These eight recipes prove that you don't need flour to bake

Do you know what it’s difficult to bake without? Flour - or so we thought

Flourless lemon and orange polenta cake

 Ingredients:

• 1 unwaxed lemon
• 1 orange
• 150g butter
• 3 eggs
• 250g caster sugar
• 200g ground almonds
• 175g polenta
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

For the drizzle:

• 150g caster sugar
• 1 lemon, juice and zest
• Lots of whipped cream, to serve

Method: 

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4 and grease a 23cm cake tin.
2. Place the lemon and orange in a small saucepan and cover with cold water. Simmer for an hour or until soft and collapsing. You may have to add more water as they simmer. Halve, remove the pips and blitz to a pulp.
3. Add the rest of the cake ingredients and continue blitzing until you have a soft gooey dough.
4. Spoon into the cake tin and bake for 45-50 minutes or until golden brown.
5. For the drizzle, stir the lemon juice and zest with the sugar and heat gently to dissolve the sugar. When the cake is cooked, pour over the drizzle and allow to cool. Serve with lots of cream and some poached autumn fruit if you like.

To read the full recipe, click here. 

Viscount cookies

Ingredients:

For the cookies:

• 2 cups almond flour
• 3 tablespoons coconut oil at room temperature
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup/ raw honey
• 1/2 tablespoon vanilla powder or 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• Pinch of sea salt

For the mint layer:

• 4 tablespoons coconut purée or virgin coconut oil
• 1tablespoon raw honey or maple syrup
• 1/2 capful of spearmint or peppermint extract

For the coating:

• 70% dark chocolate, melted

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180ºC/350ºF. Line trays with parchment paper.
2. Make the cookies first: Using your hands, rub the coconut oil in with the flour until it's almost like fine crumbs. Add the rest of the cookie ingredients and mix using your hands until it forms a wet dough.
3. Sprinkle a chopping board or counter-top with almond flour, then tip out the mix. Knead lightly a couple of times, then pat down the dough until it's about 1/2 inch thick. Use a round cutter to cut cookies out of the dough, repeat until all the dough is used.
4. Using your thumb, make a well in the centre of the biscuit, but be careful not to pierce the whole way through. Place the cookies on the lined trays and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
5. Place all the ingredients for the mint layer into a bowl and mix together until completely smooth.
6. Once the cookies have cooled fully, fill in the thumbprints with some of the mint paste and dip into the melted dark chocolate.
7. Place in the fridge until the chocolate has set, then serve

To read the full recipe courtesy of Roz Purcell, click here. 

Blackberry, almond and cardamom cake

Ingredients:

• 125g/4½oz/½ cup butter, room temperature
• 200g/7oz/1 cup golden caster (raw) sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 medium eggs, free-range if possible
• 250g/8oz/1½ cups ground almonds
• 2 teaspoons gluten-free baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cardamom, ground
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 200g/7oz fresh blackberries
• 200g/70z summer berries for garnish
• Crème fraîche, to serve

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 160°C/320°F/Gas mark 3. Lightly oil a 23cm/9inch round cake tin.
2. In a stand mixer, cream the butter, sugar and vanilla until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time along with a spoon of ground almonds to stop the mix from splitting. Scrape down between eggs.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the remaining ground almonds with the baking powder, ground cardamom, and salt. Fold the dry ingredients into the butter mixture.
4. Stir until just blended and add blackberries, stirring a couple of more times to incorporate.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake in the middle of the preheated oven 40-50 minutes or until the cake has risen, looks golden brown and feels firm to the touch. Remove and cool completely on a wire rack before turning out. Decorate with summer berries and serve with crème fraîche.

To read the full recipe courtesy of Brian O'Briain, click here. 

Flourless double chocolate chip cookies

Ingredients

• 80g ground almonds
• 45g unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
•  1/4 teaspoon salt
• 56g Irish butter
• 50g packed light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 65g high-quality dark chocolate chips

 Method:

1. Heat oven to 170ºC/gas mark 3.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together ground almonds, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and sugars until completely combined – about three minutes. Add egg yolk and vanilla extract and mix on low until combined. Add dry mixture and mix until completely combined. Fold in chocolate.
4. Scoop rounded tablespoons onto a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Flatten cookies into rounds 1cm thick – they won’t spread as easily because there’s no flour. Leave 2–3cm between cookies. Bake for six or seven minutes until cookies are no longer wet looking.

To read the full recipe courtesy of The Dublin Cookie Company, click here. 

Flourless chocolate cake

1. Preheat the oven to 120ºC/gas mark 1.
2. Line a 25cm springform tin with non-stick baking paper. Wrap the outside of the tin with two layers of foil.
3. Melt the chocolate and butter together on a low heat in the microwave. Beat the eggs and 105g of the sugar in an electric mixer until thick and creamy.
4. Heat the remaining sugar with the water until dissolved into a light syrup. Pour the hot syrup into the melted chocolate and cool slightly.
5. Add the chocolate to the eggs and stir slowly until the mixture is combined. Pour into the tin. Place the tin in a deep baking tray with enough hot water to come three-quarters of the way up the side of the tin (bain-marie).
6. Bake in the oven for two hours until set. Leave the cake to cool in the water before turning out.
7. Serve just as it is or make it extra special with a chocolate topping – see recipe below.

