Gluten Free Wedding Cake Recipe | Gluten Free Recipe Box (2024)

Posted on February 10, 2016November 13, 2021 by Gluten Free Recipes Admin

A gluten free white cake does not traditionally contain egg yolks. However, when egg yolks and buttermilk are combined, they create moisture you will not find in a traditional white cake. Use this gluten free wedding cake recipe for a wedding or any special event. This is another recipe from my upcoming cookbook, Carla’s Best 125 Gluten-Free Recipes.

Note: When my cookbook recipe testers made this cake, it resulted in different shades of cake each time. The size of your eggs, the size of egg yolks, and using cornstarch versus tapioca flour in the flour blend all contribute to variations in color.

You’ll find this recipe and more in my upcoming cookbook,Carla’s Best 125 Gluten-Free Recipes.

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Gluten Free Wedding Cake Recipe

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours, 10 minutes

Yield: Makes one 2-layer 8-inch cake

Gluten Free Wedding Cake Recipe | Gluten Free Recipe Box (1)

Whether you wish to serve this cake at a wedding with traditional royal icing or with coconut frosting, or create a margarita or coconut cake, everyone will enjoy the flavor, texture, and moistness.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
  • 14 tablespoons (1-3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened (or Earth Balance vegan buttery sticks, for dairy-free)
  • 2-1/4 cups granulated sugar
  • 4 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 large egg white, at room temperature
  • 2-1/4 cups Gluten Free All-Purpose Flour Blend Recipe, plus more for dusting
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons gluten-free baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup buttermilk*, at room temperature
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons pure almond or vanilla extract**
  • Oil or gluten-free baking oil spray, for pan
  • Gluten-free frosting of choice
  • Buttercream Frosting (optional)
  • Gluten-Free Royal Icing, for decorations (optional)

Instructions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Oil two 8-inch cakepans. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Oil the top of the parchment paper. Dust the sides with flour.
  2. In the bowl of your mixer, cream shortening. Add butter and beat until combined and smooth.
  3. Add sugar and beat until creamy, about 2 minutes.
  4. Add eggs and egg white one at a time, and beat after each addition.
  5. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
  6. In a measuring cup, combine buttermilk and extract; set aside.
  7. Add one-third of dry mixture and half buttermilk mixture, starting and ending with flour. Beat on medium speed until it becomes satin-like in texture.
  8. Distribute the batter between the two pans. If you have a kitchen scale, weigh the batter in each pan to divide equally.
  9. Bake on the center rack of your oven for 30 - 35 minutes or until they no longer jiggle when lightly shaken.
  10. Transfer the pans to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Then remove and discard parchment paper. Transfer cakes to the wire rack to cool right side up, 70 - 120 minutes.
  11. Once cakes cool, frost*** and decorate as desired. Slice leftovers and freeze on a sheet of parchment paper. Once frozen solid, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze in zipper storage bags. Defrost at room temperature.

Tips

*To make homemade buttermilk or dairy-free, see the substitutes page.

**Vanilla lends tan color to cakes. If you are not concerned with the color, feel free to use vanilla instead of almond extract. Clear, gluten-free vanilla is hard to find.

***You can achieve cleaner slices when the cake is chilled for about 2 hours. However, some frosting recipes recommend avoiding refrigeration due to a buildup of condensation. Never refrigerate a cake for days at a time unless it is a sponge cake with plenty of moist filling and frosting. They stale quickly in the refrigerator.

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  1. This recipe completely failed for me. The cakes went flat as pancakes. I am a baker and used proper methods. The ingredients are too expensive to try again. Disappointed.

    Reply
    1. Robin, Since this recipe has been tested and made successfully by others, I can only assume that you did not use my home flour blend. It is a must – https://glutenfreerecipebox.com/gluten-free-all-purpose-flour-blend/. The blend contains gum, which provides structure for the cake. Without t, the cake will collapse.

      Also, since this recipe was developed a few years back, my preferable gluten Free wedding cake is this new white cake recipe – https://glutenfreerecipebox.com/best-gluten-free-white-cake-recipe/. It so moist and flavorful!

