cake recipe

Gluten Free Red Velvet Cake Recipe (without buttermilk)

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red velvet
gluten free cake

Red velvet cakes were always a mystery to me, I naively thought they were just a chocolate cake with red food colouring, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. A red velvet cake is a traditionally red, brownish red, or crimson coloured cake. The original recipe created a natural red hue due to a reaction between cacao and vinegar, however most red velvet cake recipes today include red food colouring. A red velvet cake is a soft, moist, crumbly cake with a combination of vanilla and cacao. It usually includes vinegar, buttermilk, and baking soda to create a light, fluffy texture and a slight tangy flavour.

I never had a desire to learn how to make a red velvet cake, let alone a gluten free one, however my mom (who is allergic to gluten) had been wanting to try a red velvet cake for a while, so I decided to attempt it. I baked a two tier red velvet cake, layered with buttercream frosting and fresh strawberries, so here’s what you need to know.

Which flour should I use?

For this type of red velvet cake, I’d recommend using a gluten free self-raising flower (I like freee’s self-raising) or you can use an all purpose gluten free flour blend. Simply be aware that most gluten free flours are quite dense so you might want to balance out your blend with another flour such as almond flour.

Is this recipe dairy free?

No, this recipe is not dairy free since it includes butter, however it is without buttermilk. The reason I can add butter to my baking is that it is relatively low in lactose, but if you are completely dairy free then a vegan butter should work as well. To replace buttermilk, I used a plant-based milk with a tablespoon of vinegar. You can use almond milk or coconut milk (avoid canned coconut milk).

What food colouring should I use?

For this recipe, I used liquid food colouring because it was the only one I could find (I also couldn’t find a red one so I opted for pink). If you’re using gel food colouring replace the tablespoon measurements with one teaspoon.

gluten free flour
baking
cake batter

Ingredients

For the Cake (this makes one 10″ layer cake)

  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup plant-based milk
  • 1 tbsp vinegar
  • 3 cups gf flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 2 tbsp cacao powder
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tbsp red food colouring

For the Buttercream

  • 50g cup softened butter
  • 100-150g icing sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 tbsp milk
  • a bunch of strawberries
cake batter
cake tin
cake decorating

Directions

  1. Preheat your oven at 180ºC and ensure all your ingredients are at room temperature.
  2. In a bowl, cream butter and sugar until well combined.
  3. Add in your eggs one at a time and mix until you get a smooth mixture. Add in the vanilla extract.
  4. In another bowl, sift in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and cacao (Keep in mind I used salted butter in this recipe so if you’re using unsalted butter, add 1/2 tsp of salt to your dry ingredients).
  5. In a measuring cup, add your plant-based milk and vinegar, stir and allow to sit for 5 minutes.
  6. To your egg mixture, add your milk and flour in increments. I like to use a hand mixture to get a smooth batter, but you can also use a standing mixer.
  7. Add the food colouring to your batter and mix until well incorporated.
  8. Grease the sides of your baking tin and line the bottom with baking paper. Pour in your batter and bake for 35-40 mins.
  9. Allow your cake to cool for 5 mins in the pan before removing and allowing to cool on a rack.
  10. For the icing, cream softened room temp butter, icing sugar, plant-based milk and vanilla until smooth and creamy. Make sure your cake has completely cooled down before icing.
  11. Optional: slice up some strawberries to decorate your cake. I find the strawberries complement all the flavours really well.

Extra Tip

If you want an extra moist cake, I’d recommend soaking the cake layers in simple syrup before decorating. To make the syrup simply boil equal parts water and sugar, allow it to cool before drizzling over the levelled cakes.

More Recipes like this one

Gluten & Dairy Free Sponge Cake – find here

Victoria sponge Cake – find here

Gluten & Dairy Free Milk Cake – find here

Healthy Chocolate Cake – find here

Coffee Cake Crumble Recipe

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Hey guys, welcome back to the blog. Today’s recipe is a soft coffee cake with a crumbly topping. This gluten free and dairy free version of a classic can be served warm with a scoop of dairy free or regular ice cream or even with a spoon of Oatly greek yoghurt. The crumble adds a great texture and you can even sprinkle some flaky salt to bring out the flavour.

I like making this as a Sunday dessert or for breakfast. When I first heard about coffee cake, I wondered how a crumble would work on a traditional cake, but the crumbly texture balances the base of the cake really well. Traditionally, an American style coffee cake is a sponge cake with a crumb on top, but this recipe uses more of a dense cake. The denser cake holds the coffee flavour while still being soft and fluffy. Here’s how you can make it.

