This gluten free funfetti cake is perfect for birthday celebrations. The gluten free and dairy free white cake is light and airy and filled with colorful sprinkles. Finish it off with dairy free frosting and extra sprinkles for the ultimate funfetti experience!
Today’s post was sponsored by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.
Gluten Free Funfetti Cake
You guys. I’m turning 30 this month. The big 3-0. I will no longer be able to say I’m in my 20’s. So what better way to celebrate than with a gluten free funfetti cake, right? Who doesn’t love funfetti??! Funfetti cake recipes rock in my book! Bring on the sprinkles!
So… 30. I have super mixed feelings about turning 30. It’s the end of an era for me, well, decade. I had a blast in my early 20’s. Graduated from college. Got my first real job. Got married. Added two dogs. Bought a house. Had 2 kids and became a stay at home mom. And had two pacemakers. That’s a lot of change in a short amount of time. A whole lot of change with some major life events. All in a 10 year span.
In a way, I kinda hope things slow down a little bit in my 30’s. I’m ready for more relaxing. Or will that have to wait until I’m 40 since there’s no such thing as relaxing when you have two active young kids and a house to take care of and run?
Less rush, more fun. That’ll be my new 30-year-old mantra.
Adam turned 30 a few months ago and still hasn’t really come to terms with the fact that he’s THIRTY. He does 30-year-old “old people” things though like listen to soft rock. Soft rock. For real. Like, my dad listens to soft rock. Every time I turn on my car after Adam’s been using it, soft rock is on the radio.
I make fun of him so bad for it and tell him he’s so old since he listens to soft rock. It’s a joke but he’s not a fan of being called old. He likes to remind me that I’m almost 30. I like to remind him that almost doesn’t count.
P.S. remember that time I made the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream Cake? The original was for Adam’s 30th. It was an epic way to eat all the feelings. Then I made it again for my blog birthdaversary because it was that good.
P.S.S. I do know that 30 really isn’t that old. It just feels old to me. Especially since I feel like I just graduated college yesterday even though it was actually 8 years ago. E-I-G-H-T. I can’t even deal. I CAN’T EVEN.
I should mention, my dad’s birthday is two days after mine. I’m not sure how my dad feels about having an almost birthday crasher but I never minded it as I grew up. I always thought it was fun. But birthdays always mean cards, right? Have you guys noticed how expensive cards have been getting lately? It’s hard not to spend at least $4/card these days.
Walmart has this great section of Hallmark cards starting at just 47 cents. 47 CENTS! At that price, you can pretty much buy all the cards and be set for the epic year of birthday celebrations. This also works in my favor because when I’m card shopping with Kelsey, she literally wants to buy all the cards. We usually end up with some obscure card that she’ll decorate and send to her sister (who lives with her). Ha… to be 3 right?
(Seriously… can I get some time reversal magic here?) <– birthday wish
I picked up a bunch of the cards to cover everyone’s birthdays throughout the year. I’m notorious for forgetting to give cards. No lie, I gave Adam his Valentine’s Day card on Father’s Day this year. Better late than never right?
But hey, at just 47 cents it’s not a big deal! Also, those awesome “29 Again” candles were found at Walmart in the baking aisle. They’re perfect and I’ll be using them every year from now until eternity.
I made this epic gluten free funfetti cake as an early birthday cake. I should mention, we are experimenting with a dairy-free diet for Kelsey because her doctor suspects she’s lactose intolerant. So not only is this homemade funfetti cake gluten free, it’s dairy free as well. Boo to elimination diets. BUT… it’s got sprinkles. Yay for sprinkles…
If you don’t want to or you don’t have to go totally dairy free, I’d suggest using my favorite vanilla buttercream with this cake. You can also use dairy milk in place of the non-dairy milk in the cake batter. Whichever way you choose to make this gluten free funfetti cake, enjoy!
And cheers to 30.
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Gluten Free Funfetti Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 1 3/4 C gluten free all-purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp xanthan gum
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 2/3 C granulated sugar
- 1/4 C sprinkles
- 1 C coconut milk from a carton, room temperature
- 1/2 C vegetable oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 egg whites room temperature
For the Frosting
- 1/2 C shortening
- 1/2 C dairy-free butter
- 3 C powdered sugar
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 2 Tbsp coconut milk
- food coloring optional
- sprinkles for decorating
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees and spray 2 6-inch cake pans with non-stick spray and line them with parchment paper cut to fit the pan.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, sift together the gluten free flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, salt and sugar. Mix on low speed until combined. Mix in the sprinkles.
- In a 2-cup liquid measuring cup, combine the coconut milk, oil and vanilla extract. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, use and electric hand mixer to whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form. Set aside.
- Turn the stand mixer on low and slowly pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients. Turn the mixer to medium and mix until combined, scraping the bowl as necessary.
- Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and use a rubber spatula to gently fold half of the whipped egg whites into the batter. Repeat with the remaining egg whites until fully incorporated.
