Archive for the Cooking

In the midlife muffin top crushing category you wouldn’t expect to find chocolate cake. In the “excess in moderation” category it would feature prominently for some. I’m happy to say that I’ve been introduced to a product that is so darn delicious, easy to bake–it’s a mix–and versatile as a base for other desserts that I had to write about it.

Kelley Herring is a woman I’ve connected with online and whose digital product, Your Plate, Your Fate, I admire and even offer for sale in the products section on Easy Midlife Weight Loss. She’s got a beautiful, healthy food information packed blog, called Healing Gourmet, as well as a product line of no sugar, low glycemic, gluten free cakes.

I’ll admit I’m not a big dessert person–which doesn’t mean I don’t love to make them and taste them, it’s just not a meal component I’m driven to. My overeating runs towards cheese, main courses, and chicken wings. (No, I’m not making that up.)

That said I love to make special desserts. This past weekend we had friends over for dinner and I never think of making something low sugar, low fat, gluten free. So I made white chocolate raspberry tiramisu–full fat, full booze, full sugar. It was worth every bite. Even I had to have a real portion and that’s not bragging as it’s a very easy dessert to make, it’s just a really delicious combination of ingredients.

As long as I was in the kitchen, along with the above creation, I decided to bake the sample Kelley sent of her Chocolate Bliss cake. I wasn’t sure what I’d do with it but I had to try this mix. She said it was great, I trusted her. It was easy to mix–water, eggs, and coconut or other oil. Bake for 18 minutes, voila. Looked and smelled like real chocolate cake. The taste test went like this:

“Hmmm, good texture, nice crumb, moist, smells rich. WOW, this tastes just like a real, sugar laden chocolate cake. How do they do that?” How they do it is by using almond flour, organic cocoa, organic zylitol, and other whole food ingredients. I’m not kidding when I say it is delicious and right away I knew what I’d be doing with it.

I created a low sugar chocolate raspberry tiramisu. The picture below shows a cross section of the cake layered with the cream, berries macerated in port and Grand Marnier. The whole is drizzled with a dark chocolate sauce, cream and dark chocolate, no sugar added. My skeptical, full sugar loving husband was skeptical when I told him about the cake itself being a healthy alternative. Last night he got the piece you see below and had a hard time not wolfing it down. Then asked when we could have that again.

I wholeheartedly endorse this product that Kelley has created. For now you have to order it online at her other site, Wellness Bakeries. You will no doubt find gluten free and sugar free cake mixes in health food stores but I’ve yet to see a mix that combines the two and uses whole foods to create the mixes. This is truly a nutritious dessert option that isn’t just fruit. When you order the cake mix you will receive a recipe for icing that’s healthy and delicious as well. By the way, this is not an affiliate situation where I’m getting a “little something” for recommending this product. It’s just that good and I want you all to know about it.

Chocolate Bliss Cake Raspberry Tiramisu

As a professional chef I have no problem using this mix as a basis for a simple or more involved dessert.

Most of us love the idea of creating desserts. With Chocolate Bliss cake mix we’ve been given an easy way to make a healthy sweet and I’ll bet most guests would never know it wasn’t the full on unhealthy, sugar laden cakes we are used to.

Ok I’m like so bummed out man. Over the past year I’ve made a considerable effort to clean up my eating–especially eliminating some sugar. I’m not a big candy or dessert eater but sugar lurks everywhere. On top of that I do like it in my coffee, and I like something sweet in my plain yogurt some days.
I can’t do those artificial sweeteners on a regular basis so I went in search of what my choices are.

I’ve blogged and done whole audio postcards singing the praises of the sweet syrups honey, molasses and agave nectar as sugar alternatives. Once I discovered I like the taste of agave, and that it was a low glycemic index sweetener, I was thrilled. (The glycemic index and load of foods indicates how much and how fast a carbohydrate food raises blood sugar. The lower and slower the better.)

If you aren’t familiar with agave syrup it’s amber like honey but thinner and has a sweeter taste than sugar so you can use very little for a lot of yumm.

Like a good love affair gone bad when the real person starts to emerge, agave had me fooled. In truth the marketers for this popular sweetener did it.

Agave–from the Greek for noble–has been around for centuries. Mexico proudly harvests 100 different species. According to Bottom Line Health, “extracts from the agave plant have been shown to have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.” Sounds like a winner right? From plant to commercially produced syrup is a long journey and there are none of those compounds found in the stuff in the squeeze bottle.

That’s not all. Although low on the glycemic index, agave is comprised of, depending on the manufacturer, between 70% and 95% frustose. Why is this a cause for concern? Fructose, when used as a sweetener, as opposed to when found naturally in fruit, has been linked to high trigylcerides, and weight gain. And it puts you at risk of all sorts of nasty lifestyle diseases like diabetes and heart disease.

We talk about avoiding high fructose corn syrup but that’s only 55/45 fructose to glucose, table sugar is about 50/50. Agave is much higher. You might hear that agave syrup gets its sweetness from inulin, a kind of fiber that does have some redeeming aspects. How much is left after processing this plant down and concentrating it to form a syrup is debatable.

I do want to be clear here about the fructose found in fruits. It comes packaged conveniently with nutrients, fiber, and a very low % of the total for many fruits. Apples have about 7% for instance. If you want to learn about fructose in fruits and look up your favorite you can at this website.

That said, too much fruit is still a form of too much sugar.

So does this mean we can never use agave syrup? Not on your life. For most of us life is sweet because we make the best choices we can and include some sweets, a little adult beverage, the occasional bagel with a schmear. 

As long as you know the truth about the myriad foods out there that vie for our attention you have choices.

Stop back often for your dose of the facts on staying healthy, fit, sassy and sane for the second half.