Birthdays and surprises go hand-in-hand. But you don’t have to be celebrating a birthday to get excited about this gluten free surprise cake! How about Valentine’s Day, or St. Patrick’s Day, or Halloween, Easter, Christmas … spring? Anytime is the right time for a gluten free Surprise Cake!

Seriously, think St. Patrick’s Day shamrocks, Valentine’s Day hearts, Christmas Trees, Stars of David, Jack-o-Lanterns or Easter Eggs … all of these shapes would make this gluten free surprise cake the perfect treat for a holiday or other special occasion.

Of course I had to make this particular surprise cake more complicated by adding TWO surprise shapes in my cake, but that’s just because I have to make everything more complicated than it has to be. YOU do not! Choose your shape (or two, for a challenge!) and surprise everyone the next time you’re celebrating with cake. I promise it’ll be a cake they’ll never forget!

It received all kinds of “oohs” and “ahs” when we cut into what, from the outside, looked fairly unexciting (except that my gluten free birthday cakes are pretty darned delicious, if I do say so myself). With each successive slice, everyone gathered around to read the numbers for my step-daughter’s birthday.

I can only imagine as I get older that 29 might become my favorite combo? Or is 39 the new 29? Who cares. The cake will be fun and yummy no matter what surprises are inside!

How To Make A Gluten Free Surprise Cake

A word of warning: I wouldn’t recommend this recipe for the faint-hearted. It’s not that the recipe is particularly difficult, but it is time consuming, and for anyone who tries to multitask unsuccessfully like I do, it can be easy to get numbers turned around.

I was petrified that these particular numerical relationships would become hopelessly backwards or reversed.

Can you imagine cutting into this cake and singing Happy Birthday to the 21-year old with a cake that had a “12” emblazoned in pink throughout?!

Or worse, read no real number at all because the “2” was backwards?! I sweated quite a lot over this little detail.

It’s also more difficult to get two cake inserts to line up and not overlap each other, whereas one large insert (think a heart, shamrock, pumpkin or Christmas Tree) is far more forgiving when placed inside the pan.

Check out this gluten free Valentine’s Day Surprise Cake — this one was WAY easier, since I just cut one shape and it didn’t matter whether it was upside-down or not, as I could just flip the cake if I needed to (but it’s pretty easy to figure out which end is up with a heart!).

Again, the outside of this cake looks like humble beginnings, which is what makes slicing into it so fun!

For this gluten free Surprise Cake, I used the gluten free strawberry cake recipe below, but used my Best Gluten Free Cake Recipe (chocolate version) for the chocolate part. I only needed one recipe of the Best Gluten Free Cake (or if you’re using my gfJules Best Gluten Free Cake Mix, you only need 1/2 of the mix).  

I first baked the strawberry cake layer, and once it cooled, I cut out my heart shapes. I had WAY more than I needed, which is when this gluten free Cake Pops recipe comes in handy! (or bake 2 surprise cakes — they’re so easy once you have the batters already made!)

Check the video for all the details on how to arrange the shapes in the cake batter for cake #2, but trust me when I say that using a single shape makes life pretty darned easy as a surprise cake baker! Simply lay them down the middle of the batter, and cover with completely with the second cake batter. That’s it! 

Frost however you prefer — I used this super simple, go-to vegan chocolate frosting recipe and gluten free sprinkles — and voila! SURPRISE!

Feel free to pick another gluten free cake recipe or two from my site to use instead; the directions for making the gluten free SURPRISE cake will be the same! Just use the search bar at the top of the page and search all my cake recipes until you find ones you like best. Just make sure the two cakes are different colors!

Try this fun and delicious treat the next time you need an impressive dessert. As I said, it’s not hard, it just takes some time because you’re baking two cakes; couldn’t we all use a little kitchen therapy?

Gluten Free Surprise Cake Recipe

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Gluten Free Surprise Cake Recipe

Yield: 1 cake

Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Additional Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 4 hours

Quite possibly the most impressive and unique cake one could ever receive! AND it's deliciously gluten-free!

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Ingredients

Cake #1 - Strawberry Cake

• 1½ cups (202.5 gr) gfJules™ All-Purpose Gluten-Free Flour
• 1/8 cup powdered milk (dairy or non-dairy alternative like coconut milk powder) or gluten-free vanilla pudding powder (not reconstituted)
• 1½ tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• ¼ cup butter or non-dairy alternative (like Earth Balance® Buttery Sticks)
• 1 cup granulated sugar (white sugar; unrefined sugar; coconut palm sugar; etc.)
• 2 eggs or substitute
• 1½ Tbs. fresh lemon juice
• 3 oz. puréed strawberries (wash, hull and process in a blender or food processor) -- approximately 3 very large strawberries
• red food coloring, if desired (Watkins natural food colors)
• 1Tbs. lemon zest

Cake #2 - Vanilla Cake

• 3 cups (405 gr) gfJules™ All-Purpose Gluten-Free Flour
• 1 Tbs. baking powder
• ¼ cup powdered milk (dairy or non-dairy alternative like coconut milk powder) or gluten-free vanilla pudding powder (not reconstituted)
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
• 3/4 cup milk (dairy, coconut, almond or soy)
• ½  cup butter or non-dairy alternative (like Earth Balance® Buttery Sticks)
• 2 cups granulated sugar of choice (white sugar; unrefined sugar; coconut palm sugar)
• 3 eggs + 1 yolk or substitute
• 1 Tbs. lemon zest

Instructions

To make this surprise cake, you will be baking two cakes.

