Strawberry Birthday Cake
Gluten-free strawberry cake is a nice change from classic vanilla or chocolate cake. I recommend this for a birthday cake everyone will love.
Ingredients
STRAWBERRY CAKE ::
- 2 cups white rice flour
- 1 cup tapioca flour
- 1/2 cup brown rice flour
- 1 3/4 cups of organic pure cane sugar
- 2 tsp of baking soda
- 2 tsp of xanthan gum
- 1 tsp of salt
- 1 cup whole milk or coconut milk
- 1 cup pureed strawberries
- 1/2 cup of olive oil
- 2 TB of apple cider vinegar
- 1 TB of vanilla
STRAWBERRY CREAM FROSTING ::
- 1 cup softened butter
- 3 cups organic powdered pure cane sugar
- 1/4 cup pureed strawberries
Instructions
- Butter two 9 inch cake pans and line the bottom of both with parchment paper. (I just trace the bottom of the pan on the paper and cut).
- In a large bowl, whisk the flours, sugar, baking soda, xanthan gum, salt.
- In a medium bowl, blend the milk, strawberry puree, oil, vanilla, and vinegar with hand beaters. Do NOT leave out the vinegar – I know it is a weird ingredient but it reacts with the baking soda to help with the rise!
- Pour the wet ingredients into dry ingredients and combine. I started with hand beaters and finished with a spatula.
- Pour into buttered cake pans. The batter is thick and kinda sticky just FYI.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Check the cakes at the 25 minute mark though in case our ovens run differently.
- Remove from oven and let cool for about 10 minutes. Then take the cakes out to cool completely on a wire rack.
- Once the cakes are completely cooled you can make your frosting. Just put all the ingredients into a medium mixing bowl and beat with hand beaters until smooth.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Tips:
- You will need to grab a pound of strawberries to use between the cake and the frosting. If you plan to make the butterflies for the top you’ll need another half pound.
- Here is the *perfect* strawberry ice cream to go with your strawberry cake!
- Looking for another cake idea? Try this chocolate birthday cake I made for my other daughter earlier this spring!
I would love to keep up on anyone that gives the cake a try! Tag me up on Instagram or Facebook with your pictures!
Divine recipe! I *really* love the butterflies. You can tell you’re a mom to 3 girls! So creative. =)
Thank you Jessica 😉
Oh wow, this cake is so pretty! I have little girls who are 5 & 3 and a little guy who is 1 who would be so excited to see a homemade butterfly cake! We do eat a whole, real food diet including properly prepared grains, but don’t get many treats around here-most of my healthy homemade cakes usually resemble bricks 😉
Do you think the recipe would work well as cupcakes as well? Sometimes they don’t so thought I would check. We have a play date tomorrow and the other moms always bring foods to share that I don’t feed my kids and I find it difficult to know what to do-it is hard to say no when all the other kids are getting treats, and I don’t want to offend others who DO think it is OK for their kids to have them, so I always bring a healthy homemade item-maybe a pretty strawberry cupcake would do the trick! 😉
Hi Steph! GOOD for you <3 I am the same way - and I usually try to match or bring along something so my kids don't have to feel left out. Yes cupcakes will work! This recipe will make a good 18ish cupcakes though so just half it - you can wrap up leftovers in plastic wrap and into the freezer - then you can pull them out when you need them for stuff like that. Hope that helps!
Hi this is a great strawberry cake recipe. Can you make a peanut butter cake
What a great idea! I’ll have to work on that!
Hi Renee, Im very excited about this receipe, im gluten intolerant and my son used to be anaphlyatic to, eggs, dairy, nuts so im always looking for friendly receipes..
I have a awesome chocolate apple cake receipt if interested
Hi Lisa! That is so great! I hope you enjoy it!
This cake looks great!!! I can’t wait to make it for an upcoming birthday. I personally like cakes better with eggs, though. Do you think this recipe would work well if I simply added 3-4 eggs? Or would I need to alter the recipe then?
Hi Heidi! How exciting – everyone will love it!
Yes I think eggs would work but you will want to back off some of the liquid. Put the 3-4 eggs in a measuring cup to see how many cups it makes and take out that much of the liquid – either the milk or the olive oil is what I would do. Does that make sense???
Yes, thank you so much!! That is kind of what I was thinking. I know you went egg free since a relative has an egg allergy… do you think adding them would make it more flavorful? Or does it taste so much like strawberries that it may not make much difference?
Seriously one of the most beautiful cakes I have ever seen! xo
Thank you Emily!
I just found this via Pinterest. I’m always looking for new ideas when it comes to making cakes without dairy and eggs, so thank you for sharing. I love finding new inspiration – I’m new to baking & can’t wait to try this. Nice to meet you
Wonderful! And welcome!
