Alternative Baking Ingredients.

Whether you have a food allergy, are a health conscious person or have another dietary requirement, it can put up barriers when it comes to baking. So, here are some alternatives for some essential ingredients that will make baking a bit easier!

Gluten Free

Instead of using flour, use the equivalent weight in pureed black beans (adding raising agent where needed). This will not only give an alternative for flour, suitable for those with gluten allergies, but this substitute adds more dietary fibre which aids digestion and can help decrease the risk of heart disease. This alternative works best in cakes with a gooey texture, such as brownies.

Alternatively, for use in a variety of recipes, you could substitute wheat flour for a nut flour (such as almond or hazelnut flour). This would be suitable for various recipes, such as cakes, biscuits and cookies. However, if a rise is needed in the recipe, more raising agent will be needed to combat the extra weight in the flour. 

Sugar and Butter

Unsweetened apple sauce is a great alternative! It can either be used as a sugar alternative (in equal measures) to lower the sugar content of the cake, or can be used to partly substitute butter or oil within a sweet bread or muffin recipe. This is a great way to reduce the sugar or fat content of a recipe and gives a deliciously moist texture. Substituting half of the butter/oil in a recipe for low fat or non-fat yogurt will also give the same result with a lower fat content, perfect for rich chocolate cakes!

Prunes can make a recipe dairy free and lower the fat content

Replacing all of the butter in the recipe best works in baked goods with a close texture, such as brownies, chocolate cakes and cookies. To do so, you can soak prunes in water for an hour and blend, giving a smooth consistency. In a recipe, 225g of butter (1 cup) can be replaced by 170g of blended prunes (3/4 of a cup). This is a great way to lessen the fat content in a recipe as well as increasing dietary fibre and vitamins such as vitamin K.

Avocados have endless health benefits

Avocados have a rich, creamy texture which makes them a perfect substitute for recipes which contain a high butter content, such as chocolate cake and brownies. Avocados will replace butter weight for weight in a recipe, working best in close textured recipes with a rich flavour, such as brownies or chocolate cakes. Not only does this provide an excellent butter alternative for allergies, but also, due to the high amount of monounsaturated fats and vitamins (A, B, C, D, E and K, as well as magnesium and calcium), adding avocado to recipe can be very beneficial!





Chia seeds are the latest fad in the superfoods movement, the seeds have loads of benefits such as omega-3, fibre, calcium, protein, iron and magnesium (and so much more). Not only this, much these can be used to partially substitute butter in recipes. Soak 2-3tsp in 1 cup of water for 15 mins, then this can be used to substitute 225g of butter (1 cup) in a recipe. I would suggest replacing half of the butter in a recipe with chia seeds first, see if you can tel the difference, and if not, next time try substituting more butter. This will more in most recipes, cakes, breads or cookies. Also, chia seeds can be used to substitute eggs, using 1tsp of soaked chia for each egg in a recipe. This works in almost all recipes and is perfect for those with egg allergies!

Peanut butter contains lots of protein for vegan recipes

Peanut butter is also a great way of replacing butter in a recipe and giving extra taste! This is a great option for vegans! Simply mix equal amounts of peanut butter and healthy oil (such as olive oil or walnut oil) with peanut butter to replace the weight of the butter needed in the recipe. Also, the option of crunchy or smooth peanut butter allows variations in texture for different recipes, such as smooth working best in cakes but crunchy would be a lovely addition to a cookie!







Why not try these ideas out with some of our recipes? Such as trying avocado in our Maple and Pecan Brownies or Chocolate and Rose Cake? Or try prunes in our Dinosaur Chocolate Fudge Cake for little ones with dairy allergies?

Enjoy! x