Taking the flour out of the cake Healthy desserts may be good for the body, but are they good for the tongue? Shikha Kumar can’t stop raving about cakes made with whole wheat and fresh fruit

Taking the flour out of the cake

Healthy desserts may be good for the body, but are they good for the tongue?  can’t stop raving about cakes made with whole wheat and fresh fruit

Desserts and health are rarely mentioned in the same breath. Think dessert and one imagines fluffy cakes with layers of butter cream icing, huge sundaes, and for the Indian at heart, gulab jamuns soaked in sugary syrup. However, the divine taste only lasts so long. The regret at having indulged in calories lingers for a longer duration. Take Divya Ranglani who has a sweet tooth. “I used to indulge in desserts, but there was always stress and guilt after eating them,” she says. Having done a course in naturopathy, Divya started thinking of alternatives to satisfy the sweet cravings. “I am against the idea of using artificial sweeteners in food. Nature has everything. We just need to explore the options,” she asserts. Today, she makes cakes, cookies and even Indian desserts by substituting traditional ingredients like refined flour with whole wheat, oatmeal and bran flour. The basic binding ingredient in all her cakes is a mixture of these three items. She uses seasonal fruits instead of sugar, and olive/canola oil instead of butter. While these do sound healthier than traditional desserts, how well do they measure up in taste? Her orange and dark chocolate muffin is moist and delicious with the right hints of orange. It’s hard to tell that the cake does not contain refined flour. The date and carrot cake is crunchy because of the assorted nuts and has a steady sweetness to it, because of the dates. “There is no sugar in the date carrot cake. Soaked dates have an inherent sweetness that needs to be neutralised with wheat,” she says. Rising incidence of lifestyle diseases and awareness about the means to deal with them is spurring people to make a conscious change in their diets. Amrita Bhoolabhai started thinking seriously about healthy alternatives to sweets when her nephew was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. Today, her cakes are made using whole wheat, raw sugar and fresh fruits. In certain cakes, she substitutes butter with buttermilk. “Some people are allergic to gluten so I use nachni (finger millet flour). Anything can taste good if you know how to do it,” she says. The cakes available in her shop include the chocolate yoghurt cake made with whole wheat, fresh yoghurt, and brown sugar, and a date and orange cake made with wheat, crushed walnuts and orange rind. Nutritionist Hira Mahajan is in favour of desserts made using wheat and oatmeal. Hira believes that for people who need to eat carbohydrates after a workout, a small piece of fruit cake is a good option. “Even for children engaged in physical activity, wheat cakes are great source of energy,” she says. Dr Manoj Chawla, a diabetologist at Lina Diabetic Centre, emphasises the importance of knowing the difference between healthy and sugar-free desserts, the latter being harmful for the body. He advises eating healthy desserts in moderation as they still add up to extra calories. “Overindulgence makes even healthy desserts an oxymoron as sometimes fresh fruits and dry fruits are high in calories,” he says. Dr Chawla recommends that people buying these desserts should know all the ingredients in detail before eating. After all, as famed cartoonist Jim Davis pointed out, ‘Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie.’