Baking without ingredients?
I eat pretty much everything and I don’t have a problem with non vegetarian ingredients or gluten, but I do like a challenge. On Instagram I follow a few accounts of bakers and foodies who produce some decent looking dishes which are often gluten, dairy, fat free and so forth.
I decided to give such fad trend a go, more to see for myself what can come out of baking without fluffy ingredients. I just looked in my cupboard to see what ingredients I had, mixed and matched them and after a couple of attempts, got somewhere.
I must admit, surprising, the result isn’t so bad! Here is my recipe for an almost everything free brownie, or, as my colleague said refusing to even try it, ‘Dust Cake’.
- 100gr brown rice flour
- 50gr peanut flour
- 50gr coconut flour
- 30gr whey protein powder (omit for a vegan version)
- 30gr organic raw cocoa powder
- 2 tbspoons of Stevia
- 2 tbspoons of maple syrup
- 1 tbspoon of Chocoholic vegetarian spread
- 1 teaspoon gluten free baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 mashed up banana
- A handful of chopped nuts (I used hazelnuts)
- 1 cup gluten free oat milk or almond milk
- A handful of seeds and coconut flakes to sprinkle on the surface before baking.
- Heat the oven to 200c fan. Mix the dry flours in a large bowls then add the milk a little at the time to incorporate. Add the banana and the rest of the ingredients until it comes together, adding some extra milk or maple syrup if too dry. Place in a plumcake baking tin (I used sylicon one) and bake at 200c for around 45 minutes or until a wooden skewer comes out dry.
- Flours can be swapped in quantities. I used gram flour in another version, which I do no like but it's an alternative.
Edible?
Honestly, it is not that bad. Is dairy free, gluten free and sort of fat free as the fats are represented by the nut flours and are therefore technically ‘good fats’. It goes well with a coffee or a cup of tea. The calories are around 115 per slice, has no gluten and because is high in fiber and protein, is a snack that would make fitness fanatics kind of happy.
Yet in the words of my friend Felicity:
Just add butter, sugar and cream, and it will be perfect!
