Classic Vanilla Cake | Gluten-free

It’s here, it’s finally here! For so long I’ve been trying create the best gluten-free vanilla cake. I missed the basic vanilla cake with chocolate frosting that I ate growing up. So simple, yet so good! It sounds like the most basic thing to make, but it’s so easy to ruin a vanilla cake. It either comes out too dry, too flat, or the texture is just too dense for my liking.

Originally I had intended this cake to be a chocolate chip cake. Turns out I didn’t add enough chocolate chips so it was mostly just a vanilla cake. At first I was disappointed, but was then dumbstruck with the knowledge that I had in fact just made the vanilla cake of my dreams.

Now if you’re still interested in a chocolate chip cake, you can still add them. Although I think that mini chocolate chips will work even better, sadly I’ve not been able to find them in my area so I resorted to regular sized chocolate chips.

I think one of my first vanilla cake experiments was simply subtracting the cocoa powder from my chocolate cake recipe which was disastrous. Turns out there’s an actual science to converting your chocolate cake into a vanilla one which is more complex than just omitting the cocoa powder. You live and you learn.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup sugar

• 1 3/4 cups self-raising gluten-free flour

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

• 2 eggs

• 2 cups nut milk (I used soy but any will do)

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 3/4 cup chocolate chips (optional), preferably mini chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease two 9-inch round baking pans.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a large mixing bowl. Add in eggs, milk, butter, and vanilla. Mix well until well-combined.

3. Mix in chocolate chips if you wish.

4. Pour batter into well-greased pans. Bake for 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

5. Let cool before removing from pans. Frost cakes with your desired frosting.