      Carla

      Reply
  2. I am looking for a gluten free cake recipe to bake a wedding cake for my son and his fiancé. I have had some trouble with the Gluten Free Wedding Cake Recipe above. The tops of my cakes seem to get very brittle and separate from the cake in the oven. I insert the cake tester and there is air space between the top and the actual cake. The first time I made this recipe I thought maybe I overbeat the mix. My second attempt was better but it still had a crusty top. I also have a convection oven so I lowered the oven temp to 325. I just don’t know what I am doing wrong.

    Reply
    1. Evelyn,

      You’re the second person this week that had trouble making one of my recipes using a convection oven. I don’t use the convection setting on my oven because many people do not have this option. You may try reducing the sugar a little so it doesn’t form a crust. In addition, It sounds like your cake is falling away from the crust. Does the separation occur upon cooling? If so, bake it longer.

      Meanwhile, I have a much better recipe now for white cake. It’s pretty amazing: https://glutenfreerecipebox.com/best-gluten-free-white-cake-recipe/. Be sure and click on the red link for the video to check out the texture.

      I hope this helps.

      Carla

      Reply
  3. Hi Carla
    I love your recipes and recently joined your blog after I lost my copy of the gluten free white cake recipe. I made it for my wedding and I also make it every year as a present to my husband on our anniversary. I’m not seeing the original recipe for the white cake, is there any way you can provide me with it?

    Thanks !

    Reply
    1. Hi Mirrah,

      I’m glad you enjoyed my original white cake recipe. I removed it because so many people had trouble making it successfully. Here it is:

      14 tablespoons (1 stick plus 6 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
      3 cups Carla’s Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour Blend Rcipe: http://glutenfreerecipebox.com/gluten-free-all-purpose-flour-blend , plus more for dusting
      2 teaspoons gluten free baking powder
      3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
      1 cup whole milk
      6 extra-large (or large) egg whites, lightly beaten
      1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
      1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
      1-1/2 cups sugar (or evaporated cane juice, for refined-sugar-free)

      Oil and dust with flour, two 9-inch round non-stick cake pans; or oil, line bottom with parchment paper, and oil top of parchment paper; set aside.
      Preheat oven to 350°F.
      In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt; and set aside.
      In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, milk and vanilla; set aside.
      In the large bowl of your mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment (if you have one), beat the butter on high speed until creamy, about 30 – 60 seconds, scraping bowl as needed. Leave the mixer running and slowly pour in sugar. Beat until creamy, approximately 2 minutes in a KitchenAid mixer, scraping sides of bowl occasionally.
      Alternate sifting in half of flour mixture and adding half of milk mixture, beating between additions on low speed, just until blended, scraping sides as needed. Begin with flour mixture.
      Divide batter evenly between prepared pans; firmly tap on counter several times to remove any air pockets; using a rubber spatula, drop several drops of water on top; smooth out the tops.
      Bakte for approximately 30 minutes or until skewer (toothpick is not long enough) clean or cake springs back once touched with finger.
      Remove pans from oven and transfer to a cooling rack for about 5 minutes. Invert cake onto your hand and reinvert onto a wire rack to cool completely, about 1 hour.
      Frost and layer as desired.

      Reply

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Gluten Free Wedding Cake Recipe | Gluten Free Recipe Box (2024)

FAQs

What is the trick to gluten free baking? ›

Mix Batters Longer

While conventional wisdom has taught us not to overmix our batters, we've found most gluten-free batters simply need to be stirred for longer. If you're worried this will turn your muffins and cakes rubbery, have no fear. Gluten-free recipes need to have more structure.

Can a wedding cake be gluten-free? ›

The vast majority of wedding cake styles can be recreated gluten free but every now and again there's something that's not quite possible. Don't forget to keep an open mind here, often your cake maker can recommend different options instead. Be sure to be clear on your level of intolerance as well!

Why do gluten free cakes not rise? ›

Gluten-free flour blends don't have the same elasticity as flour containing gluten so often the cakes don't rise as much or will sink after rising. To combat the flat cake problem, I add ½ tsp of bicarbonate of soda to the recipe even when using a self-raising gluten-free flour blend.

