This cinnamon bun cake is a cross between a cinnamon bun and a coffee cake. It is moist and has a delicious layer of cinnamon sugar throughout. It is also vegan and can be made ahead of time and frozen.
A note on some of the ingredients:
Gluten free flour blend: I use Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Gluten Free Flour in this recipe (the blue bag). It is best to weigh the flour using a kitchen scale to ensure that the recipe turns out the same every time. If you don’t have a kitchen scale I recommend using the “fluff and scoop” method for measuring the flour. Using a fork fluff the flour in it’s bag/container and then scoop it into a measuring cup and leveling it off.
Non dairy milk: The non-dairy milk that I use in all of my baking is soy milk because my kids can’t take anything with nuts to school. Use whatever your preferred non-dairy milk is. By adding the apple cider vinegar to the milk and letting it sit we are making non-dairy buttermilk. It will curdle slightly, that’s ok!
Plant based butter: My preferred vegan butter for baking is the Becel sticks. I use unsalted butter so that I can control the amount of salt in the baking. As a bonus it is also gluten free! Either softened Becel sticks or Becel margarine would work in this recipe.
Vegan cream cheese: For this recipe I used Earth’s Own plain plant based cream cheese. Any vegan and gluten free cream cheese would work. If you don’t have any vegan cream cheese simply substitute with more plant based butter.
How the gluten free cinnamon bun cake is made:
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease a 9″ round cake pan with plant based butter and line the bottom of the pan with a piece of parchment paper. We trace the pan on a sheet of parchment paper and then cut it out, this is a great job for kids!
In a large measuring cup pour the non-dairy milk and add the apple cider vinegar, let this sit. This makes vegan buttermilk.
In a large mixing bowl weigh out the flour. Add in the sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix until everything is combined.
In a medium mixing bowl pour in the vegan buttermilk and add in the oil and the vanilla. Stir everything together.
In a small bowl mix together the crumble ingredients by first combining the brown sugar and softened butter. Add in the flour and cinnamon and mix until a soft paste has formed.
Pour the wet ingredients into the large mixing bowl with the dry ingredients. Gently stir everything together until no dry patches remain.
Into the prepared round pan pour approximately half of the cake batter and spread it out evenly. Take the cinnamon sugar mixture and crumble it over the batter, being careful not to get too close to the edge of the pan or it may seep out and burn while baking.
Top the crumble with the rest of the cake batter and spread it out evenly, covering all of the crumble.
Bake the cake for 42 to 45 minutes.
Let the cinnamon bun cake cool for 5 to 10 minutes in the pan and then remove it from the pan and have it continue to cool on a wire rack.
Once the cinnamon bun cake is completely cool, mix the icing ingredients together in a small bowl and spread over the top of the cake. Store the cake covered, at room temperature.
Enjoy!
Gluten free Cinnamon Bun Cake
This cake is cross between a coffee cake and a cinnamon bun! A delicious, moist vanilla cake with a layer of cinnamon sugar throughout, topped with a thin cream cheese icing.
10
servings10
minutes45
minutes377
kcal55
minutesKeep the screen of your device on
Ingredients
2 cups gluten free all purpose flour blend (290g)*
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup non-dairy milk
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
- For the crumble middle:
1/3 cup + 2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp vegan butter, softened
1 tbsp gluten free all purpose flour blend
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- For the glaze:
1 tbsp vegan cream cheese, softened
1 tbsp vegan butter, softened
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 1/2 tsp non-dairy milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease a 9″ round pan with vegan butter and line the bottom with a piece of parchment paper.
- In a measuring cup measure out the non-dairy milk and add the apple cider vinegar, set aside. This makes vegan buttermilk.
- In a large mixing bowl mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In a medium mixing bowl add the non-dairy buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Mix together.
- In a small bowl mix the ingredients for the crumble into a paste.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the large bowl with the dry ingredients. Stir with a wooden spoon just until no dry patches remain.
- Into the prepared pan pour roughly half of the cake batter. Then spread the crumble around the batter, not going too close to the edge. Pour the remaining cake batter on top of the crumble and gently spread out so that the crumble is completely covered. Bake in the oven for 42 to 45 minutes.
- Let the cake cool for 5 to 10 minutes in the pan and then move to a cooling rack to cool completely. At this point the cake can be tightly wrapped and placed in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Once the cake is completely cooled, mix the ingredients for the glaze together until smooth. Pour the glaze over the top of the cake and let sit at room temperature until ready to serve.
Notes
- *I highly recommend weighing the flour. I have only tested this recipe using Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Gluten free flour (blue bag).
- Nutritional information is a rough estimate.
Nutrition Facts
- Total number of serves: 10
- Calories: 377kcal
- Carbohydrates: 56g
- Protein: 3.3g
- Fat: 15.9g
- Saturated Fat: 2.3g
- Polyunsaturated Fat: 8.4g
- Monounsaturated Fat: 4.5g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Cholesterol: 0mg
- Sodium: 390.7mg
- Potassium: 41.7mg
- Fiber: 3.9g
- Sugar: 33.9g
