Charman - Guilt-free Baking: Low-calorie and low-fat sweet treats

As a chef, low-fat, low-calorie cookbooks were always the ones I walked straight past in the bookstore. Its not because I dont want to eat healthilylike everybody else, I have to watch what I eat. But after trying a few of them, it seemed all the fun bits had been taken out. The food tasted like cardboard and had the texture of sawdust, and that seemed especially true of so many low-calorie and low-fat baking books.

I have inherited my mothers sweet tooth and I also just love to bake, so the option of having only one sweet treat a weekas many books suggestis just never going to work for me, even though I am a firm believer in the 90-percent-good, 10-percent-bad rule when it comes to eating. So, when I was approached about writing a book, this seemed like the perfect one to start with. It means I can bake to my hearts content without risking an expanding waistline.

I have to admit, however, it has been a huge challenge. I didnt want to do what many cookbooks do and simply replace butter with margarine, make the portions the perfect size for a mouse or cut out all the sugar and fill the recipe with artificial sweeteners instead. You can do that without my help with any cake recipe in any book. But these alterations change the texture beyond all recognition, the results lack flavor and the cakes are full of chemicals.

Instead, I started to think about reducing the amount of butter without cutting it out altogether, and looked for other sources of moisture for the cakes. Fruit purees have been a revelation, because they add natural sweetness and moisture to sponge cakes. In a plain vanilla cake, for example, a lot of the flavor comes from the butter, so big, punchy flavor-boosters are also needed. Spices like star anise and cinnamon and herbs like lemon thyme fill the flavor void often created when you go low fat.

In traditional recipes, all sponges cakes have the same texture, but one of the bonuses in this book is that adding low-fat yogurt, grated apple or pureed pears means the texture of each cake is different. Some are light and fluffy, others are rich and stickybut they are all delicious.

My grandmother loved to bake for other people, and I think I have inherited that from her. While testing the recipes in this book, I could have five cakes on the go at once, so friends, family, neighbors and even my yoga class were often recipients of cake boxes full of sweet treats, which were gratefully received and scoffed by even the most avid of yogis!

Only on one occasion did my dad say, this tastes low fat. But when I looked, he was eating a plain slab of sponge cake that was meant to be filled with yogurt and fresh fruit. After a little bit of structural engineering, where bites had been taken out of it, I managed to stack it up with all the fluffy bits, as Dad would say. He tucked in and I was back on track Oh yes, this taste good! And if this is low fat, I can eat more of itright? Well, no, Dad, but its great that you are loving the cakes that much. I guess the moral of this story is that sometimes the individual elements of low-fat cakes might not work on their own, but adorned with the fluffy bits, they look and taste great.

With a growing obesity problem in the developed world, cutting down on the fat and calories we eat cant be a bad thing. What I am trying to do is keep all the good bits and just remove some of the bad. Even low-fat, low-calorie cakes have to be eaten with a warning, howeverjust because the calories are lower it doesnt mean you can eat ten! The benefit is that with the treats you do have, you can have them a little more often and they wont do you any harm, but they still have to be eaten as part of a healthy, balanced diet. I cant conjure up a way around thatsorry! But I have succeeded in including lots of oats, fruit and vegetables in these recipes, which is an added bonus in that they are both healthier and keep you fuller for longer. Plus they stop the sugar rush you get with traditional cakeswhich are packed with sugarmaking resisting a second helping a little easier.

Every recipe indicates the number of servings it makes, and each serving contains a maximum of 300 calories and 6g of fatmost a lot less. They also give you the preparation and baking timessince most of these treats are served cold, that doesnt include the cooling time. If, like me, you find cakes are difficult to resist once they have cooled and are safely in the cake tin, I have tried to help by adding storage advice. Because some of us will be tempted to nibble too often at a cake that will remain at its best for a few days, many of the cakes can be made, a portion enjoyed, then the rest frozen for another day.

Whether it is for family and friends or for a sneaky treat on the couch, baking should be a pleasure, and with my recipes it will be, because they are all low in fat and caloriesthis is guilt-free baking at its best. So, I wish you happy baking andeven more importantlyhappy guilt-free eating.

Low-fat baking uses a lot of fruit, so my refrigerator is always filled with fresh berries. I also keep apples and pears in the refrigerator, but thats a personal choice, because I like them cold and crunchy.

Although butter doesnt feature heavily in low-fat, low-calorie baking, I always keep a pack in the refrigerator. I also have a large pot of low-fat yogurt and lightest cream cheese, ready and waiting to make my cake batters and frostings.

My freezer also is a treasure trove of goodies. Frozen berries are always in the freezer, as well as the refrigerator, ready for fruity bursts in cakes and other baked goods. I often make large batches of fruit purees and freeze them in ice cube trays before popping them out into a freezer bag. It means I have them ready to hand and one stage of the baking process is already prepared. And when bananas get a little overripe, I peel and chop them and freeze them on a baking tray, then pop them in a freezer bag once they are solid, so they are ready to make Instant Guilt-free Banana Ice Cream (see ).

Once you have been through a baking spell, clear a space in your freezer, because some recipes will quite happily sit in there for a few weeks or months, then at midnight when the sweet tooth craving hits, you dont need to reach for a chocolate bar, but you will have homemade treats ready and waiting.

Because the cakes are just so tempting, it is sometimes a good idea to cool the cakes, then cut them into portions and wrap and freeze what you are not likely to use straightawaythen you cant go for the its a shame to leave just one slice excuse. To help you, each recipe indicates how best to store the cake. They are all delicious freshly baked, of course, but if you do keep them, store the cakes in an airtight container, in the refrigerator, if necessary, or wrap and keep them in the freezer.