When my friend and colleague whom completed speciality training with me (I’m a specialist in Oral Diseases by day – I know, I don’t believe it either) told me he was getting married and asked me to be his cake maker, I was so excited!
Especially as him and his bride-to-be did not want a traditional wedding cake; I love alternative wedding “cakes” and after many, many emails, the happy couple decided upon a tower of chocolatey treats.
All three recipes are ones off my blog but as there were a lot of coeliacs in the family, I’m sharing how to make these thick and gooey, to die for Gluten Free Chocolate Orange Brownies. Starting with a little video of how to do it!
The original recipe I shared ages ago is super popular (do check it out here) but as I needed to make a coeliac friendly version for the wedding, I asked advice from the fantastic Georgina of From The Larder, not wanting to produce substandard brownies on such an important occasion!
She is a gluten-free blogger and her website is beautiful – I love her recipes and you should try them too. Her advice was to replace the wheat flour with teff flour and a little tapioca starch. I wasn’t able to find the latter so instead, I used potato starch and it worked brilliantly.
I ordered my teff flour from Amazon as needed quite a lot, as I was to make enough brownies to feed 120 wedding guests but you can buy little tubes of it from Doves Farm in large supermarkets – if you are only needing to make a single batch of gluten free brownies, this is probably the way to go as it is expensive (at about £1.20 per 120g tube) but you only need a small amount per batch.
The potato starch which works like a glue to help hold the brownies together without adding gums that coeliacs are starting to react to, but luckily you can get that in the international food aisle or your local Chinese supermarket for about 50p per large bag. Super cheap!
As Georgina will tell you, gluten-free baking is a whole other world. Yes, you can buy premade mixes (you know I adore Juvela but it’s mega expensive) and like Georgina, I really love coming up with my own mixes.
The teff flour is made from grinding the smallest grain of all – teff – which is native to Ethiopia.
If you can only find wholemeal teff, that is absolutely fine here – it has a lovely wholemeal aroma but you absolutely can’t detect any unusual taste in these brownies. I am definitely going to be using it for more of my own GF bakes so do watch this space.
To guarantee these brownies sans gluten were extra moist and gooey (the only way to eat your brownies if you ask me!), I reduced the overall amount of flour and swapped the caster sugar for muscovado sugar which has molasses that give a caramelly taste and extra moisture. You need that with gluten-free flours. Plus I used extra chunks of Terry’s chocolate orange to ensure a little extra chocolatey goodness!
To give them an extra special finish, I feather dulce de leche (which I make in my Instant Pot) on top and sprinkle with a few flakes of sea salt. Salt works beautifully with caramel and it cuts the richness of the orange and chocolate flavours perfectly. All in all, these Gluten Free Chocolate Orange Brownies definitely achieve my aim of being so delicious, you’d never know they were GF.
And in case you were wondering what the other two treats K & L picked for their chocolate tower, wedding cake extravaganza – here they are.
I made my Millionaire’s Shortbread Bites gluten free by using half rice and half cornflour in place of the plain, then I made my Leftover Chocolate Slice with extra Maltesers, at the happy couple’s request. Note that Maltesers aren’t gluten free but you can make the GF by changing out the biscuits and chocolates to GF versions.
Thick and gooey, chocolate orange brownies with not a speck of gluten! For the Terry's chocolate orange loving coeliac in your life! 😀
- 200 g soft butter
- 275 g light brown or muscovado sugar
- 2 tsp orange extract
- 4 large eggs
- 90 g teff flour (wholemeal or plain)
- 10 g potato starch
- 150 g Terry's chocolate orange segments, roughly chopped
- 225 g dark chocolate, melted and cooled
- 3 tbsp dulce de leche or other thick caramel sauce
- A fat pinch sea salt flakes (optional but encouraged!)
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Line an 8x10 inch brownie pan with foil or greaseproof and preheat the oven to 170˚C (conventional). You can also use a 9x9 inch square cake tin or a similar shaped baking dish if you don't have a brownie pan.
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Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy then beat in the orange extract.
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Whisk the eggs lightly together and beat into the creamed butter. Don't worry if it curdles a little.
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Beat in the teff flour and potato starch.
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Mix in the Terry's chocolate orange segments then mix in the melted and cooled dark chocolate. Scrape into your prepared tin and level the surface.
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Pop the dulce de leche into a disposable piping bag or thick food bag and snip off a 5-7mm opening. Pipe thick-ish lines across the top of the brownie batter then use a blunt knife to "feather" the caramel through i.e. drag it up and down the tin through the lines of caramel, alternating direction as you go. Do watch the video!
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Sprinkle with sea salt flakes if liked and bake for 28-30 minutes. They puff very well when baking and will be dry on top but a skewer inserted into the middle should only have a few damp crumbs clinging to it, not raw batter.
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When baked, cool for at least 15 minutes in the tin before using the foil or greaseproof paper to remove them from the tin. Slice with your sharpest knife and clean it in between strokes.
- These brownies keep extremely well - easily a week in a cake tin. Keep in the fridge if your kitchen is very hot but bring to room temp before eating.
- Brownies can be temperamental to bake - do buy a cheap oven thermometer to check the temperature is accurate in your oven, bake in the centre of the oven and don't be scared to take them out a little sooner or add extra time if they need it.
This post contains affiliate links, meaning I will earn a little commission if you chose to buy items I’ve advertised, helping me to bring you all these recipes for free!
Like this post? Then why not try these related recipes:
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- Terry’s Chocolate Orange Brownies
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- Instant Pot Chocolate Orange Cheesecake
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- Terry’s Pain au Chocolat Orange
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Terry’s chocolate orange isn’t gluten free. It comes with a ‘may contain’ warning so isn’t suitable for coleliacs. Maybe there are supermarket own versions that would be suitable…
What a lovely and refreshing change to a traditional wedding cake Jo – I can’t imagine there were any pieces left after the reception! I’m completely with you that a brownie should be extra moist & gooey – that’s the whole charm of brownies – besides the chocolate hit 😉 Love the flavour combo too, I’m a huge chocolate orange fan. Thankyou so much for jointing in with #BakingCrumbs Jo,
Angela x
PS, don’t forget to include the badge and link so people know where you’ve lined to xx
Thank you so much for stopping by Angela! I think I have added the badge with a link now, so hopefully, all is well with the linky! I think the bride and groom kept a few of the chocolatey treats aside to enjoy in the days following the wedding as they had their honeymoon before the ceremony!
These brownies look stunning! So fudgey and gooey! And that dessert tower looks stunning, you did an amazing job
Thank you so much, Kat! That is very kind of you to say 😀
I’m in love with these brownies! They’re so delicious and moisty, taste is amazing!
I’m so delighted to hear that Kelly! Thank you for letting me know you’re loving these brownies x
What can I use instead of teff flour as I need to make these!!
Hi Jesse – if you need them to be gluten free, you can use plain gluten free flour. The Doves Farm stuff is really good these days, as is Juvela if you get that on prescription (as it’s mega expensive). Rice flour would do in a pinch. I hope you enjoy your brownies!