Gluten Free Cake Flour Recipe
Gluten Free Flour is just as essential in my kitchen as regular Cake Flour. If youβve been following my blog for a while, you will know that my husband, Adriaan, is gluten intolerant. The news was such a downer initiallyβ¦
We both kept thinking of all the foods he could no longer eat; bread, pies, pasta, pizza, cookies, CAKE!!
The list just felt so long and heavy.
One of the main ways I communicate my love and support is through cooking and baking. Itβs my βthangβ, you know. Over months of researching and trying out dozens of recipes, I had to face the hard truth that gluten free baked goods simply arenβt as delicious as normal baked goods.
I mean, for a poor gluten free soul they are better than nothing, but come on, I wanted Adriaan to leap in the air over the yumminess!
There had to be a solution to gluten free baking that would produce goods SO YUMMY that they actually make him dance with joy…
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The Cravings
The main thing Adriaan was craving was just an ordinary yellow cake. Nothing fancy – just pure and honest cake. Thing is, the simplest bakes are the ones that leave ingredients nowhere to hide!
Making a chocolate cake is so much easier in that sense, because if your gluten free flour blend has a slightly funny flavour, it will be masked by the chocolate flavour (gluten free bakers nodding in agreement here).
Another impossible craving he had, was for pie! Flaky, buttery pastry. What more does a man need? Except a wife to make it of course.
Adriaan used to eat tons of pies. In South Africa they are everywhere. From every grocery store to the smallest take away shop in a run-down neighbourhood. I often made a butternut, spinach and feta pie for us at home as well.
Making gluten free cake is one thing, but pastry is a whole other colossal monster.
Why so complex?
As Iβve said before, I have done hours and days of research online. MOST gluten free flour/cake recipes were severely annoying.
They called for these crazy ingredients which Iβve never seen before in my life and could not find in any supermarket or health food store in my area.
Things like Ultratex, Expandex and Whey Protein Isolateβ¦ What?! Or should I say “Gezuntheid”?
I was on a mission to find something that could be made with ingredients that are available to me and can easily be mixed with no special equipment or effort.
Breakthrough
One fine day I was searching for gluten free flour/cake recipes yet again and I came across Yammieβs Gluten Freedom. Her recipe for White cake looked fantastic.
I wasnβt too keen on making it though as the recipe called for coconut flour as well (which is too expensive) and if I can avoid doing the egg white thing, I prefer to do so. BUT, Yammie gave a link to Jeanneβs gluten free flour recipe on Art of Gluten Free Baking.
I tried out the flour blend and it was really really good!
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Refining the Recipe
This gluten free flour blend was a great breakthrough and made cupcakes that improved Adriaanβs quality of life significantly.
I also started using this gluten free flour in my own bakery for all gluten free cakes. After a few months however, I realized that there is a slightly grainy residue in your mouth when the crumb breaks down. Not severe, but it was still there.
When I made a gluten free cake about a year later, I had run out of glutinous/sweet rice flour. Such a bummer.
Going to a Asian supermarket was not an option on this particular day, so there had to be a plan B! Art of Gluten Free Baking suggested Potato Flour as a substitute for Sweet Rice Flour.
The result was just so much better! Such a soft and tender crumb! In the meantime Iβve also increased the amount of Xanthan Gum and Brown Rice Flour as well. Iβm so extremely happy with the recipe as it is now!
And I love that I can find ALL of these ingredients in my closest health store/supermarket!
This gluten free flour can be substituted gram for gram in ANY cake recipe! I also use it to make shortcrust pastry, rough puff pastry and even in homemade pasta! Pasta that can be rolled into sheets with a hand operated pasta machine β I kid you not!
I mix 1 kg of flour in a little sealed bucket and keep it in my cupboard to whip out whenever I need it.
You’re welcome to halve or quarter the recipe if you need to.
I go by grams because the accuracy is just better when it comes to dry ingredients. Now go bake yourself some perfect gluten free cake with your favourite normal cake recipe!
Important note: This flour recipe is not ideal for making bread, cookies or brownies, but I do have an Ultimate Gluten Free Brownie Recipe π
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- 435 g White Rice Flour
- 145 g Brown Rice Flour
- 230 g Potato Flour (not starch, different ingredient)
- 175 g Tapioca Flour (or starch, same thing in this case)
- 65 g Chickpea Flour
- 14 g Xanthan Gum
- Weigh ingredients into a bowl or tub with at least a 2,5 kg capacity. Some of the flours are quite fine and will form dust as you mix them.
