I consider myself lucky to have had a mum that taught me to cook from an early age and still have fond memories of coming home from school to a house smelling of cakes baking.
With just a little bit of knowledge, confidence and a few tricks it is possible to “have your cake, and eat it”. I couldn’t imagine a life without cake and have therefore incorporated as many ways of making them healthier as I could. A balance diet is just that – balanced, which means that no foods should be excluded.
There are many food standards in place now for schools, hospitals etc and often they have to adapt recipes to lower the fat or sugar content. It really is not that difficult but if at first it doesn’t work, you can always make a trifle out of it!
With just a little bit of knowledge, confidence and a few tricks it is possible to “have your cake, and eat it”. I couldn’t imagine a life without cake and have therefore incorporated as many ways of making them healthier as I could. A balance diet is just that – balanced, which means that no foods should be excluded.
There are many food standards in place now for schools, hospitals etc and often they have to adapt recipes to lower the fat or sugar content. It really is not that difficult but if at first it doesn’t work, you can always make a trifle out of it!
Use rapeseed oil in muffins and cakes – it has the lowest saturated fat content of all oils and is also high in beneficial oils making it a good choice for those conscious about their cholesterol or heart.
Add grated carrot, courgette or beetroot to cakes to add extra nutrients. You can never see them when cooked and they make the cake really moist.
Try reducing the sugar content in recipes by 20-25%. In most cases, it makes no difference whatsoever.
If you prefer, you can use a product called “half sugar” this is sugar mixed with a sweetener and is twice as sweet as ordinary sugar, therefore you can use half the quantity suggested in the recipe.
Some of the sugar can often be replaced by dried fruit. Raisins soaked in water, tea or orange juice are great. Also if you chop up some dates and cover with water, then bring to the boil, this produces a lovely date syrup, which can be used instead of sugar.
Nuts and seeds are full of nutrients, so sprinkle some on top of or put them into cakes and muffins. Flaked almonds look very nice on top of cakes and provide a nutty crunch.
Oats are a fantastic, inexpensive ingredient. They provide soluble fibre, which is useful to mop up cholesterol. Use them in flapjacks but why not use them in crumble mixtures for fruit or substitute some oats instead of flour.
There are many different flours on the market now, I try to use half and half wholemeal to white, to get extra nutrients and fibre. Wholemeal flour can sometimes make a cake heavy, but you could always add just a little more baking powder.
