7 healthy baking tips

1. Quality over quantity

Include the best ingredients you can afford to make treats that are satisfying in small portions. This is especially true with chocolate cakes, where a small slice of a dense chocolate cake, made with 70% cocoa chocolate, nuts and quality ingredients will be just as decadent as a wedge of devil's food cake.

• Low-Calorie One-Bowl Chocolate Cake
• Low-FODMAP Buckwheat, Macadami and Choc Chip Biscuits

2. Give icing a miss

One of the best ways to cut down on calories is to choose baked goods that don’t require icing. Follow the Scandinavian lead and buy a decorative bundt tin that will make your loaf cakes look as beautiful as any iced masterpiece.

• Easy Low-Fat Banana Bread
• Low-Calorie Banana Bread
• Healthy Apple Cake
• Melissa's Healthy Banana Bread

3. Opt for a fruit puree

For simple mix and stir baking recipes, such as biscuits, basic cakes, muffins and brownies, try substituting half the butter for a fruit puree.

• Mango and Apple Puree

4. Turn up the fibre

Try swapping a third of your white flour for a wholemeal flour to add texture and fibre to your baked goods. Wheat germ, oats and bran can also be sprinkled onto the tops of muffins, loaves and cakes for extra texture and added bite.

• Wholemeal Banana, Coconut and Walnut Cake
• Wholemeal Date Scones
• Wholemeal Pepper Quiche with Wholemeal Olive Oil Crust

5. Cut down on sugar

One of the easiest ways to reduce the calories in your baked goods is to cut down on the sugar. However, before doing so, it’s important to realise the role sugar plays, as it’s integral to the texture and how baked treats get that golden brown colour. Experimentation is key, so try reducing the sugar by 25 per cent and slowly increase until you reach a point you’re happy with.

• Sugar-Free Banana Cake
• Low-Calorie Peanut Butter Bites
• Low-Calorie Healthy Christmas Biscuits
• Low-Calorie Banana Muffins
• Low-Calorie Cranberry, Almon and Oatmeal Biscuits
• Low-Calorie Triple-Choc Almond Cookies

6. Opt for raw treats

There are plenty of new recipes being created that mimic old favourites, but incorporate a whole host of health boosting ingredients. These include bliss balls made with coconut oil, cocoa, dates and nuts; cheesecakes made with soaked nuts, berries and coconut cream; and fudge made from pureed chickpeas, vanilla beans and honey.  

• Sam Wood's Raw Chocolate Crackle Slice
• Raw Raspberry White Christmas
• Zoe Bingley-Pullin's Raw Individual Tiramisu
• Raw Pecan Mini Tarts with Chocolate Ganache
• Raw Blueberry and Hemp Seed Tarts
• Sam Wood's Raw Coconut and Raspberry Bar

7. Choose the fruit option

One of the easiest ways to improve the healthiness of your baking is by opting for a fruit-filled treat. Choose berries over chocolate, fruit tea cakes over cupcakes and opt for an open fruit tart over a custard tart.

• Cinnamon Apple Chips
• Orange and Honey See Biscuits
• Pear and Nut Muffins

For more delicious baking treats check out our Healthy snack recipes collection.