If you think all high fibre cakes are stodgy and heavy, think again. This high fibre raspberry yogurt cake has a delicious, light, moist, crumbly texture. No one will know that it has more fibre than a regular sponge cake making it a healthier choice that your family will love.
I am sure we all know that fibre is an important part of a balanced diet but for many of us that's about as far as it goes. Lets face it, fibre is not the most "sexy" aspect of nutrition, so it often tends to get overlooked. So, when I was invited to a special #GetFussed lunch hosted by Arla to highlight the important role of fibre in our diet, I did not hesitate. The lunch coincided with the launch of their new Arla fibre yogurt. Yes, you read that right, a yogurt that is high in fibre!
Arla fibre
Public Health England has recently published the recommendation that adults should consume at least 30g of fibre daily. However, on average we consume just 18g. Arla Fibre is a new range of yogurts that not only tastes great but is also a great source of fibre. An easy way for many of us to start bridging that fibre gap. Now, you might be wondering what a high fibre yogurt tastes like. You will be pleased to know it is just like a normal low fat fruit yogurt. If you were none the wiser you wouldn't know it was high in fibre just from the taste or texture. Each 150g pot of Arla fibre contains 4.7g of fibre which comes in the form of chicory inulin, a prebiotic that is fairly bland on its own but adds sweetness and soluble fibre to other food products.
Not only is Arla Fibre yogurt high in fibre, it is also low in fat, high in protein, and contains 27% of your recommended calcium intake, making it a good choice for a healthy snack, dessert or breakfast. Available in both handy 150g pots (pineapple and passionfruit, or raspberry flavour) and larger 450g (Strawberry or Blueberry flavour) family sized pots and are available from major supermarkets.
Easy Ways to Increase Fibre
There are also other easy ways to increase your intake of fibre. Arla did a good job at showing how fibre does not have to be bland or taste like cardboard. To illustrate how small changes can make a big difference, they had adapted half of the lunches so that they were high in fibre. Although we were given the option of choosing a vegetarian option, around the table no one knew whether their lunch was high or low in fibre. They changed little things, like using brown rice instead of white in the risotto starter; kale in the high fibre salsa verde; berries, wholemeal pastry and Arla fibre yogurt instead of grapes, plain flour pastry and natural yogurt in the elegant tartlets we had for dessert. Not only did they look very similar, they both tasted absolutely delicious and yet one version had substantially more fibre than the other.
If you would like to try increase fibre in your diet here are a few easy things to try:
- Use brown rice instead of white (check out how to cook brown rice in a pressure cooker to save time).
- Wholemeal pasta instead of regular pasta.
- Wholemeal bread instead of white bread.
- replace some white flour with wholemeal in your baking.
- Include some higher fibre fruits such as figs and berries.
- Leave the skin on vegetables such as potatoes and carrots. Apparently, you can even make mash without peeling the spuds first. I haven't tried it yet but I'm going to.
- Add sesame seeds to salads and other dishes.
- Swap your breakfast cereal for overnight oats.
- Arla Fibre yoghurt instead of ordinary low fat fruit yoghurt.
High Fibre Raspberry Yogurt Cake
While tucking into a pot of Arla fibre is delicious on its own, I thought it would be fun to come up with a recipe to use it in. While looking for inspiration I came across an old recipe of mine Crunchy Topped Lemon Yogurt Cake, so I thought I would see if I could adapt that. Firstly, I substituted the natural yogurt for a pot of raspberry Arla fibre and changed the lemon for a lime as I think raspberry and lime is a great flavour combination. But I didn't want to stop there. I also replaced half the flour with wholemeal flour. Finally, as raspberries also contain fibre, I studded the top of the cake with some fresh raspberries.
The resulting cake was surprisingly light and fluffy. I sometimes find cakes made with wholemeal flour can taste a bit dry, but the addition of yoghurt counteracted any dryness there might have been. Like the yogurt itself, it was not obvious it was a high fibre cake and yet I had increased the fibre from less than 1g per portion to 4g! Now if that isn't a delicious way to increase your fibre I don't know what is.
