Selfridges is one of the most delicious and innovative department stores in London. In January 2013, they opened their gluten free and wheat free bakery within their food hall. The food hall itself is a delight to behold, you can sit and eat sushi from a conveyer belt, choose cupcakes and bread at the gluten free bakery or try a full wheat, fat, dairy and sugar alternative at an adjoining stand. You can buy many of the ingredients you might miss from all parts of the world and take home with you, and the teas, coffees, chocolates, fresh and smoked fish, meats, pates, game, cheeses, Lebanese pastries, French food and much much more are going to blow your mind. Opening up a dedicated gluten free bakery within the store, as well as stocking other people's gluten free products is a real nod to how mainstream this food has become.
Recommended for Gluten-Free Baked Goods because: There are lots of things to eat in Selfridges which are gluten free, including from their new bakery. Delicious.
Emma's expert tip: Selfridges has just about everything you can possibly imagine, it's a one stop shop of gorgeousnes, including a gluten free bakery.
Peace of Cake is a mail order business for deliveries within London. They are based in North West London and cater for gluten free diets, and people with coeliac disease. They are also stocked in various bakeries, cafes and Selfridges department store in London. The owner herself was diagnosed with Coeliac disease and so began her gluten free odyssey which led her to create Peace of Cake. They now provide dozens of cupcakes, celebration cakes, breads, biscuits and pastries which satisfy all sorts of official guidelines for gluten free cooking. They bake everything from scratch, including their fillings and jams, so you can also buy some jams from them as well as the huge range of cakes.
Recommended for Gluten-Free Baked Goods because: Peace of Cake made the list for its great name and delicious range of gluten free goods.
Emma's expert tip: Peace of Cake is great for mass catering and for ordering batches of delicious baked goods if you are in London. Pop in to Selfridges to sample first.
Cookies and Scream started as a stall within Camden market, and they soon graduated to selling from a permanent station within the market. As well as a range of delicious cookies, from Chicos with peanut butter, the usual suspects of chocolate chip and chocolate cookies to ginger ninjas, and oatmeal hombres including flaxseed, fruit puree and sultanas. These cookies replace the usual butter or milk with vegan and gluten free products. They also sell brownies which are made with rice flour, donuts and cakes. The cakes include lemony drizzle, Banano choc-chip, Foo's carrot cake, and a Mini molly which is a Gosh! brownie and a Scream cookie in layers. This can be large or small. Along with tea and soya lattes and cappucinos, you will be spoilt for choice.
Recommended for Gluten-Free Baked Goods because: Cookies and Scream is a vegan and gluten free paradise in Camden. What's not to like?
Emma's expert tip: There is something for everyone here, and it's a great place to take the weight off your feet before continuing browsing in Camden Lock.
Melanie started Suzzle, because, to quote her website, she was "sick of not being able to eat out, or only eat sub standard food" just because she needed to eat gluten free food. She was used to cooking yummy meals, and started experimenting with cakes, adding cupcakes, carrot cakes and brownies to her repertoire and sending them out to local restaurants and cafes. She also does catering for film crews at the rag factory in East London. Now she's opened her first shop at number 47 Brick Lane and it was really worth the wait. She loves to blog and talks about how cakes can cure depression and along side her yummy cakes she offers things like onion bread, soups and quiches. Every day is original and well thought out and if you follow on Facebook or the blog, you can check out the menu before you head down there.
Recommended for Gluten-Free Baked Goods because: Suzzle not only serves great baked goods but also delicious breads and soups and quiches.
Emma's expert tip: It is worth following Suzzle on Facebook or Wordpress so you know what's cooking on the day you visit and also keep up to date with what's going on in the gluten free community.
Rebel Bakery is another online outlet based in North West London and offering cakes, cupcakes and bespoke cakes for celebrations, children's parties and weddings. They are also available in Harrods if you want to actually go to a shop and see what they can do. They offer all sorts of choices, and all their cakes are gluten free and dairy free cakes. There are eggs in their light bases, so watch out if you are a vegan. But if you are, then you can find a range of marshmallow topped cupcakes, with everything from strawberry and cream, mint choc chip, vanilla, blueberry butterfly and chocolate kisses. Delicious and fun and so naughty you will feel rebellious but end up with a halo on your head after eating them.
