It’s Great British Bake Off time, and you obviously can’t watch it without a slice of cake or two, am I right or am I right? But when you’re losing weight, the 10 weeks of Bake Off is a long time to be busy snacking on stroopwafels, munching on mille-feuille or devouring dampfnudel. So we’ve rounded up the best recipes for low-calorie baking, so you can scratch that baking itch.
And if you’re not interested in competing for Paul Hollywood’s handshake, we’ve also rounded up some shop-bought options too.
For biscuit week
You can’t beat a good bit of shortbread. These reduced-sugar shortbread biscuits from Baking Mad feature only a handful of ingredients and the recipe uses ‘half spoon’ sugar which combines real white sugar and sweetener. This means you’ll cut calories without being overpowered by the taste of artificial sweetener. The recipe makes 20 biscuits and each one is 113 calories.
To buy: Try Gullon sugar-free shortbread biscuits, which are 29 calories per biscuit and available from Poundland, or if you want the real deal go for Tesco’s mini shortcake bites, which are 60 calories each. Just don’t eat the entire pack (good luck).
For chocolate week
No, you don’t need to book yourself in for an eye test – these really are gooey, chocolatey, fudgey brownies that are low in calories. Each one is just 100 calories, although if you’ve got more calories to play with you can add in extras (nuts, chocolate chips, fruit – go wild), but remember to adjust the calorie count accordingly. Get the recipe from The Londoner here.
To buy: It’s not quite the same, but these Weight Watchers frozen brownie desserts are nice, and they’re 174 calories each. You could also go for a Fibre One chocolate fudge brownie at 83 calories (although be warned that they’re TINY), or Tesco’s brownie bites (43 calories, but again if you can refrain from eating them all you’re a better man than I).
For cake week
Ok, so this ‘birthday cake’ uses low-calorie vanilla yoghurt as ‘frosting’, which is a bit sus but it’s 62 calories per slice (50 if you forgo the ‘frosting’) and will hit the spot when only a fluffy, soft cake will do. Get the recipe from Emma Fontanella here, who has loads of great low-calorie recipes on her website and YouTube channel.
To buy: Did you know that Mr. Kipling has a range of 30% less sugar cakes? We can’t vouch for them being any good, but it does mean the angel cake slices are just 100 calories per cake. But one scathing review on the Tesco website says you just get “90% less icing”, so considering the regular angel cake slices are 139 calories per slice we’ll leave it up to you to decide whether or not saving 39 calories is worth it. Phew. That’s the most I’ve ever thought about angel cake slices.
For bread week
There are loads of different recipes that tweak bread in some way, thanks to bread being fairly high in calories and carbs and our inability to live without it. People doing low-carb or keto diets have come up with loads of ways of making low-carb ‘bread’, including this one from The Kitchn which takes 90 seconds in the microwave to make and will set you back 90 calories for 4 slices. Wonder what Mr. Hollywood would think of it…
To buy: Milk Roll! Hear me out – a couple of chipolatas, ketchup and a slice of cheese between two slices of milk roll is a mighty fine sandwich. Yes, it’s technically for kids, and yes, the slices are small and round, but it’s 46 calories per slice and delicious.
You don’t have to miss out on the baking fun just because you’re losing weight with these low-calorie baking ideas. So don your apron, pretend you’re in a big tent, start up the mixer and Bob’s your uncle.
