Thums Spice

Gluten-Free Baking · A Recipe

A tender, golden crumb that rivals any wheat-flour classic — tested four times, finally perfect.

Thums  ·  April 22, 2026  ·  ★★★★★ 4.9 (127 reviews)  ·  8 min read

I’ve been chasing this cake for a year. Every gluten-free vanilla I tried came out either too dense, too dry, or too eggy — a sad, wet sponge that apologized for not being wheat. Then H-E-B Organics put out their 1-to-1 blend, and on the fourth test batch, something changed. The crumb went from stoic to tender. The top domed like it meant it. My niece, who doesn’t have a gluten problem and therefore owes me no mercy, asked for seconds.

This is that recipe. It’s a plain, quietly excellent white-layer cake — the kind that holds a candle, absorbs a glaze, and doesn’t embarrass itself next to a wheat-flour birthday. It’s also the kind that will quietly become a staple, because the method is forgiving and the result is consistent. Read the notes below if you want to understand why it works. Skip to the recipe if you just want cake.

What makes this cake work

Gluten-free baking fails in predictable ways. Without gluten’s elastic scaffolding, cakes either collapse under their own steam or cling to rubberiness — two failure modes, one cause. The fix is not a miracle ingredient; it’s structure by other means. This recipe leans on three of them: a tenderizing blend of rice and tapioca starch in the H-E-B flour, whipped butter to trap tiny air pockets, and sour cream for moisture insurance.

I don’t use xanthan gum. The H-E-B blend already contains it, and adding more tips the crumb toward gummy. Do not beat the batter after the flour goes in — once there’s no visible dry flour, stop. The batter should look airy and just on the edge of curdled; that’s correct, even if it looks wrong.

The top domed like it meant it. My niece, who doesn’t have a gluten problem and therefore owes me no mercy, asked for seconds.

About the flour

H-E-B Organics All-Purpose Gluten-Free Flour is a rice-forward 1-to-1 blend with xanthan gum already included. It’s fine-milled — closer to cake flour than to King Arthur’s Measure-for-Measure — and it behaves gently in tender applications like this one. If you can’t find it, Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 is the closest swap; skip King Arthur’s blend, which is better for bread but drinks too much liquid here.

---

The Recipe

Gluten-Free Vanilla Cake

★★★★★  4.9 from 127 reviews  ·  Prep 15 min  ·  Bake 30 min  ·  Total 1 hr  ·  Yield one 9″ round  ·  Diet Gluten-Free

A single-layer 9-inch vanilla cake with a tender, fine crumb and a soft vanilla-bean buttercream. Gluten-free by design, not by compromise.

Ingredients

For the cake

• 1¾ cups (210 g) H-E-B Organics gluten-free 1-to-1 flour
• 1½ tsp (6 g) baking powder
• ½ tsp (3 g) fine sea salt
• ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• ½ cup (120 g) full-fat sour cream
• ¼ cup (60 ml) whole milk

For the vanilla bean buttercream

• ¾ cup (170 g) unsalted butter, softened
• 2½ cups (300 g) powdered sugar, sifted
• 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped (or 2 tsp vanilla bean paste)
• 2 tbsp heavy cream
• Pinch flaky sea salt

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350°F (175°C). Butter a 9-inch round cake pan and line the bottom with parchment. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
2. Cream butter and sugar on medium-high for a full 4 minutes — the mixture should look almost white and hold a soft peak when you lift the paddle. This air is doing structural work; don’t rush it.
3. Add eggs one at a time, beating 30 seconds between additions. Add vanilla. Scrape down the bowl.
4. Alternate dry and wet. Whisk sour cream and milk together. On low speed, add flour in three additions alternating with the sour cream mixture in two — begin and end with flour. Stop the moment the last streak disappears.
5. Bake. Scrape into the prepared pan, smooth the top, and bake 28–32 minutes, until the center springs back. Cool in the pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and cool completely.
6. Make the buttercream. Beat butter 2 minutes until pale. Add powdered sugar in three additions on low, then the vanilla bean seeds and heavy cream. Beat on medium-high for 3 minutes until fluffy. Taste, add a pinch of flaky salt, and frost the cooled cake.

Cook’s Notes

Measuring flour is where gluten-free cakes live or die. Weigh it if you possibly can — 210 g is 210 g, whereas “1¾ cups” can vary by 15%. If you must measure by volume, spoon the flour into the cup and level with a knife. Never scoop directly from the bag.

Storage: this cake keeps, wrapped, at room temperature for 2 days, or refrigerated for 5. Bring slices to room temp before serving.

What readers are saying

127 reviews  ·  4.9 average

---

Stay in the kitchen

Recipes, once a week. No noise.

New gluten-free bakes, cook’s notes, and the occasional failure story — delivered Sundays.