The Great British Bake Off 2023: Pinch of Nom Dessert Week Inspiration

Bakers! Grab your rolling pin. Dust off your apron. It’s time to for episode 7 of The Great British Bake Off 2023. It’s Dessert Week, and we really can’t wait to see what the bakers come up with.

If dessert is your favourite part of any three-course meal, you’re going to love this list. Whether you’re someone who always chooses the creamy option, the fruity option or the Biscoff option, we’ve got plenty of inspiration for you.

You won’t believe all of these puddings are slimming friendly…even down to the cheesecake section! 

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Bake it ‘til you make it

These desserts are all about minimal time and effort. There’s no technical challenge here – just light, tasty ingredients and super simple methods. 

Turn to pages 266-267 of your copy of Pinch of Nom: Comfort Food, and you’ll be able to whip up a treacle-based treat just like the bakers in the tent, with our Treacle Sponge recipe.

We’ve soaked our sponge in a sweet, sticky syrup, using a golden syrup alternative that tastes just as good as scrumptious as full-fat versions. This one’s hearty all on its own, but you can’t get away from serving it with a silky glug of homemade Custard.

If you want something simple to make that has the ‘WOW’ factor, our Chocolate Mud Pie takes less than an hour to prep and refrigerate. Instead of using heaps of dark chocolate, we’ve done a nifty swap for coffee granules that adds a dark chocolate-y bitterness to the mixture. 

This recipe is high in protein and low in carbs, so it’ll leave you full and satisfied. You’ll be swatting impatient hands away from the finished result! Just look how good it looks…

We’d recommend using a fine grater for the nutty topping. It’ll make the grated bits of dark chocolate for this recipe (and others!) go so much further.

You can’t say ‘retro dessert’ without Raspberry Ripple Arctic Roll. Inspired by the fruity, frozen British classic, we’ve levelled up the flavour by making our own juicy raspberry puree to swirl through reduced-fat vanilla ice cream.

Rolled up inside a light and airy fatless sponge, you won’t believe it’s just 141 calories per slice!

The cream of the crop

Who doesn’t love cream? It’s the ingredient that instantly levels up any dessert or hot chocolate. Ordinary cream is a little high in calories, but don’t worry – we’ve found low-fat alternatives that work just as well in every single one of these recipes.

Who doesn’t love a good, traditional English Trifle? Our trifle recipe is super quick to make and only 64 calories per serving. You can’t really argue with that.

We’ve made sure to use fat-free banana and custard yoghurt with a squirt of reduