This gluten-free vanilla almond flour cake is incredibly moist and has no cane sugar. The easy recipe mixes up in one bowl and is grain-free, dairy-free and gluten-free.
Be sure to check out more of my gluten-free cake recipes including my incredibly moist vanilla bundt cake and gluten-free dairy-free vanilla snack cake.
Ingredients
Blanched super fine almond flour – It is important to use blanched almond flour as opposed to almond meal. Almond meal is ground with the thin brown skin you find on whole almonds. Blanched almond flour has the brown skin removed so it is a creamy soft white color. For a certified gluten-free almond flour, use King Arthur Flour.
If you have a kitchen scale, it is best to measure the almond flour by weight. Almond flour is fluffy, with large grains. Depending on how you pack it in to a measuring cup, the amount can vary drastically. I have provided the weight and measuring cup amounts. This is an excellent quality kitchen scale that doesn’t break your wallet. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, lightly pack it into the measuring cup.
To help make this cake fluffy, the recipe includes three eggs in just a one layer cake. It helps with structure and wonderful rich flavor.
This cake is sweetened only with agave nectar (aka agave syrup) – there is no cane sugar. The agave gives the cake a slightly caramel-like flavor. If you don’t have agave, here is a quick and easy recipe for an agave nectar substitute that uses just brown sugar and water.
I found that the vanilla flavor got a little lost with almond flour. Almond flour has much stronger flavor than other flours like rice or wheat flour. So one tablespoon of vanilla was what it took to get the vanilla flavor front and center. Check out my recipe for homemade gluten-free vanilla extract. It can be a huge cost-saver.
An alcohol-free option is Cooks Vanilla Powder which is great for recipes like white cake or frosting because it is a creamy white color as opposed to brown extracts. Vanilla bean paste is another great alcohol-free option. And of course vanilla extract can be used as well.
Unfortunately, vanilla has become extremely expensive recently. So if the real stuff is not in your budget, feel free to use imitation vanilla extract. You’ll still have a delicious cake.
Milk – I am mostly dairy-free so I use milk alternatives. Almond milk, coconut, oat, hemp, soy milk and other milk substitutes can be used. Otherwise, regular 2% or whole milk will work too.
Oil – Almond flour has a lot of moisture (mostly fat) so the recipe needs a small amount of oil. Oil is my preferred way to add moisture to gluten-free baked goods. Butter may have slightly better flavor but, gluten-free cakes and cupcakes are more moist and fluffy with oil. Sunflower, avocado, canola or any neutral flavored vegetable oil will work.
Cake Toppings
My preference is to keep layering on the delicious velvety flavor of vanilla. I top this cake with vanilla buttercream frosting or a tangy cream cheese frosting.
If you are a lover of chocolate, try my creamy chocolate buttercream frosting, vegan chocolate cream cheese frosting, or my easy 2-ingredient vegan chocolate frosting. For a beautiful chocolate glaze, try my dairy-free chocolate ganache.
Check out my full collection of frosting recipes for more flavors like strawberry buttercream frosting and my no-sugar sweet potato frosting.
How to Store Cake
This cake stays moist and delicious at room temp for at least 3 days. If you wish, it can be refrigerated (unlike many other cakes) and will stay super moist in the fridge. It can also be frozen for as long as 3 months. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and place in an air tight bag.
Gluten-Free Vanilla Almond Flour Cake
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- Β½ c agave
- ΒΌ c milk (dairy-free options ok)
- 2 Tbsp oil
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract, powder or bean paste homemade gluten-free vanilla extract
- ΒΌ tsp salt
- 2ΒΌ c super fine, blanched almond flour, lightly packed in the measuring cup 10 oz. of you have kitchen scale
- 2 tsp baking powder
Instructions
- This recipe does not require an electric mixer. A wire whisk is all you need.
- Preheat the oven to 350Β°F. Grease an 8" round cake pan and line with parchment Parchment is optional but makes removal from the pan much easier.
- Heat the milk in the microwave for 15 seconds to bring to room temp,
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, agave and oil together until bubbly.
- Add the milk, vanilla and salt and beat until smooth.
- Add the almond flour and baking powder and stir until smooth and creamy,
- Beat until the clumps of almond flour are broken up.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and shimmy the pan forward and back and side to side to level the batter. Or use a spatula (offset spatulas are great for this) to spread the batter evenly in the pan
- ο»ΏBake 40-45 minutes or until the top is set and bounces back form a gentle tap.
- Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Top with my dairy-free chocolate ganache or one of my frosting recipes including this sweet potato frosting sweetened only with maple syrup or agave,
This is an absolutely lovely, very easy cake to make. It reminds me somewhat of the German Almond Kuchen but is less dense. Iβve tried it with both the βhomemade agaveβ and real stuff; both are good. I frosted it lightly with a vanilla buttercream, which made it a luxurious dessert. It would stand well on its own, and work well with accompaniments of whipped cream, ice cream, fruit etc. One point: make sure to evenly distribute batter in cake pan before baking. The batter doesnβt level out like flour based batters, so it can sit unevenly and bake the same way without a little help.
Hi Deb, Thanks so much for your kind words and your feedback about the recipe. I will definitely take your advice and add instructions to level the batter in the pan. Thanks again!
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Can I use coconut sugar directly instead of making a syrup out of it?
I have not tested this recipe with other sweeteners. I would recommend adding more liquid in some form if using coconut sugar. Also note that coconut sugar will not add as much sweetness as agave.