Can I Make A Gluten-Free Spruced-Up Vanilla Cake?

Our answer

Nigella's Spruced-Up Vanilla Cake (from NIGELLA CHRISTMAS) is a moist vanilla sponge cake. The name comes from the shape of the bundt pan that it is baked in, though the cake can be made in a less fancy bundt pan.

Unfortunately we don't think that the cake can be made gluten free by just swapping flours. One of the problems with gluten-free cakes is that they are vey tender and we suspect that trying to remove a gluten-free cake from the intricately-shaped pan would just result in it breaking into pieces. You may be able to use a combination of ground almonds (almond meal) and plain (gluten-free) flours and bake it in a bundt pan with less nooks and crannies, but we have not tried this ourselves so can't guarantee the results. Instead we would suggest trying the Marzipan Loaf Cake, which is also a divinely damp cake that can be left for people to help themselves to. It may not have the shape of a bundt pan but can be given a seasonal dusting of icing (confectioners') sugar before serving.