Birthdays are a huge thing in our house, we love celebrating each other. And, who doesn’t love a Gluten Free Vanilla Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting birthday cake?
Gluten Free Vanilla Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
My Gluten Free Vanilla Cake recipe is made with six ingredients total. Yes! You’ve got that right. You can have an amazing gluten-free dessert for birthday celebrations that turns out perfectly every time.
Easy Gluten-Free Cake
Better yet, mixing the batter for this cake is as easy as using a cake mix. The difference? Homemade Birthday Cake tastes so much better, and it’s healthy too!
People fell hard for my Chocolate Birthday Cake, and then asked for a Vanilla Birthday Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting, so I had to make another fabulously healthy dessert for y’all.
Happy Birthday Cake
This easy Gluten-Free Birthday Cake recipe is so simple that my boys used to throw it together when they were in grade school.
I love it when readers show me their little ones making my cake recipes over on Instagram.
Homemade Birthday Cake Recipe
Yup, my cake recipes from scratch are so easy an elementary school student can make them, and this homemade birthday cake recipe is one of my faves!
Gluten Free Vanilla Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
- ¾ cup coconut flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 9 large eggs
- ½ cup salted butter, melted
- ½ cup maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Pulse coconut flour and baking soda in a food processor
- Pulse in eggs, butter, maple syrup, and vanilla
- Grease two 6 inch springform pans
- Pour batter into prepared cake pans
- Place cake pans on a baking sheet, then bake at 350°F for 25-35 minutes
- Cool and frost with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- Serve
Birthday Cake Recipe
For this birthday cake recipe, all you do is throw the coconut flour and baking soda in the food processor, then pulse in the wet ingredients –eggs, butter, maple syrup, and vanilla. That’s it!
To learn more about the main ingredient, coconut flour, check out my Ultimate Guide to Coconut Flour.
How to Make a Cake Tall
After that, transfer the batter to two greased 6-inch pans. If you want your cakes to be tall like mine, be sure to use the 6-inch pans.
If you use an 8-inch pan the batter will not fill the pan properly, in turn, your cake will be sad 😟 and flat.
Bake Cake
If you need to know how to bake cake, well, that’s even simpler. Place your cake pans with the batter on a baking sheet, put it in the oven and you’re off to the races.
Frosting Cake
Now let’s talk about frosting cake. There’s one basic step that ensures the results of frosting the cake will be gorgeous.
Let the cake cool for two hours minimum after it comes out of the oven. I have the best results frosting the cake when I bake the cake the night before, and then let it cool overnight at room temperature.
Make-Ahead Birthday Cake Recipe
When we throw a birthday bash that requires a lot of set-up, I make Vanilla Birthday Cake a couple of days ahead of time.
I bake the cakes and cool them in the pans overnight. The next morning, I remove them from the pans and then wrap them individually in foil. I store the Gluten Free Vanilla Cake in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
I frost the cake with my homemade frosting the day of the birthday party.
Chocolate Frosting
My homemade chocolate frosting recipe really takes the cake here, no pun intended. I am one of those people who likes a little cake with my frosting.
Homemade Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Use a double batch of Chocolate Buttercream Frosting for this birthday cake. That’s what you see in the photo.
I serve my cakes on cake stands because they have a big wow-factor and look incredibly special this way. More on the best cake stands below!
Dairy-Free Frosting Recipes
If you don’t eat dairy, try my Dairy-Free Chocolate Frosting recipe for an all-out dairy-free birthday cake celebration.
Happy Birthday Wishes
Did you know I launched Elana’s Pantry in 2006? This year is our fifteenth birthday! I love this community so much.
We are a motley crew when it comes to food allergies and I work to create recipes that meet the needs of each person here.
Food Allergies
I want you to be able to break bread, and cake, with friends and loved ones. If a recipe doesn’t meet your food allergy needs, experiment and use substitutions to customize it for you.