Hi, this cake looks amazing! I’d really like to make it for my daughter’s third birthday which is on Christmas day but I don’t have time to search out all the different flours. Do you think it would work with coconut flour? Many thanks for sharing! Kirsty x
Hi Kirsty! Coconut flour is pretty tricky to work with since it is not a great. It is a neat flour but it really acts differently than grain based flours like the rice flours and such. It is very absorbent so it requires usually double the moisture/wet ingredients as other flours. I am not sure how I would do this cake in all coconut flour! If you have a local health food store – or even check your grocery store you should be able to find the flours listed in the recipe. Even our little small mainstream grocer has them! Happy birthday to your daughter! I hope you enjoy the cake!
Do you think I could make these as cupcakes?
Hi Erin! Yes I do! I have not done them myself but just knowing how the batter behaved it should work for sure.
turned out perfect as cupcakes. Everyone loved them at my daughters birthday party. I love how strong the strawberry flavor is!! I used goat butter for the icing as I can’t use cow butter and it still worked. I did add a teaspoon of vanilla to the frosting.
Oh super fun! I’m so glad it worked out!
I am always so excited to see new cake recipes for
Those with allergies, but was disappointed you use butter for the frosting. So many people with gluten allergies also cannot tolerate dairy; I wish there were more recipes for those who cannot have either. Do you have any ideas how to create your beautiful cake (it is beautiful) without butter? I would love to hear your thoughts.
Hi Kelly! Great question! Thank you for asking! We have a raw milk share and tolerate raw dairy very well so I sometimes don’t think about that! You can use palm shortening instead of the butter for the frosting! Spectrum Organics has a nice one that you should be able to find in just about any health food store. I hope that helps!
I want to know it you have any milk,tree nut, and peanut free desert recipes. My 6 year old son is allergic to all three
Is it best to store in the fridge, or is room temperature fine?
Hi Tiffany! I made the cake the night before and stored it in the fridge – but I brought it out the next day to come to room temp well before the party. I hope that helps!
Hi, this looks absolutely delicious!! Have you ever made it with another fruit like blueberries? I think purple would be great fun too. 🙂 Just curious as to if you think same amount of pureed fruit would be the way to go. Thanks!
I think it would work Jae 🙂 I am going to be playing around with some blueberry cakes this month since my soon to be 4 year old asked for a blueberry cake for her birthday this year 😉 Stay tuned!
I am so happy I found you and your amazing recipes! Your a Godsend thank you. Is it okay to use all purpose self rising gluten free white flour for the cake recipes?
HI Evangelia! Welcome! I think that would work but I have obviously not tested it. I don’t see why it shouldn’t work though – might actually turn out better with the self rising components they have in the mix 😉
This looks positively amazing! I want to make it for my daughter’s 1st birthday. I am new to GF baking, so I was wondering if I could substitute Bob’s Red Mill All-purpose flour mix for your flours? I have some of this on hand already.
Thanks!
Hi Jamie! I think it would work – it might actually rise a little better with that since there is probably xanthan gum in the mix which helps with rise 😉 I hope you enjoy it!
My family loved it! I use corn free ingredients in addition so the frosting came out a bit runny, but still delisius!! They said to use this recipie every time!! Thank you 🙂
Oh that’s great Mandi! Thanks for sharing!
Hi renee,
Your cake looks damn cute.I am thinking of making an eggless version but can i use regular white flour ?Do i need to add gums ?
Hi Sathya! Thank you! You shouldn’t need the gums if you use regular white flour – the gluten in the white flour will gum it together 🙂
That’s awesome.Thanks so much.Will get back to you ,if i have any questions.
Renee did this cake with all purpose flour,half butter ,lime juice and 1 tsp baking soda.It was too delicious but took around 50 minutes to bake though.But i am glad i found the right recipe .Next time i am trying with millets.Will be posting the recipe in my blog ,is it ok with you ?
Hi Sathya!
I’m so glad you enjoyed the cake! I’m honored by your request to share this recipe on your blog–we love it too–but RGN follows a strict copyright policy which doesn’t allow duplication of my content on other sites. If you’d like, you can make the cake, take your own photos, and write a story about your experience, then link to my site and this recipe for the recipe details (ingredients and instructions). This doesn’t violate copyright laws and still allows you to share this delicious cake on your blog in an authentic way. Thank you so much for respecting copyright, and enjoy the yummy cake 🙂
I followed this recipe to a tee, however mine came out pink and pretty dense, still yummy and had good flavor but a little chewy…for the frosting I added cream cheese and it was amazing! I will make again too see what I can change up to make it a little more cakey but thank you for the recipe it was nice to have my son be able to have the same thing we were all having!
Hi, Renee. About how many strawberries (pounds) are needed to make the puree? I’m assuming I would be making the puree in the food processor, but perhaps you mean a pre made puree? Where would I find that? Thank you!
Hi Mandy! Between the cake and the frosting you will need about a pound of strawberries as the Tips section says. Just blend the strawberries to make the puree! I hope that helps!
Yes! Thank you!
