19 flourless cake recipes

Flour or not, the magic of a home-baked cake is still in easy reach. For flourless cakes, almond meal, polenta and semolina are your flourless friends. While they don’t have the same binding properties as conventional wheat flour, they can deliver a lovely, denser texture to your cakes or a fluffy, spongy consistency perfect for a roulade.

The flavour combinations are endless in flourless cakes, showcased in our best recipes here. We have famed Sydney bakery Flour and Stone’s flourless chocolate cake, a beautiful blood orange cake made from coarse hazelnut meal, a dense and sticky love cake by chef O Tama Carey and a gorgeous, syrupy ricotta-polenta cake with slivered almonds — all made without any flour.

Fudgy, mousse-like, syrupy and citrus-spiked — these our are best flourless cake recipes.

Please note that not all flourless cakes are gluten-free. As semolina is made from durum wheat, any cakes using semolina are not gluten-free. If baking with for dietary requirements, please be aware and always check ingredient packaging.
Before you bake…

Flour and Stone’s chocolate Manjari cake

The famous signature chocolate Manjari cake by Nadine Ingram from Sydney bakery Flour & Stone.

Fennel-spiced semolina cake with yoghurt

This combination of citrus, sugar and spice makes for an unbeatable afternoon-tea treat.

A round cake with a slice cut out of it, topped with segments of blood orange on a white round plate

Mike McEnearney’s blood orange cake

A go-to cake recipe during citrus season.

Apple, ginger and almond cake

A flourless cake that doesn’t skimp on flavour and texture.

Chocolate, coconut and date slab

Proof that dairy-free doesn’t mean taste-free.

Revani

Australian Gourmet Traveller recipe for revani.

Jaclyn Koludrovic’s lemon polenta cakes with pistachio nuts and mascarpone

These small cakes pack a mighty punch. Soaked in lemon syrup and topped with mascarpone frosting, they’re a taste of Sicily in every bite.

Gerard Yaxley’s Persian love cake

With a kiss of nutmeg.

Phil Wood’s semolina cake with orange ice-cream and eggnog custard

With the Laura chef’s dessert, it’s Christmas time, every time.

Blood orange and hazelnut cake

Australian Gourmet Traveller recipe for blood orange and hazelnut cake.

Flour & Stone’s blackberry and chocolate meringue roulade

Chocolate meringue and blackberry compote coiled inside an impossibly light chocolate sponge. This is what dreams are made of.

O Tama Carey’s love cake

This rich love cake recipe, fragrant with spices, made with semolina, cashew nuts and rosewater, has a fudge-like centre and lasts a good few weeks, getting better with age. What’s not to love?

Chocolate, prune and walnut cake with chocolate and sherry ganache

Australian Gourmet Traveller recipe for chocolate, prune and walnut cake with chocolate and sherry ganache.

Choc-orange cake with Jaffa buttercream

Get the party started with this classic chocolate-orange cake, with a rich buttercream and crushed Jaffas.

Black Forest chocolate roulade

Sour cherries add a lovely fresh tart note to this roulade. Fresh cherries will work here, too, if you can find them.

Flourless chocolate, hazelnut and buttermilk cake

Every great baker needs a great flourless chocolate cake recipe. Here’s the one we swear by.

Almond lemon cake with roasted plums

Australian Gourmet Traveller and Vini restaurant dessert recipe for almond lemon cake with roasted plums

Torta Caprese

Australian Gourmet Traveller recipe for torta Caprese.

Ricotta-polenta cake with lemon-rosemary syrup

Enjoy a slice of this fragrant, versatile cake at any time of day. And you can make the whole thing in just over an hour.

The Gourmet Traveller Team

Gourmet Traveller is Australia’s trusted authority on food, travel and luxury lifestyle, bringing the latest news and trends to life through quality journalism, enticing recipes and evocative photography. For more than 55 years, it has been inspiring and informing Australians with the best in cooking, dining, travelling and shopping. Our critics bring the expertise of years of critical eating, drinking and writing to the table. Plus, as the country’s leading title in the luxury sector, Gourmet Traveller works closely with Australia’s leaders in the travel and hospitality industries to give our readers exclusive access. The Gourmet Traveller legacy is one of trust, prestige and relevance.

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