It’s hard to make a cake when there’s nothing in the fridge! We've already told you how you can be subbing butter out of your recipes, so now it’s time to tackle flourless desserts. Although flour is used in most sweet concoctions, it is nevertheless possible to make cakes and other sweet treats without it. And here’s how!
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Moist chocolate cake
You don’t need flour to make a delicious, super moist chocolate cake. This tasty dessert has a texture similar to a brownie and all you need is sweetened chestnut cream.
You will need:
- 300g sweetened chestnut cream or purée
- 200g chocolate
- 150g butter
- 3 eggs
Melt the chocolate with the butter in a water bath. Add the beaten eggs and the chestnut cream and whisk everything together until you have a well-combined mixture. Pour this mixture into your greased tin and bake for 25 minutes at 180°C. And there you have it!
French financiers
You don’t need flour for financiers either and they are also a good option if you want to use up your egg whites. You can flavour them with vanilla, lemon or chocolate, and here’s how.
You will need:
- 4 egg whites
- 150g powdered or ground almonds
- 80g butter
- 125g sugar
Melt the butter and mix with the ground almonds. Add the sugar and then the egg whites. Pour your mixture into a financier mould and bake for around ten minutes at 170°C. They should be nicely golden brown.
Cookies
Although original cookie recipes call for flour, it is possible to swap it out and use rolled oats instead. You can use these oats either as they come or you could even grind them up to make a flour-like powder.
You will need:
- 100g rolled oats
- 1 egg
- 40g almond purée or peanut butter
- 30g sugar
- 50g dark chocolate chips
Mix the dry ingredients together then add the egg and the peanut butter. Pour in the chocolate chips and mix until you have a smooth dough. Make flat balls out of the dough and place them on a baking tray with baking paper. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes at 180°C and voilà!
Panna cotta
Panna cotta is an Italian dessert that goes really well with fruit. And you don’t need flour to make a really good pan cotta either. Instead, you can use gelatine to thicken your mixture. Find out how below!
You will need:
- 25cl whole cream
- 1 gelatin sheet
- 30g sugar
- Vanilla or lemon flavouring
Put the gelatine sheet in a bowl of cold water to soften it up. While it is softening, bring the cream, sugar and flavouring to a boil. Take the cream off the heat when bubbles start to appear and add the gelatine. Stir or whisk everything together to dissolve the gelatine and pour the mixture into your glasses or jars. Leave the mixture to cool and refrigerate for at least two hours before serving with fresh fruit!
Rice pudding
Rice pudding makes the perfect dessert or tasty snack! You can enjoy it warm or cold and it can be prepared in advance if needed. And to make it even better, you could always add a bit of caramel or salted butter.
You will need:
- 150g round-grain rice
- 200g single cream
- 50g sugar
- 500g milk
- Vanilla flavouring
Mix all the ingredients together and cook over a low heat for 40 minutes. That’s all it takes!