Cake #1 will bake first and cool, then will be cut into shapes or numbers to be hidden inside the second cake. This first cake should be a different color from the second cake (e.g. chocolate/vanilla/strawberry or use food coloring) but the recipes should be of the same density. Cake #2 will be baked with the cut-out shapes or numbers from the first cake inside.

For this Surprise Cake, I baked a gluten-free Strawberry Cake with strawberry purée for the cake numbers / hearts inside and my Lemon Cake for the outer cake. For gluten free chocolate cake instead, bake 1 recipe of my Best Gluten Free Cake Recipe, chocolate variation. For gluten free chocolate cake instead, bake 1 recipe of my Best Gluten Free Cake Recipe, chocolate variation. Bake in 10 x 4 pan.

Cake #1: (Strawberry Cake Pictured - with food coloring in 21 cake; without food coloring in heart cake)

1. Preheat oven to 350° F (static) or 325° F (convection).
2. In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.
3. In another mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar, beating for several minutes until light and fluffy. Slowly add eggs, one at a time, mixing to integrate, adding lemon juice with the second egg. Slowly stir in dry ingredients, alternating with strawberry purée (and food coloring, if using), mixing until combined and batter is smooth. Fold in lemon zest.
4. Line with parchment or oil one 9×5 loaf pan. Pour in cake batter and smooth with a rubber spatula. Bake until cake pulls away slightly from the sides of the pan, approximately 30 minutes. Test for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center of the cake – if it is clean or has very few crumbs, the cake is done. Err on the side of slightly under-cooking this cake, since it will be baked inside the next cake.
5. Let the cake cool on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the pan, if necessary to release the cake, and invert onto a wire rack to completely cool. Evenly slice cake in half, horizontally, using a long serrated knife or cake leveler.
6. Lay both pieces of cake onto a cutting board and cut out numbers or shapes with cookie cutters or a template with a knife. Seal in a zip-top bag or Tupperware and store in the refrigerator until ready to insert into cake #2. (Use cake remnants to make Cake Pops!)

Cake #2: (Vanilla Cake Pictured with 21 inside)

1. In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.
2. In a separate bowl, add lemon juice to milk and set aside to curdle.
3. In another mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar, beating for several minutes until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing to integrate. Slowly stir in dry ingredients, alternating with milk, mixing until combined and batter is smooth. Fold in lemon zest.
4. Line with parchment or oil one 12 x 4½ pan or 10 x 5 pan. Pour enough cake batter into the pan to cover the bottom ½-inch deep. Arrange the refrigerated cake shapes in a straight line, one behind the other, along the length of the pan. If the shapes are flimsy or you are using more than one shape, run a wooden skewer through the stack of shapes to help them stay in line.
5. Pour the remaining cake batter on top of and completely around the inserted cake shapes so that they are covered with cake batter. Smooth with a rubber spatula.
6. Bake until cake pulls away slightly from the sides of the pan, approximately 60-70 minutes; adjust depending on the size of your pan. With the cake inserts inside, cake #2 can take much longer to bake, so if the top is getting too done, cover with aluminum foil. Test for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center of the cake (not into the pre-baked cake shapes inside) – if it is clean or has very few crumbs, the cake is done.
7. Let the cake cool on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes. Using the top of the cake pan as a jig, lay a bread knife on top and cut evenly across the entire top of the cake so that what will be the bottom of the cake will be level.
8. Run a knife around the edge of the pan, if necessary, to release the cake and invert onto a wire rack. If using wooden skewers to secure the cake shapes inside the pan, remove the skewers by pulling out one end of the pan before frosting.
9. Allow to fully cool before frosting. (Classic Vanilla or Chocolate Frosting Recipe – link)

Nutrition Information

Yield 20 Serving Size 1
Amount Per Serving Calories 234Total Fat 9gSaturated Fat 5gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 3gCholesterol 75mgSodium 262mgCarbohydrates 36gFiber 0gSugar 34gProtein 2g

Please keep in mind that nutrition information provided is per serving, which may vary. While we have taken care to provide you with the most accurate nutritional values possible, please note that this information may differ significantly depending on the exact ingredients and brands that you choose to use to make this recipe. Additionally, where options are given for ingredients, the resulting calculation may include all ingredient options instead of only one per line, skewing the totals significantly.

Did you make this recipe?

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