Healthier Baking Guidelines

So many of us love to bake. It’s such a therapeutic activity. Perhaps not so therapeutic when children are involved but it is one of the cooking activities they enjoy the most so it’s a good way to get them used to how the kitchen works! Anyway, I’ve been creating healthier bakes for about 10 years now. I tend to apply some unspoken rules to make my bakes healthier. I’ve never actually taken the time to write down and share those ‘rules’. They’re actually more like guidelines and I’m going to share them with you below:

1. Try Using a Non-Wheat Based Flour

More and more people are struggling to digest wheat. Most of the wheat  in our current diet comes in the form of highly refined white flour and starches. When wheat is refined, the enzyme in the wheatgerm that helps to digest the gluten is lost.  Some healthy alternatives include:

• Spelt flour
• Buckwheat Flour
• Quinoa Flour
• Brown Rice Flour
• Coconut Flour
• Ground up nuts and seeds
• Coconut flour

 

2. Try Using a Natural Form of Sugar

Refined cane sugar is a ‘pure’ industrial product that some would argue is not a ‘food’ as it doesn’t provide us with anything beneficial. There are many other forms of natural sweetness that can be used in baking. Many of these choices also come with added health benefits.

• Blackstrap molasses
• Honey
• Date sugar
• Stevia (pure stevia powder)
• Pure Maple Syrup

 

3. Try and Use Real Fat

There is emerging evidence to suggest that margarines are not as healthy for us as we once thought. In fact the emerging evidence suggests that real (unprocessed) fats may be better for health. Try to include the following fats in your cakes and bakes:

• Coconut oil
• Butter
• Olive oil
• Avocado oil

 

4. Try and Boost the Nutrient Content of your Cake

We tend to think of cakes as a decadent thing. That doesn’t have to be the case. There are many examples of cakes that are deliciously flavoured with natural ingredients, low in sugars and made with real whole food flours. These ingredients can provide a nutrient boost to your cake:

• Nuts
• Seeds – sunflower, pumpkin, chia, flaxseed
• Fruit
• Vegetables – root vegetables such as carrot and beetroot provide moisture, sweetness and moistness to your bake

I hope you enjoy healthier bakes and have found these guidelines useful.