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Home Β» Baked Goods Β» Gluten-Free Spice Cake (Dairy-Free)

February 22, 2021

Gluten-Free Spice Cake (Dairy-Free)

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This gluten-free spice cake is moist, light and filled with warm spices, including a little kick from fresh ginger. It is dairy-free to and so simple to make.

Make this cake as a 2 or 3-layer tall cake or cut the recipe in half and make an 8 or 9 inch round or 8 inch square.

slice of gluten free dairy free spice cake on white plate. Whole cake in background, fork, ginger root and cinnamon stick in foreground.

Ingredients

Gluten-free flour – I know that the trend in gluten-free flours for baking has moved to all-in-one wheat flour replacements. So I developed this recipe using King Arthur Measure for Measure Gluten-Free Flour. Cup4Cup (best prices at Target) and Pamela’s Artisan Blend will work well too. All of these are certified gluten-free. I did not test with Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 (not certified GF) since I have had allergic reactions to several of their products.

This recipe also works well with my DIY gluten-free flour mix. The blend contains sorghum, millet and brown rice flours and lends great flavor and texture to gluten-free cakes, cupcakes and muffins. For the recipe and more info on making your own gluten-free flour mix, check out my post on gluten-free flour mixes and blends. I highly recommend making your own flour mix. It can be a huge cost-saver!

I use dairy-free milk substitutes – almond, coconut (not canned), oat, soy will all work. Just be sure to use an unsweetened one.

2 layer gluten-free spice cake  with slice being held up ion cake server. white background

Fresh grated ginger gives this cake a nice kick of spice. I prefer the flavor from fresh ginger, but if you don’t have fresh, dried ground ginger will work too. Here is my quick tutorial on how to peel and grate fresh ginger.

Gluten-free spices – I include cinnamon, clove and nutmeg in addition to the ginger. You can replace all of them with an equal part of pumpkin pie spice. The best source for spices is Spicely Organics. Their whole line of spices is certified gluten-free and of excellent quality.

NOTE: If baking at high altitude. I recommend King Arthur Baking for excellent guidance on this subject and many more baking issues.

Cake Frosting Recipes

square piece of spice cake with sweet potato frosting, bite taken out on white plate with fork. white marble background

This spice cake is perfect frosted with this gorgeous sweet potato frosting without powdered sugar (no cane sugar at all), pipeable cream cheese frosting or a vanilla buttercream frosting. I also topped this cake with spicy candied walnuts for a perfect crunchy accent.

More Gluten and Dairy-Free Cakes

Do you love cinnamon and pumpkin spice? Try my special gluten-free, dairy-free ginger cupcakes, gluten-free dairy-free carrot cake cupcakes that will knock your socks off, gluten-free cinnamon crumb cake, and my gluten-free dairy-free pumpkin bread recipe!

Continue to Content
slice of gluten free dairy free spice cake on white plate. Whole cake in background, fork, ginger root and cinnamon stick in foreground.

Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Spice Cake

Yield: 1 2 layer cake (8 or 9")
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes

This gluten-free spice cake is moist, light and filled with warm spices, including a nice kick from fresh ginger.

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 c gluten-free flour blend*
  • 1 Tb baking powder
  • 1 tsp xanthan gum (omit if your blend has it)
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 tsp ground ginger (or 2 tsp fresh grated ginger added to wet ingredients)
  • 1/8 tsp ground clove
  • 1/8 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 c sugar
  • 1/4 brown sugar or coconut palm sugar
  • 4 large eggs (room temperature)
  • 1 c oil (neutral oil like sunflower or avocado)
  • 1 c milk or non-dairy substitute (room temperature)
  • 2 tsp vanilla powder or extract

Instructions

  1. Cut this recipe in half for a 1-layer 8 or 9 inch round or 8" square cake
  2. Pre-heat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 cake pans with parchment and spray with oil.
  3. Place the flour, baking powder, xanthan gum, spices, salt and vanilla, if in powder form, into a large mixing bowl. Whisk to combine.
  4. Beat the sugar with the eggs, milk, oil and (liquid) vanilla in a mixing bowl. Beat until smooth.
  5. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry and mix until the batter is smooth.
  6. Divide the batter evenly between the 2 pans, or for a three layer cake divide between 3 pans (8"only).
  7. Bake 35-40 minutes for 8" round, 25-30 minutes for 9" round and 8" square. The top should be set and bounce back from a gentle tap.
  8. Cool layers in the pan for 5 minutes. Then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
  9. Frost with cream cheese frosting, sweet potato frosting or vanilla buttercream frosting.

Notes

*If your flour blend contains xanthan gum, guar gum or inulin omit the 1 tsp called for in the recipe.

This is the gluten-free flour blend I prefer for this cake:

These flours can all be found (certified gluten-free) at Vitacost.com

  • 1 c sweet white sorghum flour
  • 3/4 c millet flour
  • 1/4 c brown rice flour
  • 2/3 c potato starch
  • 1/3 c tapioca starch

This is an easy DIY gluten-free flour blend:

  • 2 c brown rice flour
  • 2/3 c potato starch
  • 1/3 cup tapioca starch

Recommended Products

  • Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour
    Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour
Nutrition Information
Yield 12 Serving Size 1
Amount Per Serving Calories 500Total Fat 24gSaturated Fat 3gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 20gCholesterol 78mgSodium 387mgCarbohydrates 61gFiber 1gSugar 34gProtein 10g

This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated using information from the Nutritionix database. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.

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© Janet Harlow
Cuisine: American / Category: Baked Goods
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Posted In: Baked Goods, Dessert · Tagged: cake, cinnamon, layer cake

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I am so excited to present these after & before ph I am so excited to present these after & before photos of my Gluten-Free Spice Cake (also dairy-free) with sweet potato frosting. Link to the recipe in my profile.Β 
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The 3rd photo, from back in 2015, was on my old blog. When I started to learn photography last year, I also launched a new blog & didn't want to post the recipe with that unappealing photo. I finally got around to a re-shoot & the recipe is back.
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Thank you to @dr_nadiafazal and @sweet_tooth_by_drj for hosting and to @heathygoodiesbylucia for judging this
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