My Favourite Summer Recipe

I never used to have much of a sweet tooth until I had an ileostomy. While I was recovering, I started baking, I’d baked before but then I really got into it. Somebody bought me a copy of Sophie Dahl’s Baking Book and I was hooked. I didn’t even need an excuse like a special occasion, “Oh, it’s a Monday, I’ll make a ginger loaf”. That was pretty much my training for the Covid lockdown in 2020. I was making Banana Bread before it was cool.

I wasn’t going on The Great British Bake Off anytime soon, but I wasn’t bad either, so then I branched off into more exotic cakes/desserts and that’s when I found my “signature” dish – Key Lime Pie. Something perfect for a summer’s day, refreshing and not too heavy but still hits the spot the way a cake does.

Sadly, as anyone who is Gluten-Free knows, cakes are one of the first things to take a big hit in diet. Let’s just say there are plenty of Gluten & Wheat Free “cakes” on the market, but they are seriously lacking. Especially the shop bought ones. However, there are also some amazing fresh bakeries doing God’s confectionary work.

So, I was more than happy to realise that I could adapt my Key Lime Pie recipe easily and not disrupt taste or texture.

No Bake Gluten Free Key Lime Pie

Cook Time: 10 Mins

Chill Time: 10-12 Hours Overnight

Ingredients

• 250g Gluten Free Digestives (Sometimes I use 150g Gluten Free Digestives & 100g Gluten Free Ginger Nuts).
• 125g Unsalted Plant Life Flora Butter - Melted (I use this because it tastes just like butter and you can bake with it like normal butter and I found it whilst I had to go Dairy Free but you can use normal Butter).
• 600g Cream Cheese
• 100-150g Icing Sugar
• 3 Limes – Juiced & Zested
• 300ml Whipping Cream (whipped into peaks)

Method

1. If you have a food processor blitz the biscuits to turn them into crumbs otherwise stick them in a sandwich bag and smash with a rolling pin until it has the same desired effect.
2. Tip the crumbs into the melted butter and mix, transfer that mixture into a 15-inch cake tin (I use the foil disposable ones you can get in supermarkets, easier to get the pie out). And press down to make a base. Put that into the fridge to chill until next needed.
3. Put the cream cheese, 100g icing sugar and lime zest in a bowl, then beat with an electric mixer until smooth, then slowly combine the lime juice to taste. Do it slowly with a spoon so, you have control of the taste and it doesn’t curdle.
4. Take the cream that you have already whipped into peaks and continue beating until completely combined with your soft cheese mixture. At this point, if your mixture is too sour, you still have 50g of icing sugar to resweeten it. Don’t overbeat it because it can separate.
5. Spoon the combined cream mixture onto the chilled biscuit base from the fridge, working from the edges inwards to help ensure there are no air bubbles. Smooth the top of the cheesecake down with the back of a dessert spoon.
6. Cover with clingfilm and leave to set in the fridge overnight for 10-12 hours. You can decorate the top after setting with very fine biscuit crumbs sprinklings, lime zest, lime zest slices or just leave it plain.

Don’t expect it to look bright green, it tends to look more muted yellow. The bright green ones tend to be made with carnation milk and food colouring.

I hope you enjoy making my version of Key Lime Pie, let me know on how it went for you and any little adaptions you made on X (formerly Twitter)!

For more tips, advice and support around enjoying a balanced diet with a stoma, download our free diet and nutrition guide.