Allergy-Free Desserts Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Egg-free,Soy-free and Nut-free Delights by Elizabeth Gordon Wiley, 2010 As those with food allergies are well aware, desserts free of wheat or eggs or nuts are practically impossible to find. Only a professional baker in a similar situation would be able to empathize and come to the aid of this population with allergy-free treats.

Elizabeth Baker knows food allergies intimately and, as founder and owner of an allergy-free bakery called the Betsy & Claude Baking Company, she has been exploring a full range of alternative desserts. Her first cookbook is packed with desserts that will satisfy those without allergies as well as its intended audience, the food-challenged.

In a "lexicon of gluten- and allergy-free baking" Gordon introduces alternative ingredients like palm fruit oil, agar, cider vinegar, tapioca flour, flaxseed meal, xanthan gum, potato starch, and garbanzo bean flour, explaining how to find them and how to use them in baking desserts. She follows up with recipes for cookies, quick breads, cakes, pies and "extraordinary extras." "I will give you some useful tips that I have learned either working in a bakery, watching my mother in the kitchen, or in professional cake decorating classes that I have taken," Gordon explains. "All of these tips are so simple, yet they make baking so much easier."

For instance, there's no need to worry about overbeating a gluten-free cake batter and getting a tough cake. No gluten, no tough dough.

The recipes in this book are suprisingly free of gluten, dairy, nuts, soy, and eggs. The uninformed will probably not notice they are missing. The 82 recipes include cakes, cupcakes, pies, quick breads, cookies, and dessert bars.

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