Alternatives for ground almonds - urgent help please!!

[tkband3]

Am making cakes for our school summer fair tomorrow. My DDs are all gluten free so all the cakes I make are too and the recipes I use often use ground almonds. We're a nut free school, so can't use them in the cakes I make for school...am making a new recipe and have just noticed (trying to do too many things at once!), that it calls for ground almonds.

Any ideas what I can use instead - will some extra flour do the job?

Are the almonds for flavour?

If so equal amount (weight) of plain flour + vanilla essence or lemon juice should do it.

They're not for flavour I don't think - it's in a chocolate cake and I think it's more of a texture thing in gluten free baking.

semolina (uncooked).

This was used together with a little almond flavouring during the war to substitute for ground almonds. Obviously you would not use the flavouring, but the texture is the same.

Try googling war time recipes, or "mock almond paste".

Arsenic?

tastes like almonds doesn't it?

You are thinking of cyanide (although neither suitable for cakes for school fete.......)

LOL at arsenic and cyanide.

Isn't semolina wheat though? Need it to be gluten free - sorry to be difficult

How about ground rice?

SEMOLINA MOCK MARZIPAN

Ingredients:
5 oz semolina,
5 oz icing sugar (sifted),
2 tsp custard powder,
1 egg white (lightly beaten),
2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions
Mix semolina,icing sugar and custard powder in bowl.

Gently mix in egg white and vanilla into your dry mix until you have a firm paste.

Maybe you could substitute ground rice instead of the semolina???

I have used the semolina in shortbread before now - haven't tried the ground rice, but it is a similar texture - might be worth a try??

Is rice flour the same as ground rice? I realise I'm sounding a bit dim and disorganised - in my defence, I have spent the entire week at school getting everything ready and so am baking at the last minute!

Ground rice isn't as finely ground as rice flour - it has a similar texture to ground almonds (sorry - not meant to sound the way it does, just can't think of a better description....)

Thanks for all your help. Think I will give rice flour a go, in the absence of ground rice. Rice flour is definitely lighter in texture than normal plain flour, so fingers crossed . Should have just stuck with the tried and tested brownies and lemon cake - had to make it complicated didn't I .