You fancy something sweet and you see raw cheesecake on the café menu. All those ground nuts… it’s got to be a healthier option, right? But, how does it compare to a traditional caramel slice?
Caramel slice
Ingredients: A classic caramel slice has three layers: a base made of flour, butter, sugar and a little coconut; a caramel filling made of condensed milk, golden syrup and butter; and a chocolate layer on top.
Per 100g: 2000kJ (478cal); 30g fat; 21g sat fat; 46g carbs; 37g sugars; 1g fibre
vs
Raw cheesecake
Ingredients: We used a recipe with a base made of mostly ground nuts, plus medjool dates and coconut. The filling was also largely ground nuts, with berries, coconut sugar, honey and coconut oil. This was topped with a berry sauce sweetened with dates.
Per 100g: 1680kJ (400cal); 32g fat; 14g sat fat; 22g carbs; 17g sugars; 4g fibre
We’ve compared 100g portions, which is a decent-sized amount. It’s bigger than any Healthy Food Guide recipe for a slice, and bigger than most of our cake serves too. But many of the café slices and cakes are very big – even more than 100g.
At 2000kJ, the caramel slice delivers meal-sized energy – nearly a day’s worth of saturated fat and loads of free sugars.
And our raw cheesecake is 1680kJ. That’s a lot of energy in a slice.
Despite the slice having 50 per cent more saturated fat than the cheesecake, the cheesecake still delivers 14g of saturated fat. You won’t see that in a Healthy Food Guide recipe for a meal serve, let alone a slice of cake.
The cheesecake also has a lot of free sugars although, to be fair, many cakes have more.
It is high in fibre, though, which is good.
Given the choice, we would go for the raw cheesecake. If you’re going to enjoy this treat, it’s a good one to share with a friend.
www.healthyfood.com