That includes substitutions for this Gluten Free Vanilla Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting recipe.
Substitutions
I wish I had a crystal ball when it comes to knowing how to make perfect recipes. Unfortunately, I don’t. This means I test each recipe dozens of times.
So, the only way to know if a substitution works is to try! Don’t be afraid to experiment.
Cake Stand
Here are some of my favorite cake stands! Use them to create a breath-taking presentation when you make Vanilla Birthday Cake with Chocolate Frosting or any of the cake recipes from scratch below:
Cake Recipes
Although these cakes may not be labeled as birthday cakes, I’ve received several comments that they have become family favorites for birthday celebrations.
Low-Carb Strawberry Shortcake
Most strawberry shortcake recipes from scratch are complicated. My homemade Low-Carb Strawberry Shortcake recipe is incredibly easy to put together.
I love it because the vanilla cake is made with six ingredients total. My family loves it too and tells me it’s one of the best cake recipes with fruit they’ve ever had.
Cinnamon Coffee Cake
Homemade Coffee Cake is one of my favorite comfort foods, and my gluten-free coffee cake is super healthy.
Nut-Free Carrot Cake
This Nut-Free Carrot Cake recipe made with coconut flour is another cake recipe from scratch that’s healthy and super easy to assemble. Throwing a party is enough work, why make the cake difficult?
Mug Cake
My Mug Cake is the perfect single-sized treat. It’s made with five ingredients total –almond flour, cacao powder, an egg, maple syrup, and baking soda.
Make this when you’re craving dessert, but either don’t want to take time to bake a full cake or want to allow everyone to add their own toppings. This would be so much fun with a group of friends.
Strawberry Cupcakes
Back when the boys were growing up, this strawberry cupcakes recipe was the perfect nut-free treat for school!
The recipe is an exclusive from my book Gluten-Free Cupcakes, but I’ve also shared the recipe here on the website with our Elana’s Pantry community.
Get the Book! Gluten-Free Cupcakes
Speaking of cupcakes Gluten-Free Cupcakes is a great investment if you’re looking for birthday cake style recipes.
And I have a Vegan Chocolate Cupcake recipe in the book for all of my egg-free, dairy-free readers!
Gluten-Free Orange Cake with Almond Flour
Because I loved chocolate-covered orange peel growing up, I’ve always wanted to smother Orange Cake in my Chocolate Buttercream Frosting recipe, the same frosting used here in my Vanilla Birthday Cake recipe. I’ve had many readers try this and they all tell me it’s incredible!
Cake Recipes from Scratch
Vanilla Birthday Cake with Chocolate Frosting is one of my favorite cake recipes from scratch. Leave a comment and let me know what your favorite is!
This post is an oldie but goodie from the archives. I first shared this Vanilla Birthday Cake with Chocolate Frosting in September 2016.
Ana says
Elana, thanks for another great recipe. One question though: why is it that most paleo cake recipes we do not beat the egg whites? Doesn’t it help to make the cakes fluffier?
Thanks in advance!
Elana says
Ana, I started writing paleo recipes in 2001 and to keep them as simple as possible haven’t included extra steps like beating the egg whites. My cakes are as fluffy as can be :-)
Elana says
Ana, I started writing paleo recipes in 2001 and to keep them as simple as possible haven’t included extra steps like beating the egg whites. My cakes are as fluffy as can be :-)
monika says
How many GRAMS of coconut flour is that?
Elana says
Hi Monika, I haven’t measured the ingredients in this recipe by weight so not sure :-)
Monika says
That’s too bad; coconut flour is so finicky and it really makes a difference how it’s measured. I won’t be making this I guess because coconut flour is expensive and I run the risk of it not turning out due to “poor” measuring…
Elana says
Hi Monika, I totally understand your trepidation about using volume measurements as they are not as accurate as weight measurements. If you do decide to make this recipe, and you measure carefully I think you’ll see what so many other readers have found –that these recipes have few ingredients, are easy to make, and work because I test them (using volume measurements) so many times. Happy baking!
