If you avoid gluten, you already know the routine. You scan the cabinet, find the one flourless slice, eat that. Or you eat nothing and have a coffee while everyone else has lunch.
We would like you to have the problem everyone else has: too many things, no way to choose. Here is what we make with no added gluten at our patisserie, and the list runs longer than most people expect.
Start with lunch, because nobody expects this
Every quiche we make is made with no added gluten. Not one token option. All three: Quiche Lorraine with premium bacon and melted cheese set in a savoury custard, mushroom and blue cheese for something sharper, and caramelised onion, the pick if you like sweetness against salt.
The crust is the part people query. Made without added gluten, it still shatters under the fork instead of going sandy or soft under the filling. Sand is how pastry without gluten usually fails.
Alongside them, Brazilian cheese scones, or pão de queijo, are made with no added gluten because they use cassava and not wheat. Golden outside, chewy inside, with a pull when you tear one, served warm with hand-whipped butter and guava jam. More of the savoury side sits in our guide to lunch at the patisserie.
The cabinet
Here the choice really opens up. The Ferrari Rocher is our signature: flourless hazelnut and chocolate cake, Nutella mousse, a dark chocolate shell that cracks when the fork goes in. The lemon tart runs pastry, curd and torched meringue, sharp then sweet then faintly smoky. The Romeo & Juliet sets white chocolate cheesecake against guava jam on a no-added-gluten shortcrust.
Then the Black & White Chocolate Mousse mini, pudim caramel flan and apple pie. Each one is a single serving. Browse the rest in mini desserts.
Whole desserts you can order online
Single servings are not the limit. Three of our large desserts are made with no added gluten and can be ordered for collection:
- Black & White Chocolate Mousse — a flourless brownie base under layers of double chocolate mousse. Three days' notice, and a 20cm serves 10 to 12.
- Romeo & Juliet Cheesecake — 20cm, in guava or mixed berry, on a no-added-gluten shortcrust. Three days' notice, and a whole piece on it here.
- Corn & Guava Cake — corn and coconut with house-made guava jam, as a 25cm bundt (16 slices) or a loaf (8).
That last one matters more than it looks. Someone cuts it at the table, hands the plates round, and for once nobody has to check anything first. You put a cake in the middle that everyone eats, instead of buying a normal cake and a separate sad slice for one person.
Mini cakes
Three of our mini cakes are made with no added gluten. The Caprese, an Italian almond and chocolate cake that never used flour in any version of its history, dense and slightly damp from the ground almonds. The Snickers, flourless chocolate and peanut with salted caramel through it. And the Nutella mini. Each is a single serving, and they come as trays of six or twelve if you are feeding a group.
The entire petit four range
All ten petit fours are made with no added gluten: passionfruit pavlova, blueberry panna cotta, s'more, mocha, tiramisu, Snickers, tronco, emerald, the pear, and a dark chocolate and strawberry brownie.
Catering an event with a mixed guest list makes this the easiest decision available to you. One dessert table, nothing to label, nobody left out. They need seven days' notice, and there is more in our piece on petit fours.
Warm desserts and drinks
Crème brûlée carries no added gluten by nature and turns up on our made-to-order dessert menu in rotating flavours, so check what is on when you visit. The sugar is torched at the counter, so it is still hard when it reaches you. On the drinks side, our dark Belgian hot chocolate, our iced chocolate and the Dark Chocolate Thickshake are all made with no added gluten. Separately from that, most of our hot and cold drinks can be made with a dairy-free milk option.
A no-added-gluten menu can also be selected when booking our Full High Tea Experience or the Mini-Cake Decorating Challenge. So a friend who avoids gluten can come along to either without a separate conversation first.
The honest note
One point of wording, because it matters. Under recent New Zealand food labelling rules we do not claim any item is "gluten free" or "dairy free" — only that we have not added any gluten- or dairy-containing ingredients. So our product pages say "no added gluten" instead of the phrase you might expect. A stricter standard of honesty, not a smaller range.
Everything above is made without added gluten, and we are proud of how good it is. We will also be straight with you: this range is excellent for anyone avoiding gluten by choice or by sensitivity, but our kitchen is small and without exclusive production areas for all of our different recipes, so traces may occur and nothing is guaranteed safe for severe coeliac disease. We would rather tell you that plainly than have you find out afterwards.
Two days, or no days at all
The full no-added-gluten range is filterable on the site, and these items carry a marker on their product page. Whole cakes need two days' notice, three for the larger desserts, seven for petit fours. The date picker at checkout only offers dates we can meet.
For lunch or the cabinet, no notice at all. Come in, and bring the friend who has spent years watching you not eat. You will find us inside The Welder on Welles Street, open 10am to 6pm Tuesday to Friday and 10am to 3pm on Saturday. Collection is in person, always. Full menu here, and more about the patisserie.
