This incredibly easy, from scratch, gluten-free vanilla snack cake is moist, fluffy and tender. This luscious cake uses King Arthur gluten-free flour for a super easy recipe. Slather it with your favorite frosting for an easy and simple but high reward cake!
Be sure to check out more of my gluten-free cake recipes including my 2 layer dairy and gluten-free vanilla cake, or single serving 5-minute gluten-free vanilla mug cake. For another super simple, yet beautiful cake, try my gluten-free fresh strawberry sheet cake.
Store-Bought Gluten-Free Flour Blends
If you prefer a store bought blend, I like King Arthur Flour Measure for Measure Flour. It works well in many of my recipes and is widely available in grocery stores. Gluten-free flours for baking are quite expensive compared to wheat flour. But King Arthur is the most affordable of the of all the ones I’ve tested. Be sure to check out more of my recipes with King Arthur Gluten-Free Flour.
Pamela’s All Purpose Artisan blend is similar and works well in this recipe too. Cup4Cup is a another option but contains milk powder so I have not tested with it. All three of these flours are certified gluten-free and contain binders like xanthan gum, guar gum and inulin. So no need to add extra if your flour blend contains it.
DIY Gluten-Free Flour Blends
My custom blend of sorghum, millet and brown rice flours is my favorite gluten-free flour for baking. I prefer it for the taste and texture it creates in cakes and muffins. The full recipe and more about DIY flours is in my post on gluten-free flours and flour blends.
I was getting may requests for a flour blend that is also rice-free so I developed a DIY gluten-free flour without rice. It’s super simple to make and works well in almost all of my baked goods recipes.
Ingredients
The ingredients in this cake are pretty simple. You should have most of them on hand.
Vanilla – Vanilla extract is the standard for getting vanilla flavor into baked goods. When I was looking for a way to get vanilla into frosting without tinting it a pale shade of beige, I discovered vanilla powder. It’s pale, it’s sweet and it has no alcohol. I highly recommend Cooks Vanilla Powder for this cake too.
Vanilla bean paste is another alcohol-free vanilla option. But, vanilla is so expensive these days. So if real vanilla is not in your budget use imitation vanilla extract. The cake will still be yummy.
Dairy-Free-Any unsweetened non-dairy milk substitute will work in this recipe. I have used hemp, coconut (beverage, not canned coconut milk), almond, macadamia, rice and soy “milks” all with great results.
Oil is my preferred way to make a cake moist. It does a much better job than butter. Use avocado, sunflower, canola or any neutral tasting vegetable oil.
The remaining ingredients are just the basics – eggs, baking powder and salt.
Why Snack Cake?
When you want a cake without all the fuss of layering and stacking a layer cake, a snack cake is perfect. It’s one layer and bakes in a square cake pan. Cool it, frost it and you have an easy cake that makes for a yummy snack, delicious dessert or if you’re like me, even an indulgent breakfast. Yes, I shamelessly eat cake for breakfast on occasion!
Cake Frosting
This vanilla cake is a wonderful base for just about any frosting you like. Vanilla buttercream, chocolate, strawberry, cream cheese or even my no-sugar sweet potato frosting. Here is my full list of frosting recipes which includes 2 vegan options.
Easy, Moist, Fluffy Gluten Free Vanilla Snack Cake
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Ingredients
- 1ΒΎ C gluten-free flour blend gluten-free rice-free flour option
- 1ΒΌ c sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ΒΌ tsp salt
- ΒΎ c milk or dairy-free milk substitute (room temp-heat in the microwave for 20-30 seconds if cold)
- ΒΎ c oil (avocado, sunflower, canola, vegetable)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract, powder or bean paste homemade gluten-free vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs room temp (place in a bowl of warm water for 10 mins if cold)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350Β°F and grease an 8 or 9 inch square pan. I also line with parchment (optional).
- Place the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir with a wire whisk to combine. (This recipe does not require an electric mixer)
- Beat the oil, milk, eggs and vanilla together in a small mixing bowl.
- Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry and stir with a rubber spatula until smooth.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake 42-47 minutes for an 8" or 35-40 minutes for a 9" or until the top is set and the center bounces back from a gentle tap.
- Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. This cake can go back in the pan once cooled.
- Slather on your favorite frosting. Here is my full list of frosting recipes.
This is an amazing cake. I made coconut frosting and it was delicious! I’m pretty new to gluten free baking and your recipe is definitely a keeper.Thank you for the recipe.