I know many people with Celiac disease, or those with a gluten intolerant, miss the taste of cinnamon buns. Although I do have a fantastic gluten-free cinnamon bun recipe, sometimes you just don’t want to take the time and effort that it takes to bake a batch. If that’s you, don’t fret, you can still have the wonderful flavour of cinnamon buns in a quick and simple cake!
This cake is a nicely textured, slightly heavier cake with a brown sugar and cinnamon ribbon throughout. Top it with a vanilla icing drizzle, and you are set.
This cake is both gluten-free and dairy-free when you use the dairy-free milk and butter of your choice. For this recipe I used soy milk and Earth Balance butter, but if dairy isn’t a problem, you can use regular milk & butter as well.
Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free Cinnamon Bun Cake
This gluten free Cinnamon Bun Cake is a nicely textured, slightly heavier cake with a brown sugar and cinnamon ribbon throughout. Top it with a vanilla icing drizzle, and you are set.
Ingredients
- 1 cup brown rice flour
- 1 cup sorghum flour
- 1/3 cup potato starch
- 2 Tbsp tapioca starch
- 1 tsp xanthan gum
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup milk of your choice (I used soy milk)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 tsp gluten-free vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup canola oil (or oil of your choice)
- 1/4 cup soft dairy-free butter (I used Earth Balance)
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp brown rice flour
- 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)
- 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
- 1/2 tsp gluten-free vanilla extract
- 1-2 Tbsp dairy-free milk (I used soy milk)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease one 9x9-inch pan.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, measure out 1 cup brown rice flour, sorghum flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, xanthan gum, salt, 3/4 cup granulated sugar and baking powder. Mix until well combined.
- In a small bowl, whisk together 1 cup milk, eggs, 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and oil.
- With the mixer running, slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Mix until well combined, scraping down the bowl as necessary. Mix until just blended. Scrape batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly in the pan.
- In a small bowl, mix together the softened butter, brown sugar, 2 Tbsp rice flour, cinnamon, and pecans (if using). Stir until the mixture resembles wet sand. Spread evenly over the cake, and using a butter knife, gently swirl through the cake, creating the marble-effect. Do not over mix it though.
- Bake in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from over and allow to cool completely.
- When the cake has cooled, prepare the vanilla icing. In a small bowl, stir together the confectioners' sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla, and 1-2 Tbsp milk. Start with one tablespoon and add more if necessary to get the consistency that you want. You can use a spoon and drizzle the icing over the cake, or place the icing into a small zipper-seal bag with a small corner cut off, and drizzle it over the cake that way.
Susan says
Wow…good job..that looks perfect…I’ll be making that one!
Jeanine says
Thanks! 🙂
Lyndsay from CHARMED says
Jeanine! This looks simply divine. as a non gluten free person, I have so much to learn from you. I would think that recipes like this would mean the world to someone who was starving for some home baking and thought they couldn’t have it. Would you ever consider guest blogging for me? I am thinking about some kind of “Idiot’s Guide” to gluten free cooking and baking. I would love it if you would present me with an easy recipe – I will film myself cooking or baking it 🙂 Email me if this is something you might want to do! xoxo
Jeanine says
Thanks, Lyndsay! Absolutely, let’s see what we can do. 🙂
[email protected] says
this really looks AMAZING Jeanine!! Great job! This would be great to take to work for breakfast potlucks!!
Jeanine says
Oh, a breakfast potluck, this would be perfect! Great idea!
K. Cooper says
I love that this recipe has both rice AND sorghum flour – the fiber in the sorghum offsets the starch of the rice, potato and tapioca. Did you find that the cake “pulled” away from the sides? When I use my sorghum blend to bake, everything shrinks upon cooling and that doesn’t seem to happen with the starch blends… just wondering as my GF boy’s birthday is this Wed and I’m planning on making him your cinnamon buns for breakfast, but may try this instead – Cake for breakfast might be a lot cooler 🙂
Jeanine says
I am finding that I LOVE using the sorghum in my baked goods, especially muffins. I don’t believe that this cake pulled away from the pan, because I had to cut around all sides before removing them, so I guess it didn’t have much shrinkage. 🙂 Happy Birthday to your boy!! If you do decide on GF cinnamon buns, I have a great recipe for that too, and it works really well to form them the evening before, refrigerate over night, let rise & bake in the morning. Fresh rolls with minimal work that morning. 🙂
K. Cooper says
Delicious! The birthday boy loved it (in fact my facebook/pinterest profile picture is him standing with his Birthday breakfast) along with the rest of the family and some friends who stopped by and eyed it and innocently asked if it was home made (as if the cake pan and mess weren’t enough evidence).
