Let the Public Know

Chapman says the company posts the gluten-free flavor of the day on its Web site so that customers know what to expect before they come in. “We also encourage consumers to call ahead of time to check what’s available, so that they can be sure that we haven’t run out,” she says.

Make Something That Tastes Good

“When you take the wheat out of baked foods, it causes challenges with texture,” says Chapman of Swirlz Cupcakes. In addition, gluten-free desserts tend to dry out, crumble, and have a gritty mouth feel, says Baldassano, who is also a recipe tester for Gluten Evolution, a company that creates gluten-free mixes with healthy nutritional profiles. “I suggest baking mini-tarts, muffins, cakes, and the like to avoid the problem of slicing, as gluten-free products can easily become crumbly,” she says.

Karen Morgan recently opened Blackbird Bakery, a gluten-free bake shop in Austin, Texas, with a goal to provide products with good taste. “I felt like everything I’d come across tasted like cardboard and had this horrible texture,” says Morgan, whose bakery caters special events, creates custom recipes for local restaurants, and supplies gourmet gluten-free baked goods to local businesses. “The challenge is getting the moisture and consistency correct.” Morgan favors using ingredients such as sorghum, millet, and tapioca in her baked goods, ingredients that are not only a great source of fiber but that also convert to energy. “Freshness and quality are imperatives,” she says.

Josh Short, executive pastry chef of Buzz Bakery in Alexandria, Virginia, has drawn a huge following for his gluten-free Bird Brownie using a recipe that combines rice flour, almond flour, Illy espresso, and walnuts. “Almonds are fatty, which adds another depth of flavor,” says Short, who was inspired to create the brownie by a friend who has gluten sensitivities. Buzz Bakery also offers chocolate and vanilla cakes and cupcakes that are gluten-free.

It took Downey of Xan Confections six months to develop a chocolate that was gluten-free and low glycemic—and tasted like mainstream chocolates. Her Saintly Sins chocolates are both gluten-free and dairy-free and her gluten-free Wholly Cacao Caramels use fine cacao, no fillers, and organic blue agave as sweetener instead of refined sugar.

Pamela Giusto-Sorrells, president of Pamela’s Products, a line of quick gluten-free baking mixes and finished packaged cookies, advises restaurants to save time and effort by buying a base to a particular dessert, then embellishing on it. This, she says, gives you more control. Giusto-Sorrells, whose line of gluten-free mixes has consistently held the No. 1 spot in the Natural Foods category for both its Chocolate Brownie Mix and Baking & Pancake Mix, says that at the end of the day, “It’s about taste. The goal has to be to try to meet that craving, to mimic that flavor in a wheat-free form.”