Gluten Free Cake Mix Recipe

By Nicole Hunn | Published: July 1, 2016 | Posted In: Basics, Cakes, Desserts

gluten free cake mix for vanilla cake in jar with label with egg and vanilla

5 from 12 votes

Prep Time : 10

Cook Time : 0

This gluten free cake mix recipe is perfect for making chocolate and vanilla cakes, or for when a recipe has a cake mix as an ingredient.

Jump to Recipe

An easy gluten free cake mix recipe for classic chocolate and vanilla cakes and cupcakes. Keep them on hand and you’ll always be able to celebrate a birthday (or a day ending in “y”) in style!

Close up of 3 vanilla cupcakes on white surface

WANT TO SAVE THIS RECIPE?

We'll send the recipe to your inbox, so you can come back to it later!

What makes these homemade cake mix recipes special

These incredibly versatile cake mix recipes will come in handy time and again. When my gluten free son was in grammar school, it seemed like there was a birthday party 8 days a week.

It was incredibly helpful to have a stash of chocolate cupcakes and vanilla cupcakes in the freezer at all times, for just such an emergency!

Inside of chocolate cupcakes with 2 other chocolate cupcakes in back on white surface

How to make cake from these mixes

Each of the recipes is formulated to work by adding water, not milk, to the dry ingredients, along with either oil or butter and eggs. The result is a moist, tender cake with a perfect crumb every time, whether you bake cupcakes, a cake or a dump cake.

Chocolate cake made with cocoa powder, not melted chocolate, lends itself especially well to being made with oil in place of butter. You can use whatever neutral oil you like best: liquid coconut oil, vegetable oil, canola, or grapeseed oil all work fine.

Inside view of vanilla cupcake with 3 other vanilla cupcakes in back on white surface

Can you make cakes with egg replacers?

I haven't tried these recipes with an egg replacer, but my favorite egg replacer is a “chia egg” (1 tablespoon ground chia seeds + 1 tablespoon water, mixed and allowed to gel). I don't recommend a flax egg, since that has a strong flavor and color.

I definitely would not use applesauce or water. You need to replace not only the moisture of eggs, but also the structure that the egg white provides.

Chocolate cake mix in a jar with 2 eggs in back on white surface

To make the vanilla cake dairy-free

If you'd like to replace the butter in the vanilla cake mix with something dairy free, I recommend trying butter-flavored nonhydrogenated vegetable shortening (I use Spectrum brand) as a 1 to 1 replacement by weight.

The buttermilk powder in the vanilla dry mix can also be replaced with finely ground blanched almond flour, again 1 to 1 by weight. You can also try powdered coconut milk, which tends to work quite well as a replacement for nonfat dry milk.

A close up of 4 chocolate cupcakes on a white surface

The vanilla mix is best for cupcakes or cookies (not a whole cake)

I do have to be honest with you, though, about the vanilla cake mix: If you're making gluten free vanilla cupcakes, this mix is amazing. The cupcakes have the most tender, perfect crumb (more tender with the buttermilk powder than with almond flour, but still) and perfect vanilla taste.

If you're making a straight-up vanilla cake, though, I really prefer my recipe for The Very Best Gluten Free Vanilla Cake. Creaming the butter and sugar first, as we do in that cake, plus sifting the flour is really the only way to get a perfect vanilla cake.

Gluten Free Vanilla Cake Mix Recipe Image

Simple buttercream frosting

Wondering how to make a quick and easy buttercream frosting? Just use exactly half as much room temperature unsalted butter, by weight, as confectioners' sugar. For example, 16 tablespoons (8 ounces) unsalted butter, and 4 cups (1 pound) confectioners' sugar.

Beat them together, along with a splash of pure vanilla extract and a pinch of salt, until light and fluffy. Add milk by the half-teaspoonful and beat until it holds its shape when you scoop it but is smooth and creamy.

Want to make a chocolate version? Replace some of the confectioners' sugar with cocoa powder!

Vanilla frosted cupcake, cookie with M&Ms and a chocolate chip cookie on white surface

Uses for gluten free cake mix

Below are the Make-Your-Own Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix and the Make-Your-Own Gluten Free Vanilla Cake Mix from my second book, Gluten Free on a Shoestring Quick & Easy. They're so useful!

Of course, you can use them whenever you need a quick gluten free chocolate or vanilla cupcake. But they're also perfect for other types of recipes that call for a gluten free cake mix, a dump cake or cookies.

In the photo just above, the vanilla cupcake is made with this cake mix, and the instructions below. The two cookies are cake mix cookies.

The cookie above is a gluten free cheesecake cookie, which tastes just like cheesecake but without any of the trouble.

Inside of a chocolate cupcake on white surface and vanilla frosted cupcakes below

Print Pin Save

Gluten Free Cake Mix Recipe

This gluten free cake mix recipe is perfect for making chocolate and vanilla cakes, or for when a recipe has a cake mix as an ingredient.

Course: Basics, Mixes

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 0

Yield: 16 ounces mix

Author: Nicole Hunn

Ingredients

For The Chocolate Cake Mix

1 ⅛ cups (157 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend I used Better Batter; please click thru for full blends info
½ teaspoon xanthan gum (omit if your blend already contains it)
⅞ cup (70 g) unsweetened natural cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1 ⅛ cups (225 g) granulated sugar

For The Vanilla Cake Mix

1 ½ cups (210 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend I used Better Batter; please click thru for full blends info
¾ teaspoon xanthan gum (omit if your blend already contains it)
½ cup (43 g) cultured buttermilk blend powder (I use Saco brand) or 1/3 cup (43 g) whey powder or milk powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar

Instructions

To make the cake mixes.

For either mix, place all the ingredients for that mix in a large bowl and whisk well. Store in an airtight container until ready to use.

To make gluten free chocolate cake or cupcakes.

Preheat your oven to 350°F.
Grease or line 18 of the wells of two standard 12-cup muffin tins or 9-inch cake pan and set it aside.
Transfer the dry ingredients to a large bowl and create a well in the center.
Add 6 tablespoons (84 g) of neutral oil, 3 eggs (150 g, weighed out of shell) at room temperature, beaten) and 3/4 cup (6 fluid ounces) lukewarm water, mixing to combine well after each addition.
Fill the 18 wells of the cupcake tin each 2/3 of the way full, or transfer the cake batter to the prepared 9-inch pan.
Place in the center of the preheated oven and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean, or with a few moist crumbs attached (about 19 minutes for cupcakes; about 28 minutes for the cake).
Remove from the oven and allow to sit in the pan for at least 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Makes one 9-inch cake or about 18 cupcakes.

To make gluten free vanilla cake or cupcakes.

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease or line 18 of the wells of two standard 12-cup muffin tins or 9-inch cake pan and set it aside.
Transfer the dry ingredients to a large bowl and create a well in the center.
Add 8 tablespoons (112 g) of melted and cooled unsalted butter, 2 eggs (100 g, weighed out of shell) and 1 egg white (25 g) at room temperature, beaten, and 2/3 cup (5 1/3 fluid ounces) lukewarm water, and 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract, mixing to combine well after each addition.
Fill the 18 wells of the cupcake pan each 2/3 of the way full, or transfer the cake batter to the prepared 9-inch pan.
Place in the center of the preheated oven and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean, or with a few moist crumbs attached (about 19 minutes for cupcakes; about 28 minutes for the cake).
Remove from the oven and allow to sit in the pan for at least 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Makes one 9-inch cake or about 18 cupcakes.