Desserts

Delicious cakes, biscuits and tarts... healthy delicacies that aren’t full of calories and won’t ruin your diet! Desserts don’t necessarily have to mean excess calories and extra pounds: our puddings are both great-tasting and health-conscious, so you don’t have to worry about indulging yourself once in a while! These easy-to-make recipes are a delicious way to keep in shape!

Serves: 2
Preparation: 1 minute
Cooking: 15 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Elderflower-poached nectarines with vanilla ricotta cream

Fruit is often poached in wine but this version, poached in elderflower pressé, is delicious, simple and non-alcoholic. If you are making this for a dinner party, you could try accompanying it with a glass of chilled, sweet Muscat wine; but this dessert is so easy and quick you can make it for a midweek treat. You can prepare it in advance and it is good either warm or cold. You could try this recipe with peaches, pears, plums or apricots; just make sure that the fruit you use is hard, as ripe fruit will disintegrate when it is poached. A great dessert brimming with vitamins and fibre.

Serves: 2
Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking: 5 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Spiced Autumn fruits salad with low-fat Greek yoghurt and crunchy granola

This fruit salad makes a really tasty breakfast served with Greek yoghurt and crunchy granola. The fruit is high in fibre, antioxidants and minerals, and eating it with yoghurt and granola gives you a light, balanced and delicious breakfast with protein, calcium, slow-burning carbohydrates and good unsaturated fats from the nuts. You can make the fruit salad in advance and keep it in the fridge for up to a week to snack on when you fancy, and the granola will keep in an airtight container for a few weeks.

Serves: 6 - 8. Use a 23cm spring form cake tin or flan dish
Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Relatively easy

Almond tarta di Santiago

This fantastic almond cake comes from Santiago di Compostella, the capital of one of my favourite areas of Spain, Galicia. It is named after the patron saint of Spain, St. James and is traditionally made with just almonds, sugar and eggs. Sometimes it has a sweet pastry case, but my version is without pastry. It is not only more virtuous as it contains absolutely no butter, but it is moist and light, gluten-free and a great natural energy food. The almonds in this cake provide good, cholesterol-reducing monounsaturated fats and also contain significant amounts of the antioxidant vitamin E, plus magnesium and potassium. Yes, they are basically good for you. It is also an incredibly quick cake to make and good enough to serve up as a desert with a dollop of cream or some fruit.

Serves: Makes a 25cm flan dish or 6 individual flan dishes
Preparation: Pastry - 10 minutes
Cooking: Baking pastry - 10 minutes; baking tart in oven - 15 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Date tart with cardamom and orange flower water

This tart is sweet, decadent, exotic and an absolute treat. High in glucose to reach your tired muscles quickly, it is great for recovery. The dates are also high carbohydrate and rich in iron, potassium and other minerals which need to be replenished after a big sweaty run.