This gluten-free bundt cake is super moist and full of vanilla flavor. A little sour cream makes this a rich pound cake-like dessert. The recipe mixes up on one bowl and can easily be made dairy-free too.
If you love lemon desserts, be sure to try my dreamy good gluten-free lemon bundt cake with a 3 minute lemon glaze. Check out more of my vanilla cake recipes including my gluten-free vanilla cake, vanilla snack cake, and gluten-free vanilla pound cake and which is completely grain-free!
Ingredients
Gluten-Free Flour Blend – King Arthur Gluten-Free Measure for Measure is my go to flour for gluten-free baking. It works reliably in almost all of my recipes and is easily found in most grocery stores. It is also certified gluten-free and contains xanthan gum so no need for any extra binder ingredients. Be sure to check out more of my gluten-free recipes with King Arthur Flour.
Pamela’s All Purpose Artisan Blend is similar to King Arthur and works well in this recipe. Cup4Cup is another good gluten-free flour blend that works well in many recipes. I don’t test with it because it contains milk powder and I am mostly dairy-free. These two flours are also certified gluten-free and contain binders.
Regardless of which flour blend you use, if you use one that does not contain xanthan gum, guar gum or inulin, add 1 teaspoon xanthan gum to the recipe.
This cake gets a healthy one tablespoon of vanilla. I prefer to use vanilla powder for baking and I especially love that it is alcohol-free. Cooks Vanilla Powder is my favorite brand. Vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste will work 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. Another less costly option is to make your own. My homemade gluten-free vanilla extract has just 2 ingredients.
I prefer to use oil over butter in gluten-free cakes and cupcakes. It does a much better job of adding moisture and holds up better over several days. A neutral flavored oil like avocado, canola, sunflower or other vegetable oils will all work.
Just a little bit of sour cream adds extra moisture and tang to the cake. I tested the cake with both plant-based sour cream (Follow Your Heart) and dairy sour cream.
The rest of the ingredients are just at the basics – eggs, baking powder and salt.
How to Grease a Bundt Pan
Greasing the bundt pan with butter or another solid fat is key. Oil sprays and baking sprays tend to pool and do not do a good job of completely covering every inch of the surface. Butter will stay where you put it. And with a dusting of flour, the cake should come out with ease.
The last thing you want is for this cake to stick and ruin the beautiful fluted pattern, so be thorough. I use my fingers, to be sure that all the crevices are covered, including the center tube!
Bundt Cake Toppings
This cake is tasty and moist enough without any toppings. But here are a few options to dress it up.
- A dusting of powdered sugar adds a pretty snow kissed look.
- A simple powdered sugar icing adds a pretty drizzle. Mix 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar with 3 tablespoons of water. Optional add 1 tablespoon of melted butter.
- To add a little flavor, use the above icing recipe but substitute orange juice or lemon juice for the water.
- A chocolate ganache is an easy way to put a beautiful glaze on this cake. Simply pour it on and let it set!
- Lastly, make this Nothing Bundt Cakes style and top it with stripes of frosting on top. See my full list of frosting recipes including a couple of dairy-free frostings.
From Scratch, Super Moist Gluten-Free Vanilla Bundt Cake
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Ingredients
- 3 c gluten-free flour blend* gluten-free rice-free flour option
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- Β½ tsp salt
- 2ΒΌ c sugar
- 5 large eggs
- 1ΒΌ c oil – avocado, canola, sunflower or other neutral flavored vegetable oil
- 1 c milk or dairy-free milk substitute
- 3 Tbsp sour cream or plant-based sour cream (Follow Your Heat works well)
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract, powder or bean paste homemade gluten-free vanilla extract
Instructions
- If the eggs are cold, place them in a bowl of warm water to bring to room temp.
- Preheat the oven to 350Β°F. Thoroughly grease the bundt pan with butter (or vegan butter) and dust with flour. I do not recommend using oil spray.*
- This recipe can be mixed by hand with a wire whisk or with an electric mixer.
- Heat the milk and sour cream for 15-20 seconds in the microwave to bring to room temperature. I do this in my glass measuring cup to save using another bowl.
- In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the eggs, oil, milk, sour cream and vanilla until smooth.
- Add the sugar and mix thoroughly until it's incorporated.
- Add half of the flour and stir on low until mostly incorporated.
- Add the remaining flour, baking powder and salt and stir until mostly incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat on high (or briskly with the whisk) until smooth – about 10-15 seconds.
- Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan and bake 55 minutes – 1 hour 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry.
- Cool in the pan for just 5 minutes, then loosen the edges with a knife or mini spatula.
- Place a wire rack on top of the bundt pan and flip over. Tap the pan with the back of a spoon all the way around the sides and top. This will help loosen the cake.
- Gently remove the pan from the cake. Allow it to cool before topping with cake frosting, chocolate ganache or simple icing (see above for icing recipes).
- This cake will stay moist for at least 4 days at room temperature if kept covered.
Delightful! Only adjustments I made were to use part butter and part oil (about 3/4 C softened butter and 1/2 C oil) instead of using all oil. I also added a splash of almond extractβnot enough to taste in the end but it did enhance the flavor of everything else.
Everyone raved about it and declared it the best pound cake theyβd ever had!
I am so glad you enjoyed the cake! It’s one of my favorites!
I plan on making the recipe with a 12 cavity mini Bundt pan that I just ordered. Each cavity holds about 3 tablespoons of batter. Can you recommend how to reduce the proportions of ingredients for this pan? I was thinking that 1/2 of the recipe may work. Thanks so muchβ¦there are only 2 of us in my home, so a large cake is a bit too decadent for us.
Hi Gayle, Cutting the recipe in half will definitely give you enough for 12 mini bundt cakes. It might be a little bit too much but better than making the full recipe.
Thank you very much Janet. The recipe looks delicious. I look forward to baking it and sharing the cakes with my husband and mailing some to my brother and his wife in Florida.
I tried this recipe for a church luncheon. Received many compliments, even by those who are not gluten free. Amazed how high the cake rose as well. Thank you. Great Recipe!
Great! Thanks so much for letting me know! It’s one of my favorite cakes.
Thank you so much for making this recipe available. The cake is indeed moist and flavorful! I stored any leftover pieces in my refrigerator! I have a question about modifying the recipe. If I wanted to make a chocolate version of this cake, would it be preferable to use cocoa powder or melted, unsweetened chocolate squares? I wonder how the ratios of other ingredients in the recipe would have to be modified to keep the cake moist. Could you please let me know if these are modifications that you have already done?
So glad you enjoyed the vanilla bundt. Thanks for letting me know. It is one of my favs. A chocolate bundt cake would require more than one or two adjustments and I have not tested it yet.