Vegan Gluten-Free Strawberry and Cream Chocolate Muffins

It’s actually not that uncommon for us to get asked under our baking recipes whether and how the recipe can be made gluten-free. Up until now, we’ve usually answered that we unfortunately don’t have much experience with gluten-free baking, and therefore can’t really offer any tips. That’s despite the fact that even my sister can’t tolerate gluten—and we see each other quite often and frequently share meals. So when it comes to savory dishes, I already have a pretty good idea of what to look out for. But baking? I’ve honestly been a bit hesitant to try it.

Fittingly, I recently learned that May is actually recognized as Celiac Awareness Month—so today, we’re diving into a little crash course for beginners in the world of “gluten-free baking,” and whipping up some ultra delicious, fluffy, vegan AND gluten-free molehill cake muffins. And since today is already all about doing things differently, we’re skipping the usual bananas and going for a seasonal twist with strawberries.

So what exactly is celiac disease?

Yes, we need to get a little bit theoretical here—after all, how else are we supposed to know why we’re even baking gluten-free today? Celiac disease is a chronic autoimmune disorder in which the body has an extreme sensitivity to gluten. About 1% of the global population is affected, including roughly 1 in 100 people in Germany. Gluten is a protein found in grains like wheat, rye, barley, and spelt, and it gives dough structure and elasticity in traditional baking. So all those flours we usually use? Off-limits today.
No gluten = no baking? Luckily, that’s not the case—gluten-free baking isn’t actually all that hard once you follow a few important tips.

7 Tips for Gluten-Free Baking

These little extra steps will help make sure no gluten accidentally sneaks into your batter:

1. Thoroughly clean kitchen surfaces and utensils in advance.

2. Use stainless steel or glass tools—avoid wood utensils or handheld mixers with wooden parts.

3. Use parchment paper (even if your baking sheet looks super clean), or grease your baking tins and dust them with gluten-free flour.

4. Store gluten-free flours in a dedicated container.

5. It’s best to bake using top/bottom heat—using convection can cause gluten crumbs to circulate inside the oven.

6. When adapting your usual cake recipes to be gluten-free, use a bit more liquid instead of doing a 1:1 flour swap.

7. Bake at a moderate temperature for a little longer. (Avoid anything over 200 °C / 390 °F, as this can cause the outside to brown too quickly while the inside remains underbaked.)

Our Bonus Tip: Bring in someone with experience

Still with me? Awesome—I already felt way more confident about tackling gluten-free baking after going through this. But when it came to the question, “Okay, but which gluten-free flour should I actually use?”—I decided to turn to someone who really knows their stuff and has decades of experience in gluten-free baking: Schär. Even though I don’t follow a gluten-free diet myself, I’d of course seen those bright yellow shelves in the supermarket. This time, though, I stopped and picked up their flour blends „Mix it! Universal“ und „Mix C – Cake and Cookies“ for my test bake. Honestly, both worked great for my recipe, though the cake and cookie mix delivered a slightly finer texture.

So, we’re ready to start baking—and I actually feel confident enough now to develop a few more gluten-free cake recipes in the future (maybe even some bread rolls!). In the meantime, you’ll find plenty more reliable recipes over at Schär.