We also made your raspberry cupcakes for his school and the kids scarfed them up – I accidentally doubled the recipe so the Husband took a dozen or so to work – they were gone in 20 minutes and no one knew they were gluten free – Thanks for the recipes!
Jeanine says
That is awesome!! I always LOVE to hear the stories that involve making kids happy. I mean, we as adults, we can adjust. But I feel for kids that feel left out. Glad that both recipes were a hit with the birthday boy. Happy Birthday!!!
The Blender Girl says
This cake is SOOO good! Thankyou SO much for sharing it as part of our Gluten Free Baking With KitchenAid event. You are just AMAZING!
Jeanine says
Thank YOU, Tess, for asking me to join! What a great event, so many fantastic recipes to try now, and so many more blogs to follow. So glad that the cake was a hit for you. 🙂
Melissann says
Thanks for this recipe. I’m just discovering your exciting blog! If I wanted to make this in a bundt pan, do you think I’d need to double the recipe or maybe do 1.5?
Thanks again! Looks delicious.
Barbara B says
We tried this cake and it was excellent. It reminded me of the apple cake that my mother used to make so I think the next time, I’ll add some cup up apples in with the dough. Excellent cake base to experiment with too, I think! Thanks for posting.
Becky says
Think this is a recipe that could be made the day before? Would it hold well? Or is it best served fresh? After three months of chocolate chip cookies, it may be good to have a break. And this looks positively delicious! If I can, I want to make it tonight, so that’s one less on my check list for tomorrow. (I’m trying to cram wayyy too much into my Saturday tomorrow! I need a clone of myself!)
Jeanine says
oh, you can definitely make it today! If you decide to drizzle with the icing, do that before serving, but the rest can be done in advance, no problem. 🙂 I’ve also got a recipe for Banana Chocolate Chip muffins, they stay on the counter for days as well, and are still great. Time to move out of your cookie comfort zone. 🙂
Pam says
I made this cake last night on a whim. It was super quick and easy to put together. I didn’t swirl the topping, just put it on top like a cinnamon coffee cake. I also drizzled with icing. I served it for breakfast this morning and it is wonderful.
Jeanine Friesen says
Mmm… now I wish I had a slice to have for breakfast this morning! Thanks for the feedback, Pam, so glad to hear that it was a hit!
Robin says
I made this two days ago, exactly as written (except I didn’t have any pecans), and it still tastes GREAT! This recipe is a keeper for sure–one of the best things I’ve baked in a long time. Thanks so much for the recipe.
Jeanine Friesen says
Thank you so much, Robin! Glad to hear that you liked it. 🙂
Mrs.T says
I tried this recipe one day when I was just craving a streusel-topped coffee cake. I must say it turned out absolutely fantastic! The texture of this cake is perfect. (I am going to refer all of my gluten free friends to Jeanine’s blog, because her recipes are so good.) I cut the cake into 16 squares and froze them in a plastic container. When I want a treat, I put one square into a small dish and microwave it for 30 seconds. Perfect! It tastes freshly baked. I did omit the glaze/icing because for me, it just isn’t necessary. The cinnamon streusel topped cake does it for me.
I wanted to add that one day I had some blueberries to use up, but not enough for muffins. So I made this cake again, adding a bit of lemon extract along with the vanilla. I then sprinkled the top with blueberries before adding the streusel topping (which I made for this cake using nutmeg as part of the spice component instead of all cinnamon). The blueberry coffee cake turned out excellent too, but it did take a bit longer to bake.
Thank you, Jeanine, for another wonderful recipe! I plan on making the baked chocolate doughnuts soon, and maybe the caramel apple coffeecake and some of the cookie recipes. You have put the fun back into baking for me!
Jeanine Friesen says
Mmm…I love that idea of adding blueberries & changing things up a bit, Mrs. T! I am so glad that baking is fun for you again. That means a lot to me! 🙂
Desiree says
Thank you, I made this yesterday and I loved it, as well as my whole family.
I replaced the rice with Millet. We enjoyed it with coffee this morning.
Thanks again,
Desiree
Jeanine says
Sounds FABULOUS, Desiree! Glad to hear it was a hit with everyone too – Bonus! 🙂