Cake without flour – 5 recipes

Is flour a must for a moist cake? Far from it – you can do without it. Hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds, (gluten-free) rolled oats, starch and pudding powder are all good alternatives to ground cereal grains. We have selected five recipes for flourless cakes from the book “Backen ohne Mehl” by Anja Donnermeyer (Verlag Eugen Ulmer) and from grandma’s cookbook so that you can see for yourself.

Cakes, tarts, cookies, bread and pastries – as varied as the recipes for the various delicacies are, most of them contain one ingredient, namely flour. No wonder, as the gluten contained in flour ensures that the dough is smooth and therefore easy to work with. However, what is good for the dough does not always have to be good for the connoisseurs. All those who suffer from gluten intolerance or coeliac disease know this only too well. For them, but also for everyone else who wants to reduce their flour consumption, with or without gluten, there is good news: there are alternatives to flour.

What does a flourless cake consist of?

One of the most popular alternatives to flour are nuts of all kinds. Ground hazelnuts and walnuts, as well as almonds, not only give the cake stability, but also flavor. If you don’t like or tolerate nuts, you can also use starch or pudding powder. By the way: poppy seeds are also an alternative.

How do you store a cake without flour?

If the cake is not to be eaten straight away, the same applies to cakes without flour as to those with flour: cakes with cream, such as the yoghurt cream cake, should be kept in the fridge. All other cakes also feel at home under a cake tin.

And now to the recipes for flourless cakes:

Chocolate cake without flour

Ingredients:

4 eggs

120g sugar

200g butter

200g chocolate sprinkles (dark)

200g ground almonds

2 tsp baking powder

Preparation time: 13 minutes

Baking time: approx. 60 minutes

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees. Beat the eggs, sugar and butter until creamy. Stir in the chocolate sprinkles, almonds and baking powder. Pour the batter into a well-greased king cake tin or springform pan and bake for approx. 60 minutes.

Once cooled, cover with 200g chocolate glaze and decorate with sugar pearls, for example. Alternatively, the cake can be sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Peach cream slices

Ingredients

5 eggs

150g sugar

200 ml oil

5 sachets of vanilla custard powder (for cooking)

2 tsp baking powder

2 tins of (tart) peaches

600g whipped cream

3 sachets of cream stiffener

200g sour cream

3 sheets of gelatine

2 packets of cake glaze

500ml multivitamin juice

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Baking time: 20 minutes

Cooling time: five hours, but preferably overnight

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Mix the eggs, sugar and oil. Mix in the vanilla pudding powder and baking powder. Pour the batter onto a baking tray lined with baking paper, smooth out, bake for 20 minutes and leave to cool.

Cover the cake base with tart peaches. Mix the whipped cream with the cream stiffener and whip, then stir in the sour cream.

Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water. Then squeeze out the gelatine well and heat in a pan. Add the liquid gelatine to the cream and sour cream, then spread over the peaches and leave to set in the fridge. Make the cake glaze with the multivitamin juice and spread over the cake.

Nut cake without flour (quick and easy)

Ingredients

6 Egg white

200g powdered sugar

1 packet of vanilla sugar

300g grated nuts of your choice

1 lemon

1 pinch salt

Preparation time:approx. 10 minutes

Baking time: approx. 60 minutes

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees. Beat the egg whites with salt and a few drops of lemon juice until semi-stiff. Then gradually add the sugar and beat until the egg whites are firm. Then fold in the nuts, pour into a buttered tin sprinkled with sugar or lined with baking paper and bake for about an hour. Leave to cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Waldviertler poppy seed cake

Ingredients:

140g butter

180g sugar

180g grated poppy seeds

5 eggs

70g grated almonds

1 packet of vanilla sugar

2 tablespoons rum

1 tsp cinnamon

Preparation time: approx. 15 minutes

Baking time: 50 – 60 minutes

Preparation:

Beat the egg whites with a little sugar until stiff. Beat the butter, sugar and egg yolks until very fluffy, then add the almonds, rum, vanilla sugar, poppy seeds and cinnamon. Then fold in the beaten egg whites, pour into a greased baking tin sprinkled with sugar or lined with baking paper and bake at 190 degrees. Once cooled, dust with powdered sugar or cover with icing.

Tip: If the poppy seed cake is baked as a tart, it can also be filled with currant jam.

Apple pie without flour

Ingredients:

3 eggs

60g butter at room temperature

100g sugar

400g curd cheese

60g corn semolina

2 tsp baking powder

1 pinch cinnamon

2 apples

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees (fan oven). Separate the eggs, beat the egg whites until firm. Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy, gradually add the yolks. Then stir in the curd cheese, semolina, baking powder and cinnamon. Fold in the beaten egg whites. Cut the washed apples into small cubes, sprinkle with lemon juice and fold in.

Pour the mixture into a well-greased tin dusted with sugar or nuts or lined with baking paper and bake for approx. 30-35 minutes. Once cool, dust with powdered sugar or brush with lemon glaze.

Book tip:

Anja Donnermeyer, Baking without flour. Gluten-free coffee klatch. Cakes, tarts, cookies, cake pops, muffins and more. 3rd updated edition 2024. 128 p., 58 color photos. Published by Eugen Ulmer. ISBN 978-3-8186-2217-6.

Here you can find our book tip for flourless cakes on Amazon*

Photos: Heike Schmidt Roeger

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