Phil Vickery’s healthy Easter desserts

As a general advocate of healthy living, I appreciate the need to eat healthier, but as a chef I always want to create dishes that look and taste amazing – in particular, desserts that feel indulgent and a little bit naughty. It is this cooking contradiction that has been the drive behind the creation of these recipes, which aim to provide healthier alternatives that taste and look just as impressive as their traditional alternatives.

In the recipes I’ve looked at ways to reduce sugar and/or saturated fats, but not at the cost of taste. You’ll still find butter or margarine in some of them, because I felt replacing it produced an inferior product and what’s the point of making a super healthy dessert if you don’t like the taste?

In others, cream has been replaced with fromage frais, full fat milk has become skimmed and even butter swapped for Ricotta. I’ve also used a natural sugar alternative called xylitol (available in supermarkets and healthfood stores in as Total Sweet) to replace sugar. It has lower calories than sugar and doesn’t have such a dramatic effect on blood sugar levels, but can be used in cooking in exactly the same way and produces fantastic results.

Spiced apple tea cake (with cider crunch topping)

This is a really wholesome cake. You can try out some different, healthy variations – make it with 100g blueberries instead of the apple chunks; or adapt it to make spiced carrot cake and use 100g prepared weight of grated carrot substituted for the apple. You can also make muffins instead of the whole cake; use large muffin cases in a tin and divide equally between 12

Preparation time:15 minutes

Cooking time:50-60 minutes

Ingredients

150g plain flour
2 level tsp baking powder
1tsp cinnamon
1tsp allspice
150g xylitol
2 medium eggs
50ml (scant 4tbsp) vegetable oil or melted coconut oil
100ml semi skimmed milk
150g green apple, washed
1tsp vanilla extract or paste

For the cider crunch topping

(optional)
1tbsp Total Sweet Xylitol
1 tbspcider

Method

Oil and line the base of a small cake tin: 18cm
Preheat the oven to 170°C, 150°C Fan, Gas mark 4
Weigh out all your ingredients to start with. In a large bowl, sieve the flour with the baking powder and spices, to mix evenly. Stir in the xylitol.

Core the apple, leave the peel on and chop into small chunks, about 1-2cm.
In a small bowl, mix the eggs, oil, milk, apple chunks and vanilla.
Fold the wet ingredients into the dry mixture and stir until combined. Don't beat. The mixture will still look a little lumpy rather than smooth.
Spread the cake mixture into the prepared tin, smooth the top and pop into a preheated oven for about 50-60 minutes until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean or with a few crumbs.

Allow to cool, turning out of the tin after 10 minutes or so, to cool completely on a wire rack.

For the crunchy cider topping:

Just before serving, mix just enough of the cider with the xylitol to make a wet "paste". Dot the crunchy paste over the cake. Best enjoyed fresh or freeze on the same day.
Tip: Don't peek and open the oven door until at least the last 10 minutes or the cake may sink. Baking times will vary depending on your oven, so you may need to adjust the time and temperature.

If you are making cupcakes or muffins: reduce the cooking time to 25-30 minutes.

Rich chocolate orange tart with raspberry sauce

This incredible tart looks like one of the most indulgent desserts going. But with double cream being replaced by fromage frais, along with some other healthy twists, appearances and taste can be deceiving. Xylitol is used in a number of places here as a healthy replacement for sugar.

Preparation time:30 minutes

Cooking time:30 minutes

Tart ingredients

350g shortcrust pastry, ready rolled
700ml skimmed milk
80g cocoa powder, sieved
100g xylitol
½ tsp vanilla essence
50g high cacao chocolate, with a lower sugar content (eg 90% cocoa solids)
4 medium egg yolks
15g xylitol
15g custard powder
Finely grated zest 1 lemon
Finely grated zest of 2 large oranges
4 sheets (7g) leaf gelatine
Cold water
250g fromage frais
Xylitol to taste
10g high cacao chocolate

Raspberry sauce ingredients

Makes approximately 300mls
225g fresh raspberries or good quality frozen
100g xylitol – this is an approximate as some raspberries are sweeter than others so check taste after adding 50g
1 tbsp lemon juice
A little cold water if needed

Method

Roll out the pastry and line a 23cm/ 9 inch loose-bottomed tin, then chill for 30 minutes.
Bake pastry at 200C/180C fan/gas 6 for approximately 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Brush with beaten egg and return to the oven to set for 5 minutes, remove and cool. Warm the milk and just before boiling, whisk in the cocoa powder, xylitol, vanilla and chopped chocolate.

Whisk the egg yolks and custard powder in a small bowl for 2 minutes. Pour over the chocolate milk mixture and whisk well, it will thicken quite quickly.

Whisk in the soaked gelatine until dissolved and finally the orange and lemon zests. Pour into the cooked pastry base, allow to cool slightly and chill for 2 hours, best overnight.

Lightly beat the fromage frais and add the xylitol to taste, then spoon on top of the tart. Cut into wedges and serve.

Sauce method

Place the raspberries in a liquidizer along with the xylitol and lemon juice.

Blitz until smooth you may need to add a touch of cold water to let the sauce down if it’s too thick.

Pass through a fine sieve and chill well.