Fantastic Cheesecakes and Gluten-Free
We’ve been making cheesecakes for years at the Fantastic kitchen, but gluten-free cheesecakes have only made there appearance in the last couple of years. While all our recipes endeavor to be gluten-free, if there are any that aren’t or that don’t work well adapted to gluten-free, we will make every attempt to call this out and draw attention to the gluten-full nature of the recipe.
While doing this, please note that we do not guarantee the gluten-free nature of every brand of every ingredient. Take care to check ingredient lists for each component of a recipe to ensure that what may be certified gluten-free from our providers is also gluten-free from yours.
That said, how hard can it be to make the perfect gluten-free cheesecake?
The Perfect Gluten-Free Cheesecake
Making a gluten-free cheesecake is a easy as can be! Provided you don’t need a crust, any thickening agents, or any fillings or garnishes that contain gluten of course. See? Simple!
Crust
What? You want a gluten-free cheesecake WITH a crust? That gets slightly harder so here are some of the easier crusts to make gluten-free:
- Graham cracker crust
- Brownie crust
- Nut crusts
Thickening Agent
And you want to try to avoid unsightly cracks in the finished product? So what gluten-free thickening agent should you use instead of wheat or all-purpose flour?
Cornstarch – this is the Go To thickening agent for cheesecakes and even works better than flour for preventing cracking in cheesecakes. It won’t work miracles if ingredients are over-mixed, over-baked, have too much or too little moisture, or are cooled too rapidly but a tablespoon of cornstarch gives some peace of mind.
Gluten-free flour mixes – these will work, but require experimentation for each mix to get the quantity correct. Care must be taken not to use a mix that will affect the texture such as a rice flour or corn meal based mix. Don’t assume that recipes that call for 1 to 2 tablespoons of regular all-purpose flour will work flawlessly with a direct substitution of a gluten-free blend! Experiment, experiment, experiment!
Filling/Garnish
The really easy part! So many fillings and flavors to use, just pick a gluten-free variety! Most fruit and berry cheesecakes, many candies, most chocolates, coconut, even the vast majority of flavors will be gluten-free (if they haven’t been cross-contaminated during packing). However, there are a few that would be nice to have but are off-limits unless a gluten-free version is used. These are few examples to watch out for carefully:
- Cookies: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Animal Cookies, Ladyfingers, Wafers, Gingerbread, etc. Unless gluten-free equivalents are ordered, or are baked specifically for the cheesecakes, don’t assume a typical grocery story will have the gluten-free version of the cookie needed.
- Candies with wheat products (Kit-Kats, Whoppers, etc) – Still looking for gluten-free equivalents for many commercial candies.
- Unexpected gluten: Licorice candies – very few licorice candies are gluten-free. Check carefully!