- Gently pour the batter into the two prepared pans, dividing the batter between the two evenly. Bake at 325 degrees for 33-35 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes then remove them from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.
For the frosting:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the shortening and dairy free butter until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and mix on low until lumpy. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat for about a minute until the frosting is smooth. Add milk, almond extract and food coloring and beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes. Scrape the sides and beat an additional 30 seconds, if necessary.
To frost the cake:
- Use a serrated knife or cake leveler to level the top of the cakes and cut each cake layer in half to create 4 layers.
- Place one layer on a cake stand and top with about 1/3 cup frosting. Smooth the frosting over the cake and stack another layer on top. Repeat with each layer. With the last layer, frost the tops and sides of the cake. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve. Let the cake come to room temperature before serving.
Notes
Recommended Products
Nutrition Information
Disclaimers
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Nutrition Facts are estimated and aren't always accurate. Please consult a doctor or nutritionist if you have special dietary needs.
I can’t wait to make this! Can you tell me what brand you used for sprinkles? I need to make sure they are also gluten and dairy free. Thank you!
I use Sweetapolita gluten free sprinkles 🙂
https://sweetapolitashop.com/collections/gluten-free-sprinkles
I made this tonight as a trial run for a friends birthday cake.
I’ll definitely be doubling the recipe for the party next weekend. I substituted and used Lactaid Milk. I also substituted and used Earth Balance Soy free butter.
Glad you liked it Amanda! And thanks for letting me know about your substitutions and that they worked out 🙂
Hello! This cake is beautiful. If my gluten-free flour has xantham gum already, do I need to add the amount your recipe calls for in addition? And, is this recipe cupcake friendly? Thanks!
If your flour blend contains xanthan gum, omit the amount called for in the recipe. I haven’t tried turning this into cupcakes yet 🙂
I made this cake today for my daughter’s 4th birthday. She has a gluten and dairy allergy and I was very excited to make her such a fun cake for her birthday!
Earth balance now makes vegan butter sticks that are great for baking. I did not have much luck with the shortening.
Do you have a trick for adding sprinkles? I have tried that before and made a big mess!
Can’t wait to share this cake with all my guests!
Hi Staci! I place my cake stand on top of a rimmed baking sheet when adding the sprinkles. It makes for much easier clean up!
Hi there, this cake looks wondering but I am allergic to eggs so I need it to be fully vegan, not just dairy free, do you have experience making it without eggs or what substitute might work best?
Thanks in advance!
I haven’t made this without the eggs, sorry!
I’m making your recipe now! Cake looks great!! Only problem. My food color won’t mix into my icing well. It looks like white streaks in my icing. What am i doing wrong??
Are you using liquid food coloring? I find that sometimes when it’s humid, liquid food coloring doesn’t always mix well with dairy free icing.
Hello,
I will be making this for my daughters 6th birthday this weekend and was wondering the flour mix I will be using already has xanthan gum. Should I omit what you have stated in the recipe or still add it.
Hi Kim, if your flour already contains xanthan gum, omit the amount I called for 🙂
Thank you, will post a picture to your FB when finished.
Can i use Bob’s Red Mill Gluten free 1 to 1 flour ? if so would it be 2 1/2 Cups or a different measurement ?
Thank you so much . It’s my first time baking with gluten free.
Hi Lisa – yes you could but omit the xanthan gum called for in the recipe because Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 already contains it. Just be sure to stir the flour first and then scoop it into your measuring cup and level it off 🙂
Is there something that can be used as a substitute for shortening?
Hi Paula, if you can do dairy, go with all butter in the frosting. If you can’t do dairy, I wouldn’t suggest using all vegan butter in the frosting as it would make it too soft. The shortening helps stabilize it. I usually use Nutiva Shortening (affiliate link) which is a combination of palm shortening and coconut oil.
can you use almond milk instead of coconut milk?
You can, I personally prefer coconut milk over almond milk while baking dairy-free because the coconut doesn’t effect the flavor as much.
Beautiful cake!!! Do you think cashew milk or almond milk would work in place of the coconut milk?
It would work but I prefer unsweetened coconut milk when baking because it doesn’t impart any added flavor to the cake.
Frosting recipe = AMAZING! I totally cheated and used a couple of tried and true gluten-free cake mixes that I like (because I might not be very good at planning my time wisely in order to purchase groceries needed to bake a cake from scratch!), but I wanted to give Sharon’s frosting recipe a try as I am working on eliminating dairy as much as possible. WE LOVED IT. I used Earth Balance Original for the dairy-free butter (first time I had tried it and I really quite like it). The only change I made was that I used almond milk instead of coconut milk (see above note re; planning for grocery purchases). It turned out absolutely fine. I would recommend you increase the recipe – I JUST had enough to frost my 4-layer cake, and I didn’t do any of the fancy bits Sharon did on the top. I used the use 3/4 C shortening, 3/4 C dairy free butter and 4 C powdered sugar that Sharon advised and squeezed out the last little bit for some piping around the bottom of my cake. Make more! Why wouldn’t you want even more of this wicked awesome frosting to play with! Thanks for this recipe, Sharon! Can’t wait to use it again next time I have an excuse to make a cake!
