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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}
I made this for Father’s Day today and it was a big hit. You definitely could not tel that it was gluten free. Thank you for giving me another go to recipe that I can depend on.
I am wondering if the white cake in your photo is made from this recipe. I have never made a true white cake that used whole eggs. Cakes with them always come out looking like a yellow cake. Otherwise this recipe looks perfect.
I really am seeking a cake that looks like your photo. Would it turn out if I used the same weight of whites instead of adding in the yolks? Guess it may be worth a try although I rarely mess/change anything in GF recipes.
Would appreciate a reply.
I took that photo and yes, it is made using exactly this recipe. I can’t say how it would work with whites only, because I haven’t tried that.
Can you use a precombined gf flour?
There are far too many variations in the available GF flour blends for me to be able to say whether or not that will work. I’ve extensively tested this recipe as it is written above. If you do try it with a specific blend of flours, please let me know how it works for you.
Hello! I have just discovered your website and this cake looks amazing! I would love to try it but am hesitant without the flour/starch amounts in weight as I am in Australia and know our cup measurements differ. I noticed in the comments that you mentioned you would add the weights next time you cooked the cake, is this something you are still planning to do? I’d love to give this recipe a try. Thanks so much!
What are your thoughts if I were to make a “dry cake mix” version of this to sprinkle over for a lazy peach cobbler in a Dutch oven? I’m trying to cook a dessert for a group of people that have egg AND gluten allergies.
I honestly have no idea how that might work. I would recommend making certain there aren’t any pockets of dry mix in the finished cobbler though, simply because GF flours have a very different raw flavor than all-purpose flour. Maybe make the cake recipe minus the egg and pour that over the peaches? I’m honestly a bit leery of the dry starches and flours if they aren’t completely cooked.
I am wondering if you have attempted to freeze the unfrosted cake? I am looking to make my own wedding cake using this recipe and will need to make it ahead and am concerned if it will become soggy when thawing. Thank you!
I always freeze my cakes before assembling them. I feel like it locks moisture and makes the crumb easier to work with. Hope this helps.
Hi, I need to make s gluten and dairy free birthday cake. I was wondering if this could be made dairy free by substituting the butter with coconut oil and milk with almond milk? cheers
Hi Mary :
I am bout to attempt this awesome looking cake. I see melted butter. Does this mean simply bring to room temp where the butter isn softened or (2) melted means melt butter with heat like on stove / microwave then cool?
Thanks a bunch.
“Melted butter” means completely liquid and melted either on the stove or in the microwave.
Hi Mary, I have read through the comments on here had have a couple of things I think may help others. I made this cake a couple of days ago. I made a cupcake at the same time I was baking a 8in square. The cupcake was amazing! Light, fluffy, tender crumb. But I noticed about half way through baking that my cake was getting really brown on top and still pretty loose in the middle. I reduced heat and put foil over it but final product was denser with very crisp edges. So yesterday I remade the cake, turned the oven down to 325 as soon as I slipped the cake in and tented over the top with foil. Half way through I pulled the foil and let it finish. It turned out perfect. I don’t have an exact time I just kept an eye on it until it was done. Also think maybe some of the readers are not beating the yolks and sugar long enough. The longer you beat, the thicker and lighter the combo becomes as it is beating in air. In a good sponge cake recipe it will say ” until light yellow and forms ribbons”. Thanks for the recipe it will be my go to for a GF cake.
I have a scraper mixer and found the sugar and eggs still grainy even after beating for 5 mins… Do you beat with a balloon whisk attachment or mixer attachment?
I have a nut allergy, so don’t want to put the almond extract in. Should I replace it with something else or .?
You can use an imitation almond extract (see reference here: https://www.foodallergy.org/allergens/tree-nut-allergy) or skip it and simply add vanilla extract. It’s good both ways.
Have you ever made this in a 13×9 inch pan? Trying to feed 13 people.
Do you use superfine rice flours to avoid a gritty finish?
I use standard brown rice flour and this cake is not gritty at all. Happy baking!
I followed this recipe to a “T” and got pretty good results. I am not gluten free so I want to try to make a cake as close as possible and it was NOT gritty like I have tasted in the past when I used bobs 1:1. However – I do think it’s too much sugar. It’s pretty sweet and my sugar carmalized slightly on the top. That could have been a mixing error on my part but I still found it on the sweet side. I’m going to try it again with half sour cream and reduce 1/2 cup of sugar. I like to bake with grams with Gg flours so I weighed my dry ingredients for anyone who wants to weigh it out.
225 brown rice
115 potato starch
42 tapioca
Thanks for the recipe it’s def a keeper!
Love this recipe so much. Thank you from me and my family too.. I love that I can make it GF for the ones who need it and everyone else gobbles it up too. I can’t tell it is GF. And paired with your strawberry icing – amazing!!!
Looks delish! How far in advance could you make this and it still be nice and fluffy? I plan to ‘naked’ ice it, would you chill in fridge or freezer first to reduce crumbing? Oh and is the main pic with strawberry icing the strawberry mousse cake recipe?
Hi, I was so excited to try this recipe but was a little disappointed. I followed the recipe exactly but it looked nothing like your photos. It was most definitely yellow, not even close to white, and had that familiar grainy texture of most gluten free recipes. It looked more like cornbread or johnnycake. Would you be so kind as to share what brand of ingredients you used so I can try again?
I use Bob’s Red Mill almost exclusively for my baking ingredients. The color will vary slightly depending on how yellow/orange your eggs are. Plain store-bought eggs typically leave it slightly yellow / mostly white, farm eggs definitely make it yellow. The texture should not be grainy at all though. Did you beat the eggs and sugar together until it was completely smooth? Whisk the dry together before adding it slowly? I made this cake again this week and the I promise you that texture should not be grainy. Without being in your kitchen with you, it’s hard to guess what went wrong. I know how frustrating that is!
Do you think it would work with coconut cream and coconut oil to replace the dairy?
I honestly do not know. If you do try it, please let me know how it works for you.
All I can say is wow. I had completely given up on “fluffy” anything gluten free. I’ve been cooking 40 years and just plain struggle with gluten free recipes. I added a dash of baking soda and 1/4 cup of almond flour in place of the regular flour and was bowled over by the taste (I licked the spoon!) For my husband’s birthday (he has celiac disease) I made these as cupcakes and he said he wouldn’t know it was gluten free. Thank you for figuring out the recipe for us!
I couldn’t find the flour and starches in separate packages. I found a flour mixture of all three. How much should I put into the recipe?
I have no way to answer that without testing the blend of starches personally. However, if you already have them and want to try it. I’d add up the amounts of flours and starches listed in the recipe and use that amount of the store-bought pre-blended ingredients.
This is a delicious cake but it is not a WHITE cake at all !