Flourless Cakes

By no means all cakes are based on wheat flour. Arrowroot and cornstarch make light, rather dry cakes, while flours such as rye are full-flavored but heavy. Breadcrumb cakes are soft and crumbly, whether or not the breadcrumbs used are dried or fresh. Richest of all are cakes based on ground nuts or chocolate, sometimes in combination; these are particularly popular in Austrian and German baking. Few of these ingredients can be substituted for one another, although ground almonds can take the place of hazelnuts and potato starch that of arrowroot. However, when wheat flour is entirely replaced in a cake a dense yet crumbling texture results. In the United States, the name “torte” is often given to such flourless cakes. The original German word has the more general sense of “gâteau” and extends also to rich pastry desserts.