Karen says
Google ‘convert cups to grams’ and you will be able to make the conversion yourself.
Elana says
Karen, not to be a downer, but that won’t work because all flours (and solid items) weigh different amounts depending on their densitites :-)
Misty says
Typically there are 112 grams in 1 cup of coconut flour so in 3/4 cup there would be 83 grams
Deborah P. says
This looks great! Thank you for sharing. Can honey be substituted for the maple syrup? I can only use either honey, date syrup or stevia for sweetening.
Elana says
Hi Deborah, I haven’t tried that so not sure :-)
Becky says
I tried honey in this recipe and it was great!
Elana says
Thanks Becky! Glad to hear this was great!
KJ says
I made this into cupcakes last night and used the buttercream chocolate frosting. Oh my goodness, it was delightful. I had enough to make 12 cupcakes and a mini loaf. Everyone who triedo it loved it. Especially with that frosting! The texture was great. I usually really dislike gluten free cake of any kind, but this is definitely a winner!!!
Elana says
KJ, thanks for letting us know this was a winner!
Monika says
Any chance you can provide the GRAM measurement of the coconut flour?
Thanks!
Monika says
Any chance you can provide the GRAM measurement of the coconut flour?
AND: I want to make these into cupcakes too – how LONG did you bake them for???
Thanks!
Ruth says
If someone bakes this with a butter substitute such as coconut oil or Earth Balance soy free buttery sticks, please report back here. Since Elena uses the coconut oil in the chocolate version of this, I will try that first if I do not see a successful report from someone else. :-)
Elana says
Ruth, yes that would be great to know :-)
Ruth says
And of course I will report back with the results of my substitutions.
:-)
patricia says
I do not have a 6″ pan. If I doubled the recipe, what size pan would I need?
Elana says
Patricia, I haven’t tried that so not sure. If you do please let us know how it goes :-)
Denise says
Hi, Patricia
The recipe says it fills two 6-inch pans, so you should not need to double it. I have a cake cookbook that roughly equates cake batter volume for two 6-inch pans (3.75 cups) to the volume needed for one 8-inch round pan (7 cups), or for a thinner layer, one 9-inch round pan (8.66 cups). I don’t have an exact number, but the recipe volume seems also perfect for an 8-inch square pan, if you have one. The problem with all of these is whether you can get away with a standard pan vs. a springform. Can Elana address this? I would like to know, too. Thank you!
Elana says
Hi Denise, thanks for your comment! I haven’t tried that so not sure :-)
Jaime says
First, I can’t sing your praises enough. Your site has really helped me and my son on our journeys over the past 3 years. We have tried so many of your recipes and are NEVER disappointed. My daughter, (who has no allergies but eats as though she does because of us) loves vanilla, so thank you! This looks awesome and can’t wait to try it. The past month, I switched over from Paleo to Keto and I am definitely in ketosis; I know that you eat this way as well, so my questions is, how does this affect ketosis since the ‘sugar’ in the maple syrup is so high? Does this ‘kick you out’ or do you not worry about being in that constant ketosis state? I guess this would apply to all your delicious treats…Thank you again! You are changing lives.
Elana says
Jamie, thanks for your kind words! I now limit these types of treats and eat them very infrequently and in small amounts :-)
Dawn says
Thank you the yummy looking recipe! Do you think this would work as cupcakes as well ? Thank you
Elana says
Dawn, here’s a link to my Paleo Vanilla Cupcakes recipe for you:
https://elanaspantry.com/paleo-vanilla-cupcakes/
Enjoy!
Elana
Sami says
Looks spectacular and easy to do. Thanks Elana.
Elana says
You’re very welcome Sami!
Rose says
Can I substitute gelatin eggs ? If I’m Aip
Elana says
Rose, I haven’t tried that so not sure. If you do please let us know how it goes :-)