Bake

Gluten-Free 'Cake Magic!' Paleo Cake Mix

January 14, 2019
4
5 Ratings
Photo by Ken Carlson
  • Prep time 5 minutes
  • Makes 4 cups
Author Notes

If you'd like to test-drive this base cake mix recipe, here are a couple of the original cake recipes to which you can apply the cake mix: Vanilla Cake and Darkest Chocolate Cake. Reprinted with permission from Cake Magic! (Workman Publishing). Photo by Ken Carlson.

When buttering and flouring your pan(s), any of the flours in this recipe work. Like the book suggests, do not use the mix as the coating for the pans. —Caroline Wright

Test Kitchen Notes

Featured in: One Gluten-Free Cake Mix, 100 Possibilities. —The Editors

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 3/4 cup tapioca flour, spooned and leveled
  • 3/4 cup arrowroot flour, spooned and leveled
  • 3/4 cup coconut flour, spooned and leveled
  • 3/4 cup almond flour, spooned and leveled
  • 1 cup coconut sugar
  • 1 teaspoon xantham gum
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon fine Himalayan sea salt
Directions
  1. Place a fine-mesh sieve over a large bowl. Measure ingredients into sieve; sift all ingredients into bowl. Whisk the mix again before measuring.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • Aria Alpert Adjani
    Aria Alpert Adjani
  • Eric Kim
    Eric Kim
  • Cassandra Marcella Metzger
    Cassandra Marcella Metzger
  • Judi Forman
    Judi Forman
Before her diagnosis, Caroline wrote a book on cakes called Cake Magic!. She started developing a birthday cake using her gluten-free mix found in that book. Check out other recipes she’s developing for her new life—and the stories behind them—on her blog, The Wright Recipes. Her next book, Soup Club, is a collection of recipes she made for her underground soup club of vegan and grain-free soups she delivers every week to friends throughout Seattle's rainy winter.

15 Reviews

Judi F. March 18, 2019
I've made both the vanilla and the chocolate cupcakes on the sight using this recipe and liked both very much! The cakes turned out with little pockets of air ... like cupcakes with standard flour. Usually, gluten free cakes, I find, turn out to have an odd texture - these tasted, to me (and my husband, who has celiac), really good. We liked the cakes so much that I ordered the Cake Magic book, which I also really like - so many variations you can try both with cake and icing ... and I like that, in addition to variations for gluten-free cake, there are variations for vegan cake too (for every recipe in the book). My daughter's vegan, so that's great too. My only question is that in the Cake Magic book, I just noticed that the gluten-free mix is NOT the one above. It uses, instead, 1 c. white rice flour, 1/2 c. tapioca flour, 2/3 c. coconut flour, 2/3 c. millet flour, 1 1/2 c. sugar, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda and 1 tsp table salt. I was using the base recipe here and hadn't even noticed that the one in the book is very different until today and it surprises me because in the book, it notes that the mix is carefully calibrated and shouldn't be tampered with at all. And it notes, in particular, that table salt (vs. the Himalayan salt named above) is important - that no other salt should be used. Anyway, I might next try the recipes with the base used in the book and compare and contrast, but again, I'm surprised that this above doesn't match what the book recommends.
 
Cathy February 9, 2019
Can you give the measurements in weights?
 
Aria A. January 29, 2019
Ummmm where are the directions?
 
Jacqueline M. January 29, 2019
Hi! This is "base"dry ingredients only! You can ck out different flavor cakes to see complete recipes! I think we all thought same thing initially!
 
Aria A. January 29, 2019
Thanks but this is totally confusing. It should be the same format as ALL the recipes are. No one should have to search for another recipe!
 
Jacqueline M. January 29, 2019
I totally understand.
 
Deborah A. October 20, 2020
What's so confusing? This is obviously a recipe for gluten free cake flour - the "recipe" you use it in is your choice!
 
Donald W. January 17, 2019
I've clicked links, read similar recipes, browsed TheWrightRecipies.com, etc and haven't found a temp or time for any of the cakes.
 
Eric K. January 18, 2019
Hi Donald, the very first link in this recipe points to here: https://food52.com/recipes/60570-vanilla-cake-confetti-cake-variation

"Which says Preheat the oven to 350° F. [BATTER INSTRUCTIONS.] Bake until the layers are domed and golden brown, and a few moist crumbs cling to a skewer inserted in the center of the cake, 35 to 40 minutes (40 to 50 minutes for a Bundt, 25 to 30 minutes for a 13 by 9-inch cake, and 20 to 25 minutes for cupcakes)."

Hope that helps.
 
Jacqueline M. January 14, 2019
I think this is "base" dry ingredient cake mix recipe. If you click on the cake magic, it lists different flavors, to make. I too wondered where "wet" ingredients and all were.
 
Eric K. January 14, 2019
Thanks Jacqueline! Correct.
 
nina January 14, 2019
Recipe seems to be missing the complete directions. I'm only seeing step 1?
 
Bella January 14, 2019
Same here...I only seeing step 1 😑
 
Eric K. January 14, 2019
Hi there, see Jacqueline's comment above. This is the base cake mix recipe, for which there are multiple possible "cakes," which you can read more about here: https://food52.com/blog/23660-one-gluten-free-paleo-cake-mix-100-possibilities
 
Cassandra M. January 17, 2019
That is inconvenient and very confusing. I'd rather not have to cut and paste and click back and forth for my recipes. Just saying.