This gluten-free raspberry cake recipe yields an airy but sturdy crumb that will stack together beautifully. It is infused with subtle raspberry flavors in the forms of raspberry purée and raspberry emulsion. The raspberry buttercream has super bold flavors achieved with one of my favorite ingredients of all time: freeze-dried raspberries (it's seriously SO good!)
At my cottage bakery, I sell raspberry-flavor treats all year round, but this cake is especially popular around Valentine's Day, along with my gluten-free red velvet cake. I love to decorate it with piped colorful hearts on the side, using a trick I'll show you for piping multicolored frosting. If you make it for your children, you can enjoy it while playing Valentine's Day Bingo!
I use my shelf-stable crusting buttercream here, but you can certainly finish this cake with your favorite frosting!
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Ingredients
Let's dive in the ingredient choices.
- Gluten-free all-purpose flour, please click through for my recommendations as not all gluten-free flours are created equal. This can make or break your cake!
- Salt
- Corn starch - you could use tapioca starch if corn is a concern.
- Baking soda
- Baking powder
- Freeze-dried raspberry powder
- Buttermilk powder: this ingredient is key! Cake recipes need milk, however this recipe contains no liquid other than raspberry purée. The buttermilk powder reacts with the liquid from the purée to add the benefits of milk without adding more liquids!
- Frozen (or fresh) raspberries
- Raspberry emulsion (I use LorAnn, as it is certified gluten-free)
- Canola oil (or other mild-tasting oil) - in addition to butter, the oil's role is to add moistness. Oils are liquids at room temperature unlike butter, and it will keep the cake from drying out.
- Butter
- Sugar
- Eggs, including egg whites only, to give structure without heaviness.
- Powdered sugar
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Dry Ingredients
- First, mix and sift all the dry ingredients. Sifting is going to bread up chunks, which is super important in this recipe; buttermilk powder and freeze-dried raspberries often have these. It will also make your gluten-free raspberry cake more airy, which is a winner in my book! Set aside.
Raspberry Purée
- I used frozen raspberries for this recipe. I had to cook mine on the stovetop several minutes to thaw them, and then I ran them through the food processor. You may need to add a small amount of water to ensure you have exactly the right mass of raspberry purée (chunks get sometimes stuck in the food processor). Set aside.
Batter
- Now it's time to cream the sugar. Add butter, sugar, oil, and cream. You can use a hand mixer, but I usually do this by hand so not to over cream. When the mixture is smooth, add eggs and fully combine into a smooth cream.
- For this step, you should have three bowls: the sifted gluten-free flour and dry ingredients, the raspberry purée and the butter-oil-sugar-eggs creamed mixture. Alternately add to the butter-oil-sugar-eggs creamed mixture: gluten-free sifted dry ingredients, and the raspberry purée. Start with a third of the gluten-free sifted dry ingredients, followed by half of the raspberry purée and so on in that order.
- While the gluten-free batter hydrates, preheat the oven, line your cake pans with parchment paper and grease them well. I used three 6-inch pans for this cake. After pouring the batter into the pan, smooth the top with a wet spatula to ensure smooth baking. Bake until a toothpick comes out with just a few moist crumbs.
Frosting
- Next, it's time to frost! I made my shelf-stable crusting buttercream for this recipe. I added freeze-dried raspberry powder and raspberry emulsion for flavoring. In the video below, you'll see how I frosted the cake, including how to get the 3-color effect swirls! You just line a sheet of plastic wrap with different color frosting, roll it up in a cylinder, and put that in a piping bag. I used a closed-star small piping tip.
Hint: When frosting a cake, I like to flash freeze my layers so I am working with a very sturdy base. Most cake decorators do that. You simply wrap your fully cooled cake (each layer separately) in plastic wrap and let it freeze overnight. The next morning, you can frost the cake. It will all thaw beautifully by lunch, making for a moist delightful dessert!
Substitutions
Unfortunately, this recipe is not super friendly for dairy and egg allergies. The eggs are essential for the rise and structure, while the buttermilk powder is required for keeping the cake from crumbling and being dry. If you're looking for a vegan recipe, try my gluten-free vegan strawberry cupcakes or my chocolate cake which has no allergens!
You can however make the recipe corn-free.
- Corn - it finds itself hidden in a few places in this recipe.
- instead of corn starch, use tapioca starch
- instead of regular powdered sugar, use a blend that uses tapioca starch like Trader Joe's
- look for a corn-free baking powder, like this one.
- finally, use a DIY gluten-free flour blend that uses xanthan gum specifically made without corn, or that uses guar gum instead
Variations
This recipe is so easy to customize! You can swap the raspberries for any other fruits!
- Fruits - I've made this recipe using: blueberries, strawberries, cherries, peaches and mangoes.
- Frosting - You could use a cream cheese frosting, or a Swiss meringue buttercream to slightly tone down the sweetness.
- Combo - You can make some super interesting flavor combinations here! I've made a gluten-free raspberry cake with peach frosting before and that was bomb! I've also done a gluten-free cherry cake with almond buttercream for my own birthday.
Cherry-almond is one of my favorite combinations, like in my pastry braid here.
Equipment
Nothing fancy, just the usual baking stuff:
- Cake pans (I used three 6 inch pans)
- Food processor
- Electric mixer
- Piping bags and tips
- Stand mixer for the buttercream
The piping tip I used for the cute hearts was a small French piping tip, like the Ateco 861.
Storage
This recipe for gluten-free raspberry cake is shelf-stable, provided you use my buttercream. It means it does not need to be refrigerated; in fact the fridge would dry out the crumb. It will last at room temperature for up to three days. Then, I recommend freezing the leftovers.
Simply cut all remaining slices, wrap in plastic and store in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 months. When ready to eat, thaw to room temperature and enjoy!