Recommended for Gluten-Free Baked Goods because: Rebel bakery has a huge range and does both gluten free and dairy free cakes.
Emma's expert tip: Rebel bakery goods can be found online, and also at Harrods food hall.
Happy Kitchen uses only organic ingredients and is the brain child of two happy girls, now women, Ellie and Lisa who met according to their website at the age of four and a half when they loved eating, running across fields and wearing brightly coloured cycling shorts!! You can imagine this may have been the late eighties or early nineties! And they say nothing much has changed today, except that they have stopped their penchant for cycling shorts! They like to focus on the environment, nutrition and food and the surroundings and their food itself just makes their customers very happy. They now concentrate on their wholesale business, but whatever you choose to eat here will bring you a smile to your face.
Recommended for Gluten-Free Baked Goods because: Happy Kitchen's food will make you literally happy, delicious, healthy and fun, just like its owners.
Emma's expert tip: Happy Kitchen can be visited at their cafe, or found in lots of other outlets in East London.
You can't say enough about Ottolenghi's delicious cooking, deli, bakery and just about everything he does is magic. Unfortunately there are prices to match, but the food is so inspiring and delicious and amazingly presented that it feels worth it, at least until you realise that you have just paid 4 pounds for one cupcake, or thereabouts. Then you have to gulp, swallow hard and just feel thankful that atleast the prices stop you overeating, which you totally could if the prices were lower. That said, this is quality, and he is generous with his recipes in newspapers in the UK, the Guardian in particular and in his cookbooks, on the website and on twitter.
Recommended for Gluten-Free Baked Goods because: Ottolenghi's is not just a gluten free restaurant or bakery, but there are plenty of options which are.
Emma's expert tip: One of Ottolenghi's establishments is great for a special treat, or if you are feeling flush, otherwise buy the cookbooks. Genius stuff.
The Healthy Food Company was started as a mail order company selling gluten free and dairy free made-to-order cakes. It grew from there and now serves the denizens of Kingston, Richmond and those affluent parts of South West London with delicious treats that won't ruin your waist line or make you feel guilty if you should be following an exclusion diet. The company's carrot and raisin cake has won numerous awards and attracted client's attention with other food intolerances. So the bakery diversified and now offers egg free, vegan, wheat free and dairy free products, and perhaps most surprisingly of all, for a bakery, sugar free. The cafe also offers up soda breads, freefrom salads and other goodies so you can eat an entire meal there and still feel virtuous afterwards.
Recommended for Gluten-Free Baked Goods because: The Healthy Food Company does just that and offers great food that will make you feel great afterwards.
Emma's expert tip: If you are in South West London this is the place to go, you can also order online too.
Vitao prides itself on being optimum for health and taste, and this is certainly true. They do everything from raw food, to gently cooked, entirely vegan food, much of what you eat there is also gluten free, very healthy and there are lots of baked goods, brownies, cakes and the like that will finish off the meal or provide a delicious afternoon tea for you should you so wish. Everything there is created from scratch and cooked within season and what they can source locally wherever possible. That is why they say their food is good for body and soul. They want to make even carnivores come back for more and give you something sophisticated and tasty that awakens your tastebuds and is not the usual lentils and hippy fare from the 1970s that many people associate with vegan or restaurants which cater for food intolerances.
Recommended for Gluten-Free Baked Goods because: Vitao aims to awaken your tastebuds and give you a sophisticated vegan taste. It does.
Emma's expert tip: Vitao is in the heart of soho and is perfect as a stopping off point. You can try some truly different things here.
Claridges is a great place to have afternoon tea in London. It also offers special menus for those with food intolerances or special diets. That includes a gluten free tea. When you enter Claridges, you enter a rareified world where you feel very special. Service is impeccable and even though each offering looks tiny and delicate, you are quickly filled up, both because it is so delicious and you want to savour everything, but also because as soon as you have finished one plate, they offer more, then more, then more, then more. Tea is also constantly refilled too and there is a huge range of different teas to choose from with great histories of each tea.
Recommended for Gluten-Free Baked Goods because: Claridges is a great place for afternoon tea in the foyer and they offer gluten free too. Bonus.
Emma's expert tip: Claridges is NOT cheap, but so worth it for a special occasion. Go with an empty stomach as you will leave completely full.