Intolerance or allergy to gluten often forces important renunciations, especially with regard to sweets. Wheat flours are all banned and most of the desserts are made with this ingredient. And if on the market there are not yet many lines of really interesting and tasty products, let's try to experiment at home, with alternative flours, such as corn and buckwheat, as well as almond, hazelnuts, coconut or walnuts. Cakes for celiacs they can be as inviting as those that can eat all those who have no gluten intolerances or allergies. It is simply a matter of experimenting, of finding the right proportion of alternative flours, and obtain a compound capable of binding the other ingredients together.

Alternative flours

Rice flour, potato starch, buckwheat or corn flour, coconut flour, almond or banana flour, amaranth or quinoa flour: there are many flours that can be used when you are allergic to gluten and you must so giving up wheat. Often it is not advisable to use only one type of flour, but resort to a mixture that is more similar to the characteristics of a common wheat flour. Also because some, like for example that of quinoa, have a particularly intense taste, which must be softened. Or, again, they are rather "heavy", and they go lightened with potato starch or corn starch. Here are three inviting proposals, which will also appeal to those who are not celiac. Seeing is believing!

Chocolate and almond cake

Ingredients

300 g dark chocolate with 70% cocoa, 200 g almond powder, 200 g butter, 200 g brown sugar, 1 teaspoon of bitter cocoa, 6 eggs, icing sugar, salt.

Method

Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie in the butter and then toast the almond flour in the oven or in a pan for a few minutes, until it is golden, and then let it cool. Whip the egg yolks with the sugar and a pinch of salt, until they are very frothy. Add the melted chocolate, the bitter cocoa and finally the almond flour to the eggs, mixing well. Then whisk the egg whites until stiff and add them to the rest of the mixture, stirring with a spatula from the bottom upwards, so as not to remove them. Pour everything into a 26 cm diameter hinge mold, lined with wet and squeezed baking paper. Bake at 180 degrees for 50-55 minutes and then let it cool completely before consuming it. Sprinkle with icing sugar before serving.

Buckwheat cake with berries

Ingredients

250 g buckwheat flour, 200 g almond flour, 2 dl extra virgin olive oil or seeds, 150 g sugar, 7 eggs, 1/2 sachet of baking powder, salt, 300 g wild berry jam or strawberries, icing sugar.

Method

Whip the egg yolks in a bowl with the sugar and a pinch of salt. Stir in the oil and then add the sieved buckwheat flour with the baking powder and almond flour. Mix well, to prevent lumps from forming. Whip the egg whites and then add them to the mixture, mixing well with a spatula, from bottom to top. Pour the mixture into a 26 cm diameter hinge pan, lined with a sheet of wet and wrung-out baking paper. Cook the cake at 180 ° for 50-55 minutes and then let it cool. Once cold, cut it in half and fill it with jam. Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve.

Almond and carrot cake

Ingredients

260 g grated carrots, 160 g almond or hazelnut flour, 60 g corn starch, 40 g almond grain, 200 g brown sugar, 4 eggs, 1/2 sachet of baking powder, 1 untreated lemon, sugar at veil.

Method

Whip the egg yolks with the sugar until they are swollen, then add the grated lemon rind. Sprinkle the sifted corn starch with the yeast, almond flour, grain and carrots. Separately whisk the egg whites and incorporate them into the mixture, stirring from bottom to top. Pour the mixture into a cake pan lined with a sheet of wet and wrung-out baking paper and bake at 180 ° for an hour. Let the cake cool before serving and sprinkle with icing sugar.