose gluten free flour in place of all the flours & starches?
Not having tested that with your flour blend, and knowing that all the flour mixes are different, I can’t speak to how that would work. If you do try it with a specific blend, let us know how it works out.
My daughter-in-law is both gluten and dairy intolerant. The struggle is real! Do you have any recipe options excluding both gluten and dairy?
This cake works beautifully with almond milk (turned into buttermilk with vinegar) and dairy-free butter.
I have made your recipe several times and can testify that it is loved both by my friend that has celiacs as well as everyone else that has eaten it! It is an awesome recipe – thank you for taking the time to experiment and perfect it. I have shared your recipe with others!
Looks very delicious
I made this as a Birthday cake for a friend and it was awesome. I will be using this one again.
Can you use regular gluten free flour such as cup 4 cup in this recipe