Nov 25, 2014
Craving some cake but don’t want all the calories, fat, sugar and unhealthy ingredients? Then make this Gluten-Free Maple Cake! One deliciously flavorful bite and you’d never suspect it’s also refined sugar free, low fat, high protein, and dairy free too.
This Gluten-Free Maple Cake is so incredibly moist you’ll never know it’s missing the butter and oil.
It’s super sweet too, yet naturally sweet, because it’s sweetened with applesauce and pure maple syrup. No refined white sugar, genetically modified high fructose corn syrup or fake “maple syrup” stuff here.
And, despite being gluten-free, this Maple Cake is 100% whole grain, thanks to the brown rice flour and sorghum flour! Plus, it has a good structure and doesn’t crumble (or taste) like sand, kind of like most storebought gluten-free baked goods.
Along with the pronounced rich maple taste, this cake gets another boost of flavor from vanilla and some ground cinnamon. They really take the cake to the next level 🙂
Healthy Gluten-Free Maple Cake
Craving some cake but don’t want all the calories, fat, sugar and unhealthy ingredients? Then make this Gluten-Free Maple Cake! One bite and you’d never suspect it’s also refined sugar free, low fat, high protein, and dairy free too!
- 160g (1 cup) Brown Rice Flour
- 136g (1 cup) Sweet White Sorghum Flour
- 1 tbs Double-Acting Baking Powder
- 2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 246g (1 cup) Unsweetened Applesauce
- ½ cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk
- 168g (½ cup) Pure Maple Syrup (I used Grade B)
- 4 Large Eggs
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 tsp Liquid Stevia Extract
- 1 tbs Apple Cider Vinegar
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line two 8 inch cake pans with parchment paper circles and spray with cooking spray.
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In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the brown rice flour, sorghum flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
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In a large bowl, whisk together the applesauce, almond milk, maple syrup, eggs, vanilla extract and stevia extract.
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Dump the dry ingredients over the wet ingredients and whisk together.
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Whisk in the vinegar, then scoop the batter into the prepared cake pans. Bake for 25-28 minutes, or until the surface of the cakes spring back when tapped. Flip the cakes over onto wire cooling racks and let cool completely. Frost the cake, slice, and serve!
Nutrition Facts
Healthy Gluten-Free Maple Cake
Amount Per Serving (1 serving = 1/8th of cake)
Calories 240
Calories from Fat 32
% Daily Value*
Fat 3.5g5%
Saturated Fat 1g6%
Cholesterol 105mg35%
Sodium 280mg12%
Carbohydrates 45g15%
Fiber 3g13%
Sugar 16g18%
Protein 7g14%
Vitamin A 200IU4%
Vitamin C 6.6mg8%
Calcium 60mg6%
Iron 1.8mg10%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
As a comparison, here is the nutrition label for Bon Appetit’s Maple Cake recipe.
Wow, BIG difference, eh?? For the same amount of cake, my cake has:
- 300 less calories
- 14.5g less fat (and less saturated fat too!)
- 36g less sugar
- less cholesterol, less sodium and less carbohydrates
- more fiber and more protein
Yum! Now that’s what I call a healthy cake 😉
First, let me just apologize for not providing a frosting recipe here. The frosting you see in the pictures was a little… off. I first tried making Maple Cream, which is basically boiled maple syrup that’s cooled and stirred until it thickens and turns opaque. But no luck for me. I literally stirred super thick maple syrup (like, maple syrup as thick as hardening concrete) for 40 minutes. My arms almost fell off so I quit.
Then I made an Almond Butter-Maple Frosting. I based it off of a cream cheese frosting recipe I found, but substituted almond butter in place of the cream cheese. It frosted onto the cake just fine, but after a few hours it thickened for some reason (like, as thick as fudge). Ugh. I should really just follow the original recipes instead of changing them on the spot all the time, shouldn’t I?
So, I would recommend a few different frosting options:
- Creamy Caramel Frosting
- Smooth Brown Sugar Frosting
- Spiced Butterscotch Frosting
- Cinnamon-Spiced Frosting
This Maple Cake is slightly dense with a moist crumb, so I think a light frosting would contrast really well with the cake! This cake could also probably be baked in a muffin tin if you want individual portion sizes. Or, you could bake this in a loaf pan if you want a cake-loaf thing. For some reason, I really like baking cakes in loaf pans. I don’t know why, but I prefer square slices of cake rather than the typical triangle ones… is that weird? 😉
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With love and good eats,
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– Jess
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