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4.82 from 16 votes

The BEST Gluten-Free Birthday Cake

This really is The Best Gluten Free Birthday Cake! It tastes like the real deal, but it’s made gluten free so everyone can celebrate. It’s made with moist, tender vanilla cake layered with homemade strawberry filling, and a light, fluffy buttercream.
Prep Time45 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Course: Dessert
Keyword: gluten free birthday cake, gluten free cake, gluten free cake recipe
Method: Baking
Servings: 6 " 3 Layer Cake
Author: Lexi

Ingredients

For Cake:

  • 1/2 cup 4 oz. or 1 stick butter, softened (see note)
  • 1/3 cup honey or maple syrup see note
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 cups 192g almond flour
  • 1/2 cup 48g coconut flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • pinch fine sea salt
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk or milk of choice
  • 1-1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon almond extract optional

For Strawberry Filling:

  • 2 cups strawberries sliced
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice

For Buttercream Frosting:

  • 1 cup 2 sticks butter, softened
  • 3 cups powdered sugar sifted
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons almond milk
  • Natural food coloring follow this guide

Instructions

  • Pre-heat oven to 350ºF and prepare three 6" cake pans by cutting out a three parchment paper circles to fit exactly inside the cake pan. Butter sides and bottom of cake pan and place parchment paper circles inside.
  • In a heavy duty stand mixer, or hand held mixer, add butter and honey/maple syrup to bowl and cream together until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.
  • Add eggs, one at a time, blending together after each one.
  • Add almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and beat on medium for 1-2 minutes until well blended.
  • Add almond milk, vanilla extract and almond extract and beat on medium for 2 minutes until light and fluffy.
  • Divide batter into cake pans, about 1 cup of batter each, and bake for 20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
  • Let cake cool in pan for 5-10 minutes, and then remove from pan to a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.

For Strawberry filling:

  • In a medium sauce pan place strawberries, honey and lemon juice and turn on heat to medium low.
  • Cook, stirring frequently, until reduced, about 15 minutes.
  • Let cool completely before using in cake.

For Buttercream Frosting:

  • In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment beat the butter until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes.
  • Add the sugar and mix on low speed until well blended. Increase the speed to medium and beat until fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes.
  • Add the vanilla and 1 tablespoon of almond milk (or more if needed) and beat on medium speed until lightened in color.
  • Add natural food coloring if using and blend.

To Assemble Cake:

  • Once cake and jam is cooled completely place first layer on serving plate and frost with a thin layer of buttercream. Create a 1/2" dam of buttercream on the perimeter of the cake layer by piping it, or using a offset spatula, to prevent the jam from leaking out of the cake. Top with 2 heaping tablespoons of jam and smooth over.
  • Add next layer of cake and repeat with layer of buttercream, buttercream dam,  and jam.
  • Place cake in refrigerator for at least 15 minutes, to let set up and to make frosting cake easier.
  • Once cake has chilled, add about half of frosting to the top of the cake and using an offset spatula frost cake starting with the top and moving excess down the sides of the cake and smoothing as going.
  • Decorate as desired with additional frosting.
  • Cake will keep 3-5 days in refrigerator.

Notes

  • We used a combination of maple syrup and honey equal to 1/3 cup together to prevent the cake from taking on the flavor too much of either one.
  • The butter absolutely must be at room temperature or it will not cream together with the honey. It is always best when making a cake if all ingredients are as close to room temperature (especially eggs and milk) as the cake batter comes together more easily and you get a fluffier textured cake. If the eggs are not at room temperature you can place them in a bowl with warm (not hot) water for about 10 minutes. You can also gently heat up milk using your preferred method (stove top or microwave) to bring it up to room temperature (but make sure it is not hot).
  • Follow this guide for our post on Natural Food Coloring!
  • Sprinkles we use: We get them from Whole Foods  because they are artificial food dye free. These are also a decent option.