Would you have to alter the baking time or temp for cupcakes? I’m worried they’ll be dry…
Hi Sonia! Don’t alter the temp – but yes the time might end up being 5-10 minutes shorter 🙂
Hi Renee 🙂 A couple questions for you. I’d love to make your cake for my sons up coming birthday but i’d prefer to sweeten it with honey or maple syrup. Do you think it would work to use maple syrup/honey with a bit of water to equal out the 1 cup of milk and omit the milk and sugar? And I cant get nice and flavourful strawberries where I am so do you think it would work to use raspberries? This cake is gorgeous by the way 🙂 Looking forward to hearing back from you! All the best – Shar
Hi Shar! The fat in the milk helps with the moisture in the cake, so I’m not real sure on the water/honey combo. It might be worth testing a half recipe in cupcake form or something just to be sure! And yes on the raspberries! That should work fine!
Hi Renee, This cake was such a big hit at my daughter’s party last year and I plan on making it again! She asked for raspberry this time around, so I am glad to see you think it would work. But I am worried about the seeds in raspberries, do you feel as I do, that raspberry seeds are bigger than strawberry seeds? Do you think I should be straining them out? Do you think that would even work?
Thanks!
Rachel
Hi Rachel! That sounds delicious! I really don’t think the seeds would be a problem. After you blend them up see what you think and then you can strain them out if it looks really seedy. I think it is dispersed enough in the cake that it shouldn’t matter. Happy birthday to your little one!
Hi,
Planning to make that gorgeous cake of yours, but I have a question. What kind of coconut milk to use?
Or it really doesn’t matter? Thank you for the recipe 🙂
Hi Margot! I make my own but any full fat coconut milk will do!
Hi Renee, My cupcakes came out a bit purple haha…what did I do wrong? The only substitution I made was 2% for whole milk. 🤔
Hi Jennifer! Interesting! I’ve made this cake quite a few times and never gotten purple! I have not used 2% milk either, but I don’t see why that would change the color! I’m stumped! I apologize I’m not much help!
HI, My son wants a pink strawberry cake for his 6th birthday coming up in a few weeks, the problem is we are in the Southern hemisphere so it’s autumn! Do you think it would work with frozen strawberries?
Hi! It should work for the cake and the frosting (just thaw and drain first!), but you would need fresh strawberries if you want to make the butterflies on top 🙂
I am so happy a friend shared this with me! I was afraid I would not find a gluten-free, allergy-free cake for my birthday next week. I can’t wait to try this!
I do need to cut sugars right now and was wondering if you have tried it with a natural sugar substitute and could recommend one and how much/ how to adjust the recipe. Also, have you tested it with other gf flours? Perhaps something in place of rice flour? I’d prefer something healthier, but discovered every type of flour plays a different role and a cake can explode in the oven if not the right balance. 🙂 If you know of a substitute that wil work, I’ll give it a try, otherwise I’ll play it safe & just cave on the starchy flour for this special occasion.
Thanks! I look forward to trying the recipe!
Hi Jessica! I have not played around with sugar subs before, so I’m afriad I’m not sure how that would transfer! If you want to sub out all of the flour for a Gluten Free Flour Blend such as the Namaste GF blend or Trader Joes blend, that should work, although will still most likely have some rice flour in it. Its a special occasion flour over here too 🙂
Hi there! Any chance I can substitute the apple cider vinegar for anything else? My son is currently having an allergy to apple sauce so I’m hesitant to try anything with apples in it for his birthday cake. Thanks!
Hi Vanessa! Yes, you can use white vinegar or lemon juice – the acid reacts with the baking powder and soda to create a rise. If he can tolerate whole eggs you can substitute eggs! At the time I made this cake we had a cousin in the family with a severe egg allergy so I had to make this cake have a rise without the eggs.
Can you use flour mix like cup for cup, Pillsbury gluten free flour etc…
That should work Kelly!
Thanks for sharing this recipe! Do you think this cake would work in a mild. My son is counting on an Elmo cake, but I’d love to make it healthier if possible…
Hi Holly! I don’t see why not! I would try it 🙂
Hello, I can’t wait to try this! I was wondering if I can substitute guar gum for the xanthum gum? I just happened to have it on hand.
Hi Sonya! I’m not sure if that would change anything, as I haven’t used guar gum in baking before!
Is there a particular reason for the olive oil in the batter? Can I assume butter would be fine to use instead?
Hi Sarah! Melted butter would be fine too!
Do you have any nutrition facts etc? Thanks!!!
Hi Pam! I don’t, but you can use Google to do that!
So do you puree 1 cup of Strawberries ? Or do you use a cup of strawberry puree ?
Puree 1 cup of strawberries 🙂
I have made this cake many times for my kiddos over the years. Yummy! We have tried your chocolate and carrot cakes too. We usually just use your cream cheese frosting recipe (instead of the strawberry frosting) for all the cakes.
One of my daughters wants to have raspberry cake. Do you think I could just substitute 1 cup of pureed raspberries for the cup of strawberries?
Hi Sarah! I love that! Yes I do think raspberries would work just fine!