Mini Tiered Gluten Free Marble Cake
Marble cake is the best of both worlds, letting you indulge in buttery vanilla cake and rich chocolate cake with just one bite. My gluten free marble cake recipe lets you enjoy this two tone cake without that pesky gluten. It’s full of flavor, beautifully textured and you only need to make one batter. Gluten free marble cake just doesn’t get any better than that.
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This recipe was originally published on June 6, 2019 and was republished on February 18, 2021 with updates.
Story Time
I first made this cake a year and a half ago for my friend’s wedding. Back then, I baked 5 thin 6 inch layers and experimented with my first gum paste peony. Well, I’ve learned a lot since then, so I decided to remake this beauty as a mini tiered cake!
This cake is so good, you can’t even tell it’s gluten free. Seriously! And thanks to my favorite gluten free flour, making a gluten free marble cake is, well, a piece of cake. (Don’t hate me. I had to.)
Creating a Gluten Free Marble Cake Recipe
So, of course, the first challenge with making a gluten free marble cake is to figure out the batter situation. Generally speaking, vanilla and chocolate cakes are made differently and can even have drastically different consistencies. Check out my Black Magic Cake vs. the Coffee Cake Layer Cake.
Some bakers will make two small cake batches and swirl them together. I don’t like this because, ew, more effort. Instead, I decided to make one batter and swirl half of it with melted chocolate. This makes the chocolate part extra fudgy, which I dig.
Going this route gives you equal amounts of chocolate and vanilla cake. Honestly, I feel like marbled cakes are usually more vanilla than chocolate. If that’s what you prefer, only scoop out about a third of the batter and then stir in just 2 ounces of melted chocolate.
Mini Tiered Cake
I have only made like 2 tiered cakes ever, but I’ve been dying to try it again. Problem is, it’s 2021. You know what that means. There’s no reason at all to be making a huge two tiered cake seeing as we’re not doing parties or gatherings.
But y’all, I had a theory. I figured that one cake recipe would make enough batter to fill two 6 inch cake pans and two 4 inch cake pans. And I was right! So, this is a tiered cake, but it’s as much cake as a standard 3 layer 6 inch cake. Booyah!
Marbled Cake Mishaps
I’ve made this cake multiple times. It’s not hard, but for some reason my brain did not want to participate in baking my gluten free marble cake this time around. The heck?! So I was a bit stupid. It happens.
Pro tip. Do NOT dump all of your vanilla into the pans, then add all of your chocolate. This does not a marble cake make. (Why am I so weird today?) The chocolate batter is much more dense and your layers will bake funny if you do this. #truestory
Instead, place your pans on a scale and alternate small scoops of vanilla and chocolate batter until you have about 12 ounces in your 6 inch pans and 6 ounces in your 4 inch pans. If there’s extra batter, divide it between the pans. Now use a knife or skewer to gently marble the batter together.
Related Reading: Small Batch Gluten Free Marble Cupcakes
Vanilla American Buttercream Frosting
For this vanilla frosting, I just did a full vanilla batch of my basic American buttercream. To get that beautiful pure white color, you need to beat your butter really well. As you beat air into the softened butter, it becomes pale and fluffy. Also use clear vanilla extract to avoid adding any brown muddy colors. You can also add a dash of white food color.
This frosting is a great basic frosting that you can easily color or flavor any way you like. If you want to see how I make my buttercream, check out this video on the Bakes & Blunders YouTube channel.
Assembling the Mini Tiered Cake
Once the gluten free marble cake is baked and cooled, wrap the layers in cling wrap and chill in the fridge. As long as they are wrapped well (I double wrap and sometimes place them in a big Ziploc bag), they are perfectly fine to sit in the fridge overnight.
It’s important to add supports to your 6 inch tier, even though that 4 inch cake is tiny. If this cake was leaving my house, I would have cut a hole in that 4 inch cake circle and placed a smoothie straw up into that top tier. Watch my video tutorial for this mini tiered cake for all the deets.
Add Your Details
I topped this mini tiered cake with a super easy, no wire gum paste peony. You don’t need a ton of crazy tools, so this is a great tutorial for beginner cake decorators.
The edible fabric is from Granary Kitchen and it is so pretty! I’ve had it for months, so it dried out a bit. Besides that (totally my bad), it was easy to work with and there are a ton of great prints to choose from. Use the code bakesandblunders to get 10% off your order.
Related Reading: How To Use Edible Sugar Sheets
Related Videos
Are you more of a visual learner? Then you’re in luck! I happen to have a ton of videos related to this gluten free marble cake recipe.
- Make a Mini Tiered Cake
- American Buttercream Tutorial
- Gluten Free Marble Cupcakes (watch me make the batter!)
- Easy No Wire Gum Paste Peonies (coming soon)
A Beautiful Wedding
I’m happy to say, the bride and groom loved that first gluten free marble cake and had an absolutely beautiful wedding day. Since then, I’ve made this cake many times and I even have a half batch recipe for just a dozen gluten free marble cupcakes!
Look at how perfect they are together! They were kind enough to share some of his pictures of their wedding with me and these photos are stunning.
Enjoy!
Jazz up your standard cake with this mini tiered gluten free marble cake. It’s delicious, classy as heck, and super easy to make! Frost this beauty with vanilla buttercream and top with a gum paste peony to complete the simple, but elegant look.
