Gluten free lovely party pud recipe help needed.

[Crikeyblimey]

I have been charged with providing some puddings for my BIL's 60th party on Saturday.

A couple of guests need gluten free.

I fancy making a cheesecake (cos I can use gluten free digestive biscuits for the base).

However, I'm up for any suggestions of gluten free lovelyness.

TA.

Nigella Lawson's chocolate mousse cake is amazing! http://www.lifeisbutterful.com/2013/02/valentines-celebration-with-nigellas.html. Yu wouldn't believe it had no flour in it. I make it for friends who are don't eat gluten but my Dh loves it so much that he has it for his birthday usually too!

I think Rachel Allen's Chocolate Amaretti cake may be gluten free. It uses almonds and amaretti bisciuits (made from almonds, not wheat flour). Does that sound gluten-free to the experts?

It's also the most amazing, chocolatey gooey indulgent cake that I've ever made. Not at all almondy tasting either, which is weird!

Recipe here - cakebreak.org.uk/2013/01/24/rachel-allen-chocolate-amaretti-cake-2/

Speaking of Nigella, one of my favourite puddings is her passion fruit pavlova. Its recipe naturally contains no gluten so zero tweaking of recipe required.

When I had to cook gluten free I found recipes that naturally excluded the forbidden ingredient much more successful than those that relied on ersatz substitutions.

Hmmm, thinking Nigella may be on to something with her gluten free recipes, her clementine cake is my favourite, can be served slightly warm, deeelicious...

One of the Sawahla sisters did a cook book and it has a great recipe for a GF chocolate cake ( its not a GF cook book ) .

Sophie Dahls chocolate cake is fabulous and so easy to make. Flour free and really gorgeous.

www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/flourlesschocolateca_93580

I've used a recipe for lemon cake made with almond flour that turned out really well - it's also sugar free, so virtuous for any diabetics you might also have. Here

Or, these lemon-almond macaroons (or any other type of macaroon - the Nigella choclate ones are good): Here

Wow! Thanks all. Lots to look at. Cheers.

Another Nigella one

Mary berry chocolate roulade with cream and berries. I roll long ways as it looks really big and impressive especially for a party! Naturally GF. Two people in my family have coeliac so cook lots of GF puds. Mary berry easy lemon cheese cake with GF biscuit base is also a winner but you'll need a whole packet of digestives as that equals however many gluten containing ones she recommends. Making me hungry :)

MY DP loves meringues, whether with cream & strawberries or all smooshed up into a right bloody Eton Mess. As Oven Chips says, a recipe that is naturally gluten free will seem less of a detour and prevent those guests feeling awkward for needing something particular (just make sure the others don't eat it all though!)

These sugguestions make my idea of pears poached in red wine pale into insignificance.....

How many guests are there? I'm a bit of a veteran of getting to a buffet ad discovering there's nothing left for me as lots of people have fancied the GF option! As so many things are naturally gluten free it would probably be easiest to do all GF to be honest. A pavlova, cheesecake and a roulade would probably do the trick...and thank you for my just doing a fruit salad. I love fruit salad but I've eaten rather a lot of it over the years...

Best treat of all is often some gf cheese crackers. I find savoury much harder to grab than sweet and it's the cheeses that I often eat 'straight'.

Pavlova! Nothing nicer than a huge pav

There are about 70 guests spread over mid afternoon to late night!

I am only one of 4 pudding makers ("never knowingly undercatered" is our family moto)!

One of my sisters is doing a fruit bar (kind of DIY fruit salad), there will also be summer pudding, trifle, Devonshire splits and , banoffee pie. I am making a lemon merengue cake thing and a black Forrest gateau (both by popular demand) so wanted the gluten free pud as A.N.Other. I will label it so that people with other choices don't scoff it all (each pud needs to feed about 10 to 15 people (we all like more than 1 pud option!)

For savoury there will be hot pork, cold poached salmon, cold turkey (fnar), various salads, new spuds and cocktail sausages - oh and a roast ham. And in case we are still hungry, bacon butties at midnight!!!

Can't wait!

Oh and cheese!

If you make cheesecake then use the sainsbury s ginger biscuits for your base, from their free from range. We had one made with those for our registry wedding, mil is coeliac, and it was yummy!

Could the banoffee pie be made with GF bicycles too, so that there's another option?

That would be biccies rather than bicycles!

Mmmm, gf bicycles...

Labeling something as gf.won' t stop other people eating it though. It may be worth keeping some gf puds aside, and lettting the gf people know this. I speak as a once very hungry, dairy free veggie.

Just some important info - all utensils/baking tins should be gluten free too - if you use stainless steel or glass that's fine, but wooden/plastic/non-stick stuff used previously for gluten containing foods are a no-no. (So no plastic measuring jugs, weighing scales, mixing bowls, spatulas, wooden spoons or non stick bakeware, pots. Perhaps bakeware if lined with tinfoil.

The Green and Blacks book has an amazing recipe for Dark Chocolate Mousse Cake. It uses ground almonds instead of flour. Not all brands of almonds are gluten free though - same for chocolate!

I think making the things that are naturally gluten free sounds great but I bet those with gluten issues get a bit bored with meringue based puddings. I am so delighted when I see something a bit different to the usual. Cheesecake sounds great, or lemon cake or chocolate cake!

Oh baking powder needs to be gluten free too, as does cocoa.

Thanks. I've checked my baking powder and cocoa so all is good there. I will ask the banoffee pie maker to use gf bicycles!!

My utensils / measuring jug and stuff are metal / glass etc so all good there.

I'll take the advice of hiding some puds - good plan.

Thanks everyone.