- Using a metal spoon, VERY gently fold the flours together. Be sure to dig all the way down and scoop the flour up in the process. Get into all the corners as well. Do this for about 1 minute.
- Next stir the mixture gently again, but this time using a handheld balloon whisk. Keep stirring for 1 minute. Be thorough.
- Put your gluten free flour in a sealed container. It will last as long as the actual ingredients β a couple of months.
I’m pretty sure you will enjoy my Ultimate Gluten Free Brownies Recipe… I’ve literally sold like over 8000+ of them. They are AMAZING!!
Thanks so much for reading! Let me know if you like my gluten free flour blend as much as we do.
Chat soon!
Aurelia
POPULAR BAKING TIPS
Got a question? Something to add? Letβs chat in the comments section down below! (I respond to every single comment)
Hello, do you have any recipes for dog treats?
Sorry Jake that isn’t my specialty – all the best!
Have you tried psyllium husk rather than xanthan gum? I do not wish to use xanthan gum.
Thank you, Meryl, for your question I unfortunately have not tried it but if you do, please report back and let us know!
Can you please help me with a gluten free flour recipe but without rice flour
I have tried so many crumpets recipes but all were flops, it must be without dairy, rice or egg
with IBS i am on vegan now.
Will appreciate if you can help.
Regards
Hi there Nola π Thanks for reaching out. I’m so sorry, but I don’t know of any GF flour recipes without rice flour.
Hi Aurelia,
Thanks for the Gluten free cake flour recipe, however, as you said, it is not ideal for breads, cookies, or brownies.
Our goal is to create healthy Levain style cookies that are not made with all purpose flour, dairy, sugar or eggs, but still buttery tasting and really delicious.
Please, in your professional opinion, can this be done without breaking the bank? What would be the best way to proceed?
Thanks so much in advance for your advice. I appreciate your help!
Hey there Nola! Well, that’s a very tall order to be honest – but I do think it’s possible. The question is just how long you are willing to persist in testing and tweaking the recipe. Since you’ll be changing pretty much all the ingredients you’ll have SO MANY variables to consider and all of them will affect the taste and look and cost of your results. But the flour mix replacement is a good place to start. You can try searching on Gluten Free on a Shoestring’s website to find a gf flour that works well in cookies. You can also try Bob’s Redmill gf flour – apparently it works very well.
Hi, Aurelia
I saw on your website to order baked goods, that you use chickpea flour in your mix also. Is that a new addition since you pasted the recipe above.
Hey Sahirah π I’ve been experimenting with different amounts of chickpea flour in the blend, but I’m not 100% satisfied yet. I’m still experimenting. That’s why I haven’t updated the recipe yet.
Hi Aurelia
What a wonderful find. I love your attitude and generous sharing of knowledge. My husband is a coeliac. He was diagnosed 19 years ago and what a battle it was then to find gluten free food and restaurants that understood what we were talking about.
Do you offer a gluten free baking course – cakes, pastas and breads?
Hey there Wendy π Thanks for your sweet comment! I’m so sorry to hear about your husband’s struggle with coeliac. It can be very hard to find delicious gluten free goods yes! I unfortunately don’t offer ant baking classes. I focus more on the business side of baking. But this flour blend truly works perfectly in all cake, cupcake, muffin, short-crust pastry and fresh pasta recipes!
Hello Aurelia. Can this recipe be used to bake some homemade pies?
Hey Yusra! YES, absolutely π
Hi Aurelia, I love your blog and all your tips, thank you so much… I’m in Durban, it seems a bit difficult to find the flours needed for the gluten free one in bulk. Any advice? I’ll soon take your classes as the project of my own home bakery is in working progress. Slowly but surely. And as I’m a Belgian from Brussels, I’ll work on Belgian/French recipes soon…
Hey Stephanie! Thanks for your question π I buy all my gluten free flours at Dischem – they have a HUGE range! And of course you can’t buy it in bulk from them, BUT I’ve noticed that gluten free clients are really more than willing to pay extra for great gluten free baked goods! So, buy the smaller packets of flour available at Dischem and then just charge extra to make up for it π
Hi Aurelia, I have a intolerance to potato and corn….any other substitute for the GF flour?