Ingredients

Cake

  • 3 eggs
  • 1/4 cup sugar substitute (I used Truvia)
  • 5 tbsp coconut oil
  • 1tsp coffee extract
  • 1 shot of espresso
  • 200 ml almond or oat milk
  • 4 cups gf flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder

Crumble Topping

  • 1 cup oat flour
  • 1 cup almond flour
  • 3-4 tbsp coconut oil
  • 2 tbsp brown sugar substitute
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 cup coconut flakes (optional)
  • Almond extract (optional)

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Make sure all your ingredients are room temperature.
  2. Prepare the crumble by combining all of the dry ingredients and then adding in the coconut oil and any extracts.
  3. Set the crumble aside in the fridge and prepare the cake batter.
  4. Combine sugar, coconut oil, eggs, coffee extract, and shot of espresso.
  5. Sift and fold in the flour and mix in the plant-based milk and baking powder. You want a smooth and light batter.
  6. Pour half of the batter in a lined baking pan, sprinkle some of the crumble on top.
  7. Pour in the rest of the batter and top it with the rest of the crumble mixture.
  8. Bake in the oven for 30-40mins or until golden brown and a cake pick comes out clean.

This cake is best served warm and keeps well in the fridge. I hope you enjoyed today’s recipe and come back for more recipes like this one, xoxo.

Gluten Free Victoria sponge Cake Recipe

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Hey guys, welcome back to the blog. It’s been a while, mostly because I haven’t had any new recipes to share until now. For years I’ve tried to achieve the ideal gluten free cake; one that tasted like a regular cake and wasn’t dry or dense. This sponge cake was exactly what I needed, a Victoria sponge cake is richer than a traditional sponge cake but lighter than a pound cake. I stumbled upon many recipes before coming up with this one and I think it’s fair to say that I am pretty happy with it and so was my family. I decided to make this cake for a birthday and it did not fail, it was perfectly balanced and so fun to make. So here is the recipe for you to try it out yourself.

Ingredients

  • 250g softened butter (or vegan substitute)
  • 250g caster sugar (or sugar free substitute such as erythritol or xylitol)
  • 4 medium eggs
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract
  • 250g gluten free self-raising flour
  • 1/4 cup oat or almond milk
  • 120g almond flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder

Buttercream

  • 50g softened butter
  • 100-150 icing sugar
  • 1/4 cup almond or oat milk
  • 1tsp vanilla extract
  • 4 tbsp Jam for filling

Steps

  1. Preheat the oven to 150ºC (fan) and grease two 8″ baking tins with butter or a neutral oil and line the bottoms with baking sheets.
  2. In a bowl, beat the butter and sugar until soft and fluffy. This should take about 4-5 mins with a mixer and the batter should be lighter in colour.
  3. Add in your vanilla and the eggs, one at a time.
  4. Mix in your flours in a separate bowl before adding to the mixture in increments. You want to add your milk in gradually as well, mixing on low speed.
  5. When your batter is thick but still falls off the spoon it should be ready. Divide it equally between the two cake tins, spreading it with a spatula or spoon and tapping the bottoms to get rid of any air bubbles.
  6. Bake in the oven for 30-40 mins. It should become golden, you can insert a cake tester or toothpick into the cake to check when it’s done. The pick should come out clean and if you gently press on the cake, it should bounce back, not leaving any indents.
  7. Remove the cakes from the oven, allow to cool before removing and placing on a rack to cool down completely.

Making the Buttercream

  1. Beat the butter and icing sugar with a mixer until well combined.
  2. Add the vanilla and milk. You can add more sugar or milk to achieve the consistency you’d like. If you’d prefer piping or icing the sides of the cake, you’d want a thicker consistency.
Photo by Callum Hill on Unsplash

Tips

  • I froze my cakes for about 10-15 mins after the cooled down and before decorating to ensure they wouldn’t crumble when I flipped them over.
  • I used buttercream only on the edges of the cake, filling the middle layer with strawberry jam. But, you can make this cake however you like, opting out of both or substituting them with other fillings.
  • I made this cake the day before, it stores really well in the fridge for a couple of days.
  • I like adding almond flour because it adds a great texture to the cake, omitting it may affect the consistency of the batter but shouldn’t compromise it completely.

You can also double or half this recipe to change how many layers you want to make or the size of the cake (this recipe makes a 2 layer 8″ cake). Let me know if you do try out the recipe and if you have any tips down in the comments. I hope you enjoyed this post and that you come again soon, please like and follow for more recipe finds like this one, xoxo.