What is the ratio for gluten free baking? ›

EXAMPLE: If a recipe calls for 1 cup (136 g) all-purpose flour, I generally substitute ½ cup gluten-free flour blend (80 g), ¼ cup almond meal (27.5 g), and ¼ cup gluten-free oat flour (23 g), depending on the recipe.

Do you have to add anything to gluten-free flour when baking? ›

Gluten-free flours often contain fine starches, so they absorb more liquid than conventional flour. To address this, gluten-free recipes usually call for more liquid and produce looser batters. They may also call for a larger quantity of leavening, like baking powder, to help add volume and lighten the texture.

Can I just replace flour with gluten-free flour? ›

If the original recipe calls for 260 grams of all-purpose flour, substitute with 260 grams of your blend. Beat the batter more. Because gluten-free flours provide less structure than all-purpose, the batter or dough you make with them may require more beating than that which you are accustomed.

Which flour is best for gluten free cakes? ›

Oat Flour. With its creamy, earthy flavor and delicate texture, gluten-free oat flour is a staple of my gluten-free baking recipes. It bakes up soft and smooth, adding necessary starch to many GF baked goods and keeping them moist and tender due to its high fat content and stable protein structure.

Does gluten-free flour work well in cakes? ›

I use Better Batter gluten free all purpose flour blend to bake cakes. You can bake cakes with any gluten free flour that includes xanthan gum or guar gum. The taste and texture may vary depending on what flours are in the blend. Blends that include almond flour might be heavy and not rise as much.

Is gluten-free flour better for cakes? ›

You can't tell the difference between a regular cake flour cupcake and a gluten-free one. Gluten in cake flour is very low to begin with because otherwise AP flour would make the cake texture a little more “chewy”, so gluten-free is actually a good alternative choice.

What helps gluten-free cakes rise? ›

2 teaspoons of baking powder per cup of gluten-free flour is necessary to ensure proper leavening. Baking soda and buttermilk can be used to leaven instead of baking powder, but 1-1/8 teaspoon of cream of tartar should be added for each 1/2 teaspoon baking soda used.

Do gluten-free cakes need more liquid? ›

Add extra liquid: Gluten-free flours tend to absorb more liquid than regular flour, so you may need to add more liquid to your recipes to compensate. This can help to keep your baked goods moist and prevent them from becoming dry and crumbly.

How do you keep gluten-free cake from falling apart? ›

Xanthan gum (along with other thickeners like guar gum and arrowroot) acts like a binder in gluten-free baked goods to maintain their structure. Without it, there's a good chance that your brownies or muffin will crumble and fall apart.

What to avoid in gluten free baking? ›

All of the following flours have gluten:
  • Enriched flour with added vitamins and minerals.
  • Farina, milled wheat usually used in hot cereals.
  • Graham flour, a course whole-wheat flour.
  • Self-rising flour, also called phosphate flour.
  • Semolina, the part of milled wheat used in pasta and couscous.

Is it harder to bake with gluten-free flour? ›

Gluten-free baking is a lot harder than traditional baking because gluten protein is what gives baked goods their structure.

Can you over mix gluten-free flour? ›

There is a fine line, however, between a fluffy, doughy muffin and a gummy and chewy one. Gluten-free flours do not contain this protein, so there is no risk of toughening the dough with overmixing.

What is the secret of baking with gluten free flour? ›

Use xanthan gum or guar gum: Gluten-free flours lack the elasticity and structure that gluten provides, so adding a binder like xanthan or guar gum can help to hold the ingredients together and give your baked goods a better texture.

What are the challenges of gluten-free baking? ›

Owing to the challenge of gluten-free flours to form a protein network that provides structure and strength to dough, breads produced in the absence of gluten tends to be flatter, denser, crummier, less chewy and less tasty.

Is it harder to bake with gluten free flour? ›

Gluten-free baking is a lot harder than traditional baking because gluten protein is what gives baked goods their structure.

How do you make gluten-free baking less crumbly? ›

One of the most common gluten-free baking tips is “let your batter rest”. Letting the batter rest gives the gluten-free flours and starches more time to absorb the moisture. In theory, it will turn your dry, crumbly cakes into delicious, moist masterpieces.

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