Top tip
If you don't like raspberry seeds, you can strain the purée to remove them. This blog post shows how to do it for toddler food.
FAQ
If you use the right gluten-free flour, this will taste just like regular delicious cake. At my cottage bakery, I make my own DIY flour blend. The key is to use high quality finely ground flours, or you may end up with a gritty cake. For example, Bob Red Mill 1:1 gluten-free flour tastes a bit gritty to me, though it will work to bake this cake.
One of the criticisms of gluten-free baking is that it can become dry quickly, and fall apart. It doesn't have to be that way, you guys! Again, your gluten-free flour choice matter: in my DIY flour blend, I use cassava flour which absorbs moisture and helps keep baked goods moist. This recipe also uses buttermilk and oil to ensure the cake does not feel dry.
Some of the ingredients may be new to you. I'll link here where I find mine! None of these links are affiliate links at this time.
Raspberry emulsion - I use LorAnn because they are certified gluten-free. I buy mine at my local craft store, like Michael's or Joann's.
Buttermilk powder - I use Anthony's because they are certified gluten-free. If you're not sure what to do with SO much buttermilk powder, the expiration date on mine was over a year from the time of purchase. Ideas to use it are pancakes, cakes, even bread dough!
Freeze-dried raspberry powder - I use Plus Green Natural because it is certified gluten-free. I put this in everything! Frosting, muffins, cakes, smoothies, pancakes. You can also find freeze-dried raspberries at Target, Trader Joe's, Walmart. You just have to pulse it in the food processor to powder it.
Related
Looking for other cakes and cupcakes? Try these!
Gluten-Free Raspberry Cake
Equipment
- 3 six inch cake pans
- 1 Food Processor
- 1 electric or hand mixer
- 1 Stand Mixer for the frosting
- 1 piping bag and piping tip if desired for decorating
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 280 grams gluten-free all purpose flour please click through for appropriate blends
- 54 grams corn starch
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 8 grams freeze-dried raspberry powder
- 32 grams buttermilk powder
Raspberry Purée Ingredients
- 315 grams raspberries frozen or fresh
- 10 grams water only as needed
Batter Ingredients
- 113 grams butter room temperature, non-salted
- 27 grams oil I used canola
- 300 grams sugar
- 1 egg room temperature
- 3 egg whites room temperature
- 1 teaspoon raspberry emulsion
Frosting Ingredients
- 454 grams salted butter room temperature
- 907 grams powdered sugar sifted
- 1 teaspoon hot water heater as needed
- 8 grams freeze-dried raspberry powder
- 1 teaspoon raspberry emulsion
- 1 drop red food coloring if desired
Instructions
Dry Ingredients
- Mix all the dry ingredients together, and sift them in a clean bowl. Set aside.
Raspberry Purée
- If using frozen raspberries, thaw to room temperature. I put mine on the stove top a few minutes to soften.
- Purée in a food processor, and strain the seeds if desired.
- Weigh the purée. Because it went through the food processor, not all of it was likely collected. Add water as needed to the correct mass: there should be 315 grams of liquids. Set aside.
Batter
- In a large bowl, add the butter, sugar and oil.
- Cream until smooth and fluffy, using a stand mixer, electric mixer or hand mixer.
- Add the egg and egg whites. Continue mixing until all incorporated and smooth.
- Alternate between adding the dry ingredients, and the raspberry purée, starting and ending with the dry ingredients.
- Add the raspberry emulsion to the smooth batter and mix well.
Baking
- While the gluten-free batter absorbs the moisture, preheat oven to 350 °F (177 °C)
- Meanwhile, line your cake pans with parchment paper and grease well. If using baking spray, make sure it is gluten-free!
- Pour the batter evenly into the cake pans.
- Smooth the top with a wet spatula.
- Place in the middle of the preheated oven and bake 20 minutes.
- Rotate the cake pans, and bake an additional ~7-10 minutes.
- The cake is ready when an inserted toothpick has just a few moist crumbs on it.
- Take the cake out of the oven and leave to cool in the pans for 3 minutes. Then, take the cake out and leave it on a cooling rack until fully cooled.
Frosting
- Add the room temperature butter to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
- Cream the butter on low speed and add hot water as needed for consistency.
- The butter should be light, white and fluffy. Add a bit more hot water if there are clumps.
- Add the sifted powdered sugar.
- Mix slowly. It takes several minutes for the butter and powdered sugar to combine. Add more hot water as needed for consistency.
- Once the clumps are gone, mix on high for 5 minutes.
- Add the freeze-dried raspberry powder and raspberry emulsion.
- Continue mixing on medium to get rid of air bubbles.
- The buttercream should be stiff but without air bubbles.
- Color if desired.
- Frost your cake! You can watch the video in the instruction section of this post to see how I crumb coated, fitted the multicolored frosting in the piping bag, and decorated the cake.
- Enjoy!
Alison Corey
This gluten-free raspberry cake recipe seems like an absolute gem for those with dietary restrictions! I can already imagine the delightful combination of textures and bold raspberry taste, a must-try for my next baking adventure!
Seema Sriram
The raspberry cake texture was so lovely. We did not make it to stack but loved every bite.
dana
This is so so pretty! I'm not great with baking but the instructions seem approachable so I can't wait to make this :)
Ned
This is awesome! I made it for a get together that had a few friends that are gluten intolerant and they all loved it! Thank you so much, it was really nice to include them more in our get together!
Naelle @ GlutenFreeDIYers
Way to host and make everyone feel welcomed! It's easy not to feel included when you can't eat gluten.
Jules
What a deliciously beautiful cake and your instructions made it so easy to put together!
MacKenzie
This cake was fantastic. I made it for my daughter and she loved it.