Cakes and baking
Gluten-free cake with no eggs
A simple cinnamon yoghurt cake made without eggs, finished with a light sprinkle of cinnamon sugar.
This single-layer cinnamon cake uses yoghurt and oil in an egg-free batter, with a little cinnamon sugar on top. There is no filling or icing to make.
Use a gluten-free flour blend intended for cakes and let the cake cool before slicing: the crumb is delicate while warm. This recipe is in development and has not been kitchen-tested.
The recipe
Gluten-free cake with no eggs
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 40 min
- Total*
- 55 min
- Makes
- 8 servings
*Estimated development timings. Allow 20 minutes standing in the tin, then about 60 minutes cooling on a rack, additional to the 55 minutes preparation and baking time. Baking may take longer if the centre is not set at 40 minutes.
Ingredients
Tick things off as you go.
For the cake
For the topping
Equipment
- Use a round cake tin measuring 20 cm across and at least 5 cm deep.
- Use baking parchment to line the base and sides.
- Have two mixing bowls, a measuring jug, digital scales and measuring spoons ready.
- Use a whisk and a flexible spatula.
- Have a wire cooling rack, a skewer and a knife ready.
Let’s make it.
- 01
Prepare the tin
Heat the oven to 180°C / 160°C fan / gas 4. Line the base and sides of the tin with baking parchment. Check that the paper sits flat against the base and reaches the rim.
- 02
Combine the dry ingredients
Whisk the flour, 140 g caster sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a large bowl. Break up any lumps until the mixture looks evenly coloured.
- 03
Mix the wet ingredients
In the second bowl, whisk the yoghurt, milk, sunflower oil and vanilla until smooth. Scrape around the bowl and check that no thick pockets of yoghurt remain.
- 04
Fill and finish
Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and whisk briefly, then scrape the base and sides with the spatula. Stop when no dry flour remains and the batter falls from the spatula in a thick ribbon. Transfer to the tin and level the surface. Mix the topping's 10 g sugar and ¼ tsp cinnamon in the empty dry-ingredient bowl, then scatter evenly over the batter. Bake straight away.
- 05
Bake the cake
Bake on the middle shelf for 35–40 minutes. Start checking at 35 minutes: the centre should spring back lightly when gently pressed, and a skewer pushed into the middle should show no liquid batter; a few moist crumbs are fine. If the centre is still wet, continue baking in 5-minute intervals and check again. These checks judge the cake's baking progress.
- 06
Cool and slice
Leave the cake in its tin for 20 minutes so the edges firm up. Carefully remove it, peel away the parchment and place it upright on a cooling rack. Allow about 60 minutes, checking that the centre and underside no longer feel warm, then cut into eight slices. If it is cooling slowly, cut into portions to help heat escape. Once cool, cover any cake being kept and refrigerate within two hours of taking it out of the oven.
Ingredient checks
Use gluten-free self-raising flour intended for cakes, with xanthan gum already included; do not add extra gum. Check the flour, raising agents, cinnamon, vanilla and any dairy alternatives for gluten-free suitability. For someone with coeliac disease, use clean equipment and work surfaces and prevent contact with ordinary flour or crumbs. For an egg allergy, also check precautionary egg warnings and prevent egg cross-contact; an egg-free ingredient list alone is not a guarantee of suitability.
Allergens: Contains milk from the yoghurt and whole milk.; No other UK priority allergens are intentionally included: celery, cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, lupin, molluscs, mustard, tree nuts, peanuts, sesame, soya and sulphites.; Check every packet for allergen ingredients and precautionary warnings; gluten-free products can still contain other allergens, including egg..
Make it work for you
Replace sunflower oil with the same volume of rapeseed oil.
For a dairy-free version, use the same quantities of plain unsweetened soya yoghurt and soya drink, both checked for gluten-free suitability; this introduces soya and has not been kitchen-tested.
For a milder cake, omit the cinnamon from both the batter and topping without changing the other quantities.
Do not replace the flour blend with a single flour such as coconut or almond flour; its absorption and structure will be different.
For another day
Once cool, cover and refrigerate at 0–5°C within two hours of baking; eat within 48 hours.
Alternatively, wrap cooled individual slices well and freeze promptly on the day of baking; freezing texture has not been tested.
Defrost slices in the fridge and eat within 24 hours of thawing completely.
Serve cold or let an individual refrigerated slice lose its chill shortly before eating; reheating is unnecessary.
Exploding food
What goes in.
The ingredients, seen a little differently. This image is an illustration of the main ingredients; use the written recipe for the full list and quantities.
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