Gluten Free Funfetti Birthday Cake

My go-to gluten free birthday cake! With a vanilla cake base, lots of sprinkles for a funfetti twist and finished off with a classic dairy free buttercream frosting. The perfect recipe for any celebration!

I simply cannot let my birthday month pass without sharing a gluten free birthday cake! We already have a lot of gluten free cake recipes on the blog, but this is definitely one of my favorites and is perfect for any kind of celebration.

It has a rich buttery vanilla flavor, tons of sprinkles to make it funfetti and finished off with my classic dairy free buttercream frosting.

Plus, it’s so easy to make, requiring just one bowl and a few simple ingredients you probably already have on hand.

I opted to make this a six inch 3 layer cake, but you can also make a 2 layer 8 inch instead. Either way, it will be enough to feed about 14-18 people, depending on how much everyone wants to eat. Try my dairy free birthday cake next!

How to make gluten free birthday cake

Spray and line two 8 inch round cake pans or three 6 inch round cake pans with parchment paper and set aside.

Add the softened (not melted!) butter and sugar to a bowl or bowl of a stand mixer and beat together for about 1 full minute.

Beat in the remaining wet ingredients, making sure the eggs and milk are at room temperature.

If they were in the fridge, microwave the milk for about 30-45 seconds and add the eggs to a bowl of warm water for about 5 minutes to quickly bring to room temp.

Add in the dry ingredients aside from the sprinkles, making sure to spoon and level the flour using dry measuring cups, don’t scoop right from the bag.

Whisk together until a smooth batter forms, then fold in the sprinkles. Add to your prepared pans, trying to make each as even as possible for even baking.

Add to the oven on the center rack and bake for 38-42 minutes for 8 inch cakes or 45-52 for 6 inch cakes. Check with a toothpick for doneness, it should come out mostly clean with a few moist crumbs on it, but it should not be wet.

Remove from the oven and let cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then flip onto a wire rack and let finish cooling at room temperature. Once cool, wrap in plastic wrap and either refrigerate or freeze before frosting.

For 6 inch cakes, I like to put about 1 cup of frosting in between each layer, or 1 1/2 cups for 8 inch cakes, then do a crumb coat, chill the cake, then do a final layer of frosting.

Tips for a moist texture

If this is your first time making or trying a gluten free birthday cake, or gluten free cake in general, you may be worried about it being either too dry, too dense, not moist enough etc.

These are common (and valid) concerns with gluten free baking, so I’m going to fill you in on a few secrets to getting a moist and tender cake.

First and foremost, make sure you are measuring your flour properly! The best way to measure flour is to weight it, but my go to method is to spoon the flour into your measure cup, then level off the top with a knife.

Don’t ever pack it into the measuring cup as you will end up with far more flour than the recipe actually calls for.

Second, use enough butter or oil in the cake to add moisture. This recipe uses mostly butter because it creates a very rich flavor. Some cake recipes may also call for apple sauce or use brown sugar instead of white, however, for this recipe we’ll be using a bit of greek yogurt to create a moist cake.

Finally, do not over bake! There is a very fine line between under-baked and over-baked when it comes to anything gluten free, so be sure to watch your oven carefully and check the cake as it gets close to the end.

All ovens are different, so set your timer to the lower number in the time range provided, and add more time as needed in small increments.

Prep it in advance!

You can easily prep gluten free cakes in advance. My suggestion is to make the cake as usual, let it cool completely, then tightly wrap in plastic wrap, then place each layer in a freezer safe bag.

Freeze until you’re ready to frost! This is the best way to ensure it stays nice and moist before you serve it.

Substitutions

Dairy. You can use non-dairy milk such as almond, vegan butter and dairy free greek yogurt (I like Kite Hill). This recipe will work well with dairy or dairy free options.

Eggs. I do not recommend making this cake without eggs as those are key for the overall texture. Instead, try my vegan gluten free funfetti cake.

Flour. I used Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Gluten Free Baking Flour (blue bag) which I highly recommend for this recipe. You can try a different brand, but I cannot guarantee the results as all blends are different. Just be sure to use one that has xanthan gum!

I do not recommend subbing for almond flour, oat flour or any other type of flour.

Why do cakes sink in the middle? 

This is generally due to over-mixing the batter, too much leavening agent, or too much liquid.

Those are problems I usually encounter when testing a recipe, so you shouldn’t have any sunken middles if you follow the recipe as written! Just make sure you don’t underbake since this can also result in a sunken middle.

You’ll also love…

• Gluten Free Red Velvet Cake
• Almond Flour Chocolate Cake
• Gluten Free Lemon Cake
• Banana Snack Cake

If you want more recipes straight to your inbox, be sure to subscribe to my email list. Don’t forget to leave a comment and rating if you enjoy this recipe!