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 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
Ingredients
- 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
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line two 8 inch cake pans with parchment paper circles and spray with cooking spray.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the brown rice flour, sorghum flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the applesauce, almond milk, maple syrup, eggs, vanilla extract and stevia extract.
- Dump the dry ingredients over the wet ingredients and whisk together.
- 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!
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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Indulge − no strings attached!
That looks amazing and that is perfect because i am gluten free!! i can’t wait to try it and i might make it thanksgiving!
J. Bockisch-
YAY I hope you like the recipe!! Have an AMAZING Thanksgiving 😀
-Jess
Hello there,
I don’t prescribe to the belief that low-fat is healthy or good for the waist-line and was wondering if your use of applesauce is a substitute for oil/butter. If so, do you think I could use 1 cup oil/butter for the applesauce (or maybe 1/2 and 1/2 with applesauce)?
I want to add fat to curb the insulin spike, which will be caused by the amount of carbs in this recipe. I hope I’m not coming off as rude…I do really think this will be good – I love maple!
Thanks so much!
Sophie-
I haven’t tried replacing the applesauce with oil/butter so I’m not sure if that’ll work out. I think doing 1/2 organic butter and 1/2 applesauce might work though 🙂
I hope you like the cake!
-Jess
…and the frosting you made had the following ingredients? Even though you say it turned into fudge…I kind of want to make it…
Frosting:
1 1/2 cups almond butter
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp maple syrup
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
2 tsp maple extract
a pinch of sea salt
I didn’t write the recipe down, but I believe it was this:
~2+1/4 cups Roasted Almond Butter
1/2 cup + 2 tbs Pure Maple Syrup
1 tbs Pure Vanilla Extract
2 tsp Maple Flavor
1/16 tsp Sea Salt
I would love to make the maple fudge but am confused you said “Then I made an Almond Butter-Maple Frosting. I based it off this recipe, but I 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)” but said above that you used roasted almond butter. Is there any chance of a complete recipe judging by the popular mix fudge is all the rage at the moment I am sure others would be interested as well. I will be giving the cake a try as well sounds yummy.
Claudia-
I’m sorry, I didn’t write the recipe down! But, after looking back at the original recipe I think this was the “frosting-turned-fudge” recipe:
~2+1/4 cups Roasted Almond Butter
1/2 cup + 2 tbs Pure Maple Syrup
1 tbs Pure Vanilla Extract
2 tsp Maple Flavor
1/16 tsp Sea Salt
To make a fudge, I would line an 8″ brownie pan with parchment paper and scoop the mixed fudge inside. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight, then slice.
Hope this helps! 😀
-Jess
This maple cake looks SO good! I love how you “healthified” it. I have a maple cake up on my site, but it’s not nearly so healthy. My passion is for healthy recipes, but in our large family, it’s too expensive to eat as healthy as I’d like – so I usually make adjustments to recipes as I am able (after I know they work well when they are “healthified”).
Love you site and the healthy recipes you make!
Mandie-
Aw thanks so much Mandie! I think any adjustment to healthify a recipe, even slightly, is the best option 🙂
I feel like healthy food is becoming more and more mainstream so more and more stores are selling them! Costco sells coconut flour, chia seeds, natural peanut butter and organic eggs now, I love it.
Amazon.com and iHerb.com are life savers too. I hope this helps!
-Jess
Amazing as always!! I was wondering, is there any good substitute for the sorghum flour? I order it from USA because it doesn’t exist in my country and i wanted to know maybe another flour would work, like: chickpea flour, quinoa flour, buckwheat flour or another type of gluten free flour.
Thank you for your recipes!!!
Tatiana-
I haven’t tried this recipe using another flour but you can try brown rice flour if that’s available? I’ve never used chickpea flour so I’m not sure about that. Quinoa flour and buckwheat flour might work, but I’m not an expert on exchanging gluten-free flours… YET! 😉
I hope this cake works with another flour. I’m crossing my fingers! 🙂
-Jess
Thank you Jessica I can not wait to try it out.
Claudia-
I hope you like the recipe!! 😀
-Jess
Thanks for the recipe. It was awesome!! Gluten free, thats all the best for me!
Sarah Gommer-
YAY glad you liked the cake Sarah! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out 🙂
-Jess
Hey!
This cake looks so good! Do you think subbing egg whites would work? My dad has high cholesterol but he asked me to make him a cake for new years that had no stevia in it…this seems like the one to choose! (I was gonna just leave out the stevia and leave it sweetened with only the maple syrup – he has no sweet tooth, but hates stevia!)
What do you think?
Emma-
Sorry for the delayed response, I didn’t have my computer for a week!
I think egg whites might work instead of the whole eggs, you’ll just need to use a bit more to compensate for the lost yolks. I’d say use 8 egg whites in place of the 4 eggs.
I wouldn’t recommend omitting the stevia but if your dad really hates it I guess you can, it just won’t be sweet at all. Hope you like the recipe!
-Jess
Hey, that cake looks great! cant wait to try it out!
i was just wondering if i could substitude the stevia extract with normal stevia (obviously more than 2 tsp…). do you think that might work?
thanks a lot
-Amandiea
Amandiea-
What kind of stevia do you have exactly? There are so many different types nowadays! If you’re talking about stevia in the raw, 2 tsp of liquid stevia = ~1+1/2 cups of stevia in the raw. According to the package, it should equal 2 cups of stevia in the raw but I find it really sweet. If the cake isn’t as sweet as you like, just make a sweet frosting or drizzle some pure maple syrup on top to compensate 😉
Hope you like the recipe!
-Jess
Hi Jess, thanks a lot! I am talking about normal raw stevia, so your answer really helped me!
Love your website!
-Amandiea
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Looks tempting, but I’m wondering if I could substitute another flour for the sorghum. Would almond, coconut or even tapioca or arrowroot flours work?
I only tested the recipe as is, so I’m hesitant to recommend any substitutions. Sorry!