It turns out you can eat your cake ... kind of. Or rather, you can eat something resembling cake and avoid refined sugar, butter and gluten. However, dieticians have warned healthy alternatives to indulgences, such as caramel slice or donuts, still have a high energy content and must be eaten in moderation.
A taste test by journalists from The Age found healthier versions of what would normally be considered junk food is edible, and sometimes delicious. One police reporter couldn't be stopped from eating an entire plate of caramel slices made from nuts, coconut and dates. But others found raw vegan chocolate truffles a little overwhelming. And all agreed that just because something is round with a hole in it, that does not make it a doughnut.
In a trend reminiscent of the 18th-century dish called mock turtle soup - which replaced expensive turtle with other ingredients - an increasing number of cafes and retailers are selling desserts that are made without any refined sugar, flour or butter.
It's even reached the stage where an increasingly popular bake sale called Flour Market now hosts an entire event dedicated to vegan, raw, gluten-free, wholefood, and organic treats.
Until now Flour Market has been hosting one-day bake sales for artisan and micro-bakers selling doughnuts, bread, cakes, and pastries. But the organisers recognised an increasing number of consumers like the idea.
So organiser Sarah Booth has been planning Wholey Day for late May - a foodie event with 30 stalls serving organic, wholefood, or vegan, or raw, or gluten-free products. Instead of flour, butter, and sugar, it's dehydrated nut meals, tahini, coconut oil, and dates.
Sales of organic sweets, ice-creams and snacks alone were worth $50 million in 2013, according to the 2014 Australian Organic Market report.
Executive chef and co-owner of Green Press cafe in Melbourne's CBD, Miles McLoughlin, says people come to his shop seeking "bad doughnuts", and find themselves happily eating one of his sugar-free and gluten-free Krispy Klean donuts. These were made from flaxseed meal, pumpkin, egg, coconut oil, maple syrup, cashews and coconut flour.
The caramel slice at Raw Trader contains none of the traditional ingredients and especially not sweetened condensed milk. Instead it has four types of nuts, coconut products, lemon and dates. Owner and chef Emily Samyue says both a traditional and a raw caramel slice are "energy dense" in terms of calories, but her food doesn't deliver a sugar crash a few hours later.
Founder of Citizen Cacao, Georgie Castle, makes truffles using coconut oil, cacao butter, and maple syrup (or agave syrup), plus toppings.
"This kind of food is a lifestyle now, and it pares in with yoga, mindfulness and whole-eating," she told Fairfax Media. She adds everyone is "drawn to sweet food as a pleasure and it doesn't go away just because you are into vegan foods and salads".
But what's so wrong with a traditional gooey caramel slice anyway?
Not much, according to accredited practising dietician, Simone Austin, who said a healthier version based on nuts would have more vitamins, fibre and minerals, but would still be a caramel slice.
"It just depends on how frequently you eat it. If you want to eat it all the time, it is still going to contribute to weight gain. It does not mean you can eat as much as you desire."
And while people should try to reduce their sugar intake, particularly in drinks, she said the only reason dates were a better source of sugar than castor sugar was because dates add extra fibre to a dish.
"I am not trying to say [healthy desserts] are not good. I am just saying sometimes people believe they are better than they really are and they eat too much of it," said Ms Austin, who is also a spokeswoman for the Dietitians Association of Australia.
Raw, low-sugar caramel slice. See recipe below. Photo: Salona Chithiray
