Preparing traditional Polish cakes in a fit version does not have to mean sacrificing their classic taste. Sometimes it is enough to omit a few ingredients, other times to use low-calorie substitutes, and sometimes to swap the entire recipe. Here are a few clever ways to reduce the calorie content of Poles’ beloved cakes.
Reducing the calorie content of Polish cakes: a strategy
To reduce the calorie content of Polish cakes without sacrificing their delicious, classic taste and texture, you need to use the right strategy.
Think through which elements in cakes are not the most important for you and give up on them first. You won’t cry for raisins in cheesecake, will you? This way you will save dozens of calories per serving. Caramelised nuts on top of a walnut pie are not essential for you? Perfect, because it is a very calorific addition. Are you able to give up on chocolate chunks in cookies or the chocolate glaze in cupcakes? You will succeed in substantially improving the health parameters of the cake. The icing on a wrapped poppy seed cake is not your favourite part? Excellent, another few dozen calories saved. This is a simple “trick” for slimming down any cake.
Also think about which elements of the cake are most important to you and non-negotiable. Maybe it’s the crunchy crust in a cheesecake, the classic crumble in a fruit cake, or a sprinkling of coconut shreds in a Japanese poppy seed cake, for example? You don’t have to change them. Cake is a recreational dish! Sometimes it’s better to go for a smaller portion of a traditional cake and satisfy your whim with it rather than choose a “fit” version that won’t meet your expectations for dessert and will disappoint you.
Any Polish cake can be slimmed down with a few measures. Here are 7 effective ways to make them less calorific.
1: Add less sugar than the recipe says
Every spoonful of sugar saved is 40 kcal and less strain on the pancreas. Reducing sugar in the dough is the simplest and very effective way to slim down desserts and baked goods. You don’t have to cut the amount of sugar drastically. Add, for example, 20 percent less, and you may not even feel the difference in taste!
2: Use any of the low-calorie sugar substitutes
For Polish cakes, replacing sugar with xylitol or erythritol will work best. They have similar properties to sugar and a taste that some find indistinguishable. If you accept erythritol as an alternative to sugar in baked goods, you will succeed in getting real fit products, because it is a sweetener completely devoid of calories!
Hint: Just remember that xylitol and erythritol do not caramelise like ordinary sugar. They will not work well for making caramel or dulce de lece. If there is yeast in the dough you are making, it is better to replace only some of the sugar with a sweetener. Yeast needs some ordinary sugar (glucose) to produce carbon dioxide and rise properly.
3: Limit the amount (and improve the quality) of fat used
Fat is the most calorific macronutrient. It is indispensable in baked goods, because it is a carrier of flavour, but by limiting it, you will also most efficiently reduce the calorie content of cakes. You’ll also be able to make the cheesecake without adding butter, if you’re already using fat cottage cheese, and you only need a little butter for the crumble.
In some cakes (such as sponge cakes, fruit pies and cupcakes) you may be able to substitute butter and margarine for healthier rapeseed oil or even olive oil! This would be a real success and craftsmanship of transformation – turning a classic cake into a diet version!
4: Reduce the weight of the most calorific cake layer
If other methods do not appeal to you, you may not change the recipe at all, but simply reduce the weight of the most calorific layer or element of the cake.
In no-bake cheesecakes, give up on the crust or use light sponge cakes instead of crumbled butter cookies. Prepare a lighter cream for Polish Carpathian cream cake (karpatka) and don’t add too much of it. Sprinkle the dough with a smaller amount of crumble. Give up on icing and chocolate frosting in favour of fruit decorations or lightly sprinkling the cake with powdered sugar. These are simple and very effective measures for reducing the calorie content of Polish cakes!
5: Limit calorific additions (even healthy ones)
There are a lot of optional additions to cakes that boost their calorie content. Many healthy elements added to cakes are very calorific, and baked goods will also be fine without them. These include:
- coconut shreds,
- nuts,
- candied fruit,
- raisins,
- dates,
- honey,
- almond flakes,
- coconut and almond flour,
- dark chocolate.
6: Use low-calorie dairy
In recipes where you must use milk, go for semi-skimmed or skimmed milk instead of the 3.2% option. For shortcrust pastry, you can add natural yoghurt instead of cream. When choosing cottage cheese for a cheesecake, don’t go for the fattiest option. Add natural yoghurt to sponge cakes (but also, for example, poppy seed cake and cupcakes), which boosts the protein content and makes baked goods moister.
7: Add fruit and even vegetables to your baked goods
Fruits and vegetables will work well even in traditional Polish cake recipes.
- When preparing an apple pie, be lavish with the apples. Let them make up the majority of the pie, just garnish them with other layers.
- A grated apple or pear will blend perfectly into the poppy seed batter, which will retain moisture in the dough.
- The addition of grated carrots goes very well with the walnut pie, which will increase the volume of the pie without boosting the calories.
- Those who enjoy culinary experiments pass on a way to enhance the flavour of gingerbread by adding... tomato! Apparently, the cake gains a deeper flavour, which is hard to identify when trying tomato gingerbread.
- The brownie batter can be enriched with the addition of cooked red beans, which are really hard to smell in a sweet cocoa cake. Beans are not only a healthy protein addition; they also enhance the creamy texture of the cake.
How to reduce the calorie content of a cheesecake?
A trick to reduce the calorie content of a cheesecake: the classic Polish cheesecake is very calorific. No-bake cheesecakes, made with natural yoghurt or skimmed cottage cheese, jelly and fruit, have significantly fewer calories. Limiting calories in the baked version of cheesecake is most easily done by replacing sugar with a sweetener and giving up on some of the fat added to the cheesecake batter (such as butter).
How to reduce the calorie content of a poppy seed cake?
A trick for reducing the calorie content of a poppy seed cake: poppy seed cakes made with yeast dough have inherently fewer calories than poppy seed cakes made with poppy seed batter alone or with shortcrust pastry. The calorie content can also be reduced by self-preparing the poppy seed batter and modestly adding sugar, honey and butter to it. Do without icing the poppy seed cake, too.
How to reduce the calorie content of a walnut pie?
A trick to reduce the calorie content of a walnut pie: give up on dried and candied fruit as you’re already putting nuts into the dough. Instead of honey and sugar, use lower-calorie sweeteners. Don’t be tempted to use almond or coconut flour instead of wheat flour to make a walnut pie: although they have fewer carbohydrates, they are more calorific.
How to reduce the calorie content of a fruit cake?
A trick to reduce the calorie content of fruit cake: prepare fruit cake on a light sponge cake instead of shortcrust pastry, which is heavier and naturally there will be more calories in a piece of it. Make a healthier crumble — substitute sugar for xylitol in the recipe and wheat flour for ground oat flakes. Use seasonal, low-calorie fruits and do not sweeten them additionally.
How to reduce the calorie content of an apple pie?
A trick to reduce the calorie content of an apple pie: use apples at will, but don’t sweeten them heavily. Add a lot of cinnamon to your apple pie, which has almost no calories but enhances the sweet taste of the pie. If you are making an apple pie on a shortcrust pastry, roll it out thinly. Also consider serving a healthy dessert alternative to the apple pie: such as baked apples stuffed with nuts.
Enjoy healthier baking and eat cakes without remorse!
Bon appetit!