Gluten Free Marble Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
Gluten Free Marble Cake
- 4 oz semi-sweet chocolate chopped
- 7 oz King Arthur gluten free measure for measure flour
- 4 eggs room temperature
- 1/2 cup buttermilk room temperature
- 2 tsps vanilla
- 10 1/2 oz sugar
- 2 tsps baking powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 16 Tbsps unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces, soft, but still cool
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
- 2 cups unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 lbs powdered sugar sifted
- 1 Tbsp clear vanilla extract
- 2- 4 Tbsps cream
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
Gluten Free Marble Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray or brush two 6 inch cake pans and two 4 inch cake pans with oil. Dust the sides of the pans with a bit of gluten free flour and line the bottoms with parchment rounds. Set aside. Weigh the bowl of your stand mixer and write that down for later.
- Melt the chocolate over a double boiler or in the microwave until smooth. Set aside to cool slightly while you prepare the batter.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Mix the dry ingredients on the lowest setting until combined, about 30 seconds.
- With the stand mixer still on the lowest speed, add the butter one piece at a time, waiting a few seconds between additions. Mix until the butter and flour begin to clump together, about 30-40 seconds after the last piece of butter is added.
- Add 1 cup of the egg mixture with the mixer on low and beat for 5- 10 seconds to incorporate. Bump the speed up to medium- high and beat until light and fluffy, about a minute.
- Add the remaining egg mixture in a slow, steady stream down the edge of the bowl. If you hit the paddle, it will make a mess. It should take about 30 seconds to add this remaining mixture.
- Stop the stand mixer to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat again at medium- high speed for about 15 seconds to thoroughly combine.
- Split the cake batter in two with the help of an electric scale. Subtract the weight of the bowl (from step 2) from the weight of the batter in the bowl. Divide that number in half. That is the amount of batter you will remove and place in a second bowl.
- Add the melted and cooled chocolate to one of the bowls. Gently fold the chocolate into the batter until it is combined.
- Place a 6 inch cake pan on your scale. Alternate tablespoon scoops of vanilla and chocolate batter until you have 12 ounces. Wiggle a skewer or small spatula through the batter and gently smooth out the top. Repeat with the remaining 6 inch cake pan. Do the same with the 4 inch pans, but add 6 ounces in each.
- Bake the 6 inch pans for 30- 33 minutes and the 4 inch cake pans for 28- 30 minutes or until the cakes spring back when touched. A skewer should come out clean.
- Cool in the pans for about 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Cakes must cool completely before assembling.
Vanilla Buttercream
- Beat the softened butter for 8- 10 minutes, scraping the bowl of the stand mixer down once or twice. The butter should be very pale and fluffy.
- Add about a third of the sifted powdered sugar and the clear vanilla extract. Beat on low until the sugar is incorporated. Bump the speed up to a medium- low and beat for a minute.
- Scrape down the bowl and add roughly another third of the sifted powdered sugar and beat on low before bumping up the speed. Mix for another minute.
- Scrape down the bowl and add the remaining sifted powdered sugar, a pinch of salt, and a tablespoon of cream. Beat on low before bumping up the speed and beating for a minute. If necessary, add more cream to get a creamy, smooth texture.
Assembling the Cake
- Place a 6 inch layer on your cake board and cover with frosting. Top with the next layer and cover in a crumb coat. Chill until firm, about 20- 30 minutes. Repeat with the 4 inch layers.
- Apply a final coat of frosting, smoothing out the sides. To get a textured look, run your offset spatula up the side of the cake while you spin the turntable. On top, place the tip of the spatula in the center and slowly move towards the edge of the cake as you spin the turntable.
- Place smoothie straw supports in your 6 inch tier (watch the video to see how). Add a smear of fresh frosting and top with the 4 inch tier. If you can see the board or a gap, pipe a small line of frosting around the edge and use your small offset spatula to smooth. Top cake with a gum paste peony.
Notes
- Or bake the batter in three 6 inch cake pans.
- The cake ingredients must all be at room temperature to combine well.
- I like to microwave my buttermilk for about 20 seconds to bring it to the right temperature.
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Colleen
Hi there! I’m Colleen, a novice baker with a passion for learning and improving my bakes… and blunders. On Bakes and Blunders, you can find all sorts of tasty recipes that range in difficulty, but most importantly, I’ll try to explain the reason behind important steps. If you know why a recipe works, you can tweak and adapt it to suit your unique tastes, and you’ll be able to reliably produce some very delicious treats. If you love baking and want to expand and grow your skills, or if you are a casual baker and just need some pointers, my blog is right up your alley! Join me on my baking journey and we’ll learn how to make more impressive recipes together.
8 Comments
Monica L Solomon
This frosting is delicious!! I used it for another cake I was making and the frosting was the best part!! It was just the right sweetness, so don’t be fooled by the amount of powdered sugar in the recipe. It piped sooo smoothly and looked absolutely lovely! This batch was large yes, but I made a 3-layer 9″ cake that next time will take 1 1/2 times the recipe. My new go-to buttercream! Thanks, Colleen!
Colleen
Yay! So happy it was so awesome 🙂
Holly Bird
Colleen, I just love your blog!! This is another fantastic recipe and I will be trying it very soon, but I wanted to say your cake is beautiful and I just love the way you share so much info to make your recipes so easy to follow! Thank you so much!!
Colleen
Aw! Thank you so much, Holly! I feel like the more you know about a recipe, the easier it is to make.
Michael
I like how fluffy its texture is. Thank you for the ingredients. I might make one soon when I have time. Very much appreciated this one.
Colleen
I hope you get to make one soon!
Stephanie Stebbins
I have lots of birthdays coming up this summer so I’m loving the cake recipes. Definitely going to try this one!
Colleen
Yay! It’s so easy and tasty 🙂