High Fibre Raspberry Yogurt Cake
Ingredients
- 125 g butter softened
- 125 g caster sugar
- 2 eggs
- 150 g carton Arla High Fibre raspberry yogurt
- 1 lime grated zest
- 4 tablespoon milk
- 150 g plain flour
- 150 g wholemeal flour
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
Topping:
- 125 g raspberries
- 50 g granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoon lime juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180℃ (160℃ fan)/350°F/gas mark 4. Lightly grease a 20cm (8inch) square cake tin.
- Beat together the butter and caster sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time and beat well. Add the yogurt, lime zest and milk
- Add the plain and wholemeal flour, and the bicarbonate of soda and gently fold in. Spoon into the prepared tin and level the top. Arrange the raspberries on top and gently push down into the cake mixture a little way.
- Bake for 45 minutes or until springy to the touch and beginning to pull away from the edge of the pan.
To make the topping:
- Stir the granulated sugar and lime juice together and spoon over the cake whilst still hot. Allow to cool slightly before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Serve cut into squares.
Notes
Nutrition
I was invited by Arla Foods to attend their lunch event and I was paid for my time. As always, all opinions expressed are my own and I will only ever recommend products I would, and do, genuinely like myself and that I think are a good fit with Recipes Made Easy.
Jo Allison / Jo's Kitchen Larder
What a delicious and informative event! Your cake looks so fluffy and light Jacqui despite the addition of wholemeal flour which is brilliant. Raspberries and lime are such a great combo too plus again more fibre from fruit! 🙂 Easy, delicious and healthy, what not to like!
Jacqueline Bellefontaine
Thank you Jo, yes the event was fabulous (as was lunch). I was so pleased how I managed to increase the fibre significantly with the yogurt and a few tweaks without adversely affecting the texture or flavour of the cake.
Angela / Only Crumbs Remain
What a great way to up the fibre content in a bake Jacqui. I'm liking the sound of the yogurt, I shall have to buy a couple of pots when I'm next in the supermarket. We were only watching a programme the other evening about our weight and they were suggesting increasing fibre to the recommended level to help increase the microbes in our stomache which in turn, they said, helps us reduce our weight!
Angela x
Jacqueline Bellefontaine
Oh yes Angela, definitely worth looking out for a really easy and tasty way to increase fibre in your diet.
Kat (The Baking Explorer)
This looks so yummy and great that it has health benefits too!
Jacqueline Bellefontaine
Thanks Kat
Cat | Curly's Cooking
This cake looks so delicious, I love raspberries in cake. Very informative 🙂
Jacqueline Bellefontaine
Thanks Cat
Monika Dabrowski
Great idea to put more fibre into a cake recipe, Jacqui, desserts can be a little healthier too! #CookBlogShare
Jacqueline Bellefontaine
Absolutely, Monika, I was surprised how easy it was to add quite a substantial amount of fibre to this cake without compromising the flavour or texture.
jenny paulin
this looks very delicious Jacqueline and it is ingenious to squeeze in lots of much needed fibre into a cake. what a great idea to add fibre to a yogurt.
thank you for sharing with #Bakeoftheweek x
Jacqueline Bellefontaine
Thanks Jenny, its nice to have a cake that you don't have to feel guilty eating 🙂
Lucy
Ooh this looks delicious Jacqui. The added fibre in the yoghurt sounds like a great way to make an easy switch and achieve great health benefits!
Jacqueline Bellefontaine
Thank you Lucy it surprising how a few tweaks to the diet can make all the difference and as you say the yogurt is a nice easy one.
Jenny Walters
Gosh this looks delicious!What a great idea to increase your fibre intake.I love the idea of a high fibre tray bake.Yum-pinned
Jacqueline Bellefontaine
Thanks Jenny
Donna
What a great cake! I also need to try this Mach without peeling! I think we eat plenty of fibre, but then at the same time I’ve never given it that much thought!
Jacqueline Bellefontaine
Yes i like the idea of not peeling my spuds even for mash.
Corina Blum
I think this is a delicious sounding cake and it's great to know that it's high in fibre too. I have to admit that I don't often think about fibre and could do a bit more to add it to my diet - I'll definitely look out for these yoghurts to try!
Jacqueline Bellefontaine
I dont think many people do think about fibre much and if you are not eating enough then you are certainly not alone. The yogurts are an easy and delicious way to add a bit more.
Priya
Mmm this cake looks delicious! I do fancy a bit of baking over the weekend too 😉
Jacqueline Bellefontaine
Do let me know what you think if you make it. I would love to know