Chocolate topping method optional:

Gluten-free Moroccan orange and almond cake

Ingredients: 

For the cake:

• 2 oranges, washed
• 315g caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 300g ground almonds
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

For the orange syrup:

• 1 orange, washed
• 100g caster sugar
• 60ml water
• 1 tablespoon orange blossom water

To Serve:

• Mascarpone
• Toasted flaked almonds

Method:

1. Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Wash the oranges and cook in the boiling water for two hours. Remove from water and allow to cool to room temperature. Cut the oranges in half, remove any pips or seeds, then purée. This step can be done ahead of time.
2. Preheat the oven to 160°C. Grease and line a 20 cm /8-inch cake tin with baking paper.
3. Beat the eggs and caster sugar with an electric mixer until thick and pale. Add the orange purée, ground almonds, baking powder, cinnamon and cardamom. Gently fold until just combined.
4. Pour the into the prepared tin. Bake for approximately 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
5. Allow to cool in the tin.
6. To make the syrup, the zest the orange. Place the juice from the orange, the sugar and water in a saucepan over a low heat, simmer for 5 minutes until the syrup thickens slightly, add the orange blossom water and zest. Cool slightly.
7. Drizzle the cake with syrup. Cut into slices and serve with mascarpone and toasted almonds.

To read the full recipe courtesy of The Cupcake Bloke, click here.

Blood orange polenta cake

Ingredients:

For the cake batter:

• 4 eggs
• 100g polenta
• 200g ground almonds
• 220g golden caster sugar
• Juice and zest of 1 blood orange 
• 150g butter, melted 
• 1 teaspoon baking powder 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

1. To make the topping: place the water, honey, orange slices and vanilla seeds in a medium saucepan. Simmer for 10-15 minutes until the sugar has dissolved and the orange slices are soft. Set aside.
2. Using a hand mixer, whisk the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract for 5 minutes until pale in colour.
3. Add the polenta, ground almonds, melted butter, and orange juice and zest. Fold through. Do not overmix.
4. Place the orange slices in a round cake tin lined with parchment paper making sure the whole surface is covered with oranges.
5. Transfer the batter mixture onto the orange slices. Bake in a preheated oven for 45 minutes at 180°C, until golden brown and a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool. Turn upside down and serve.

To read the full recipe courtesy of Monika Coghlan, click here.

Baked chocolate cheesecake

Ingredients: 

For the base:

• 200g rich tea biscuits, crushed and crumbled
• 200g digestive biscuits, crushed and crumbled
• 100g melted butter

For the cheesecake:

• 950g good quality, firm full-fat cream cheese at room temperature
• 320g granulated sugar
• 4 large free-range eggs
• 200g chocolate, around 50-60% cocoa, melted and cooled slightly

For the chocolate ganache topping:

• 200g chocolate chips or chocolate, around 50-60% cocoa
• 200g double cream

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 160ºC/gas mark 2V. Butter a 23cm round springform tin. Line the bottom and sides with parchment baking paper.
2. Mix the crushed biscuits and the melted butter until the cookie crumbs stick together. If the crumbs can hold a ball shape when you squish the mixture, they are sticky enough.
3. Press into the base of your tin and bake for 10 minutes, until the edges are golden. Keep the oven on.
4. Beat the cream cheese and sugar together until smooth.
5. No pressure, but this next step is the most important when baking a cheesecake: add the eggs one at a time. Beat each egg in before adding the next egg, but only just until the egg is blended with the cream cheese batter. The danger is if you beat the batter too much when the eggs are added, the cheesecake will puff up in the oven, and crack. Which, let’s be real, isn’t all that dangerous. One baker’s cracked cheesecake is another baker’s canyon to be filled with chocolate ganache.
6. Add about 4 tablespoons of the cream cheese mix into your bowl of melted chocolate. Mix it all up and pour what is now a chocolatey cream cheese mix into your white cream cheese mix (this helps the chocolate mix in smoothly).
7. Pour your batter on your baked base and bake for 30 minutes, then reduce the heat to 100ºC/ gas mark W for 1 hour. Keep the cheesecake in the tin.
8. For the topping: melt the cream and chocolate together slowly – if you’re not using chocolate chips, chop the chocolate into small pieces first. The microwave works perfectly here. Blast the mix 30 seconds at a time, stirring after each blast. Hoorah – you made chocolate ganache. You’re so fancy.
9. Pour the chocolate ganache over your baked cheesecake, still in the tin, and chill for at least four hours in the fridge. Garnish with berries, nuts, mint or whatever your heart desires before serving. We used dried rose petals from the tea section in Asian supermarkets and chopped pistachio nuts.

To read the full recipe courtesy of Camerino Bakery, click here.