What type of dairy free butter did you use? I’m going to try this cake out for the 4th of July! 🙂
Hi Allison! I use Earth Balance Soy Free Buttery Spread 🙂
I was initially planning on 3 cups of shortening and 3 cups of dairy free butter and 8 cups powdered sugar for the icing because of this note: The frosting recipe listed makes enough frosting to frost the cake without additional piping. If you want to have extra frosting for piping, use 3/4 C shortening, 3/4 C dairy free butter and 4 C powdered sugar. I was planning on doing the star piping around the top of the cake and bottom too!
Yes, that a good call. Too much frosting is better than not enough!
I am going to make them in the bigger pan and double the recipe. Do you think I need to double the frosting recipe too? Also for the shortening I was going to use Spectrum. Would you recommend regular or butter flavored? After I put the icing on the cake would you then put the stars on top and on the bottom and after that add the sprinkles?
I would definitely double the frosting especially since you’ll need a little extra for piping. I would use 1 C shortening (Spectrum is fine but I haven’t tried it with butter flavor) 1 C vegan butter, 7 C powdered sugar, 1 tsp almond extract, 1 tsp vanilla extract, a pinch of salt, and start with 3 Tbsp coconut milk and then add more until you reach your desired consistency.
Also this, is not a recipe that I have experimented with in doubling, like I have with my chocolate cake. In theory, I think it would work ok if baked in 9-inch cake pans but you’d have to adjust the baking time a bit. And when you decorate it, I would do the sprinkles on the side of the cake first and then pipe the top and around the bottom.
Also when you say a carton of coconut milk can it be the refrigerated kind or do you mean culinary coconut or if regular coconut milk then unsweetened. I am looking at SoDelicious.
When baking, I usually use the unsweetened So Delicious milk from the refrigerated section but you could also use their culinary coconut milk.
What type of icing tip did you use? Also how do you recommend putting the sprinkles on the side of the cake? Any tips?
I used a Wilton Open Star tip. To get the sprinkles on the side of the cake, I put a handful of sprinkles in the palm of my hand and pressed them up the side of the cake starting at the bottom and working my way up. I repeated it as I went around the cake. It’s easiest if you’re using a turntable and place it over a large baking sheet with sides so you can keep the sprinkles that fall away contained.
Hi,
Absolutely love this cake, I made it yesterday for my son’s 1st birthday lunch today but mine doesn’t look like your picture 🙁 the sprinkles all lost their colour in the mixture and turned the mixture grey, gutted. I’d like to make this again for his birthday party next week, any idea how I can get mine looking the same as yours?
The Texture did seem amazing, very light. Excited to try it today. Also do you think the mixture would work as cupcakes? Many Thanks
Hi Joanne, sorry to hear about your sprinkles but so glad you enjoyed the taste/texture! To keep them from bleeding their color into the batter, make sure you’re using sprinkles/jimmies and not the round nonpareils. Also, add them to the dry ingredients before you add the wet ingredients so they’re coated in the flour. I haven’t made these as cupcakes but I’m guessing it would work. If you do try it, please let me know how they come out!
Hello! I was wondering how I could modify the recipe so I can make a 2 layer cake with 2 8- inch pans?
I’m so excited to try it!
Thank you!
I’ve never made it larger than the 6-inch size but you could double it and bake it in two 9-inch pans.
If the cake recipe is doubled for the 9 inch pans, does the frosting recipe need to be doubled as well? Also, did you use regular coconut milk or unsweetened?
Hi Ali, yes – double the frosting recipe. I use unsweetened coconut milk beverage when baking.
If I make the cake a day before and frost it day of, will it be ok still? Making it layered and multi-colored for my daughter.
Hi Tiffani! I haven’t made this particular cake in advance but I can tell you I often make my chocolate cakes in advance. When they come to room temperature I wrap them tightly in plastic wrap and place them in freezer bags and freeze them on a flat surface (like a baking pan). Then when I’m ready to frost, I defrost them as I make the frosting and frost them still partially frozen if they’re not all the way defrosted. I’ve sometimes made my cakes days in advance this way when I have a big party to cook for. I’m sure that method would work for this cake as well. Let me know how it turns out for you!
Just so you know sprinkles have gluten. They are processed in a facility with wheat and the “jimmies” on your cake are made with wheat. Sprinkles can be a hidden source of gluten
Hi Jennifer,
I use Cake Mate sprinkles and a representative from the company informed me that their sprinkles are gluten free and are processed in a facility that does not process wheat products.
I also use a certified gluten free Jimmie brand…so they are out there