This week, 8 – 14 May, is Coeliac Awareness Week. If you’re one of the 1 in 100 people in the UK that this autoimmune disease affects, you’ll be aware of the painful and debilitating symptoms that it can cause. You’ll also know that the only treatment is a gluten-free diet.
Of course, not everybody who follows a gluten-free diet has coeliac disease, you may be sensitive to gluten (different to coeliac disease), have a wheat allergy, or perhaps you’re simply trying to avoid the dreaded wheat belly!
Whatever your reason for going gluten-free I could hazard a guess that whilst looking for the sweet temptation to tickle your taste buds, you have, at some stage, eaten something that resembles or tastes like a brick… But I have good news, it doesn’t have to be that way. You can have your cake and bake it too!
Here are my top three tips for successful gluten-free baking:
- Get floury – Experiment with a variety of flours. Coconut flour, almond flour, chestnut flour, chickpea flour and brown rice flour are all good alternatives. Try blending different flours together.
- Go slow and low – This will ensure that your cakes don’t burn on the outside before cooking on the inside. It takes longer for a gluten free cake to cook compared to a cake using traditional wheat flours. Again there is a degree of experimentation here, it’s a balancing act, you don’t want your cake to dry out in the oven. Just like a good chocolate brownie, you can try turning the oven off a little early and let your cake finish off as the oven cools.
- Don’t bake at all – Raw cakes are delicious! An added bonus is that I often find there is less washing up. One big bowl to mix it all together and that’s it.
If you don’t feel like experimenting, you’ll be pleased to know I’ve done it all for you. All of the Frog Hollow Superfood Cakes are free from gluten, dairy and refined sugar. We can supply whole cakes (and pies… Did we mention it’s Banoffi… Yum) that feed a family. Or we can supply a selection of individual portions in a variety of flavours. We often add new Superfood Cakes to our range, the latest being Frog Hollow’s peanut butter cup tarts, these are already proving to be a big hit! The produce we use is seasonal and usually local. As we head into summer delicious soft fruits will be taking centre stage.
Contact me if you’d like to find out more about serving a cake at your next party that’s full of gluten free goodness!