Thank you for this wonderful banking info.
Frances
Hey Frances! You can replace any corn flour with tapioca flour. A substitute for potato flour is quite hard… But you could try chickpea flour!
Hi, Aurelia!
First time commenting here and I really loved this recipe. I can’t seem to find potato flour in my country, only its starch. Could that be replaced with any other kind?
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Hey Duran, thanks for your comment! So glad you enjoyed the recipe π Potato flour and potato starch are unfortunately NOT the same. According to Google, the best substitute for potato flour is cornstarch.
Hello. Iβm trying to bake for my friend who has celiac disease.
Can I use natures choice GF cake flour to make bread somehow.
Iβve been successful in biscuits and brownies.
Hey Belinda, thanks for your question π This GF flour recipe is unfortunately just a CAKE flour recipe and I don’t recommend using any GF flour for bread UNLESS it clearly states that it’s intended for GF BREAD recipes. If you want great GF bread recipes you can visit Art of Gluten Free Baking’s website. Here’s a link to her recipes >> http://www.artofglutenfreebaking.com/recipes-2-2/ scroll down a bit to the “B” recipes and you’ll see 2 links to her amazing GF bread recipes.
Hello,
I found your GF flour recipe but my husband is allergic to xathan gum. Is there anything else I can use?
He is also allergic to almond flour.
Thanks
Kati
Hey there Kati! That’s unfortunate, but I’m sure there’s a way around that π you can check out this link >> https://gluten-free-bread.org/5-alternatives-to-xanthan-gum-and-guar-gum-in-gluten-free-baking
Hi Aurelia, thank you for this wonderful post, I am learning at a very speedy pace. I have never considered gluten free baking due to the complexity of it all, but your flour mix seems like a fantastic solution. I have had an enquiry for rusks now, and considering that your flour mix is not an option for bread, do you think the same will apply for rusks? Happy baking!
Hey Rentia! So sorry I missed your comment somehow. This GF flour works WONDERFULLY for rusks yes! Just be careful not to over-mix your rusk dough and don’t leave it to stand around. Mix it just enough and get it in the oven.
I am a baker. A good one I must say. A supervisor of mine is gluten intolerant but she has been begging for me to make cake for her.
I have been avoiding the challenge. I set to studying the ‘gluten-free baking world’ because once I discovered what gluten does… I immediately understood that this is NOT going to be as simple as what everybody was telling me.
“Just use GF flour in place of regular flour”! I should actually use more exclamation points behind that sentence because there excitement was so…. sure of themselves.
Bless their wittle souls.
Anyway, I been getting my pointers tips all documented. My love, talent and seriousness about the outcome of my cakes texture: crumb, moisture, color and most important taste tells me what I need the outcome to be.
Enter you. I love a baker who speaks my language. Confidence.
Your confidence is different in your test and trial of this mix that for some reason…my spirit says ‘this is one of the good ones’.
So I guess I am writing to say thanks for the tip. I will also let you know the outcome of your recipe.
Question: Have you ever used ‘simple syrups’ on the layers of ‘GF’ before Icing them?
Since these can tend (so I’ve read) to dry out… do you think or know–if this would render a ‘mushy’ outcome?
For some reason I’m wondering on the impact because of the ‘delicacy’ of the flours.
May the Most High GOD continue to Bless your hands and talent as HE has… mine.
Hi Chanel! Thank you for your amazing comment! I really appreciate it π
My Home Bakery’s clients are often gluten free so my whole cake menu is available in gluten free and they all absolutely adore the results! That being said, give it a try and let me know if it works for you too.
As for syrups: Bakers often use recipes that have a higher flour ratio in order to make their cakes more stable so that they can be layered and stacked into tiers much easier. For this reason the cakes can often be quite dry. Bakeries also make their cake layers a few days in advance before frosting and decorating them, which means the cakes have more time to dry out and dance on the fence between edible and stale.
Since my philosophy is yumminess, I am a freshness activist. I have a policy in my Home Bakery that your order is never baked more than 20 hours before you collect. My cakes layers are already super fresh, soft and moist, so I have no need to add any syrups. I love baking this way.
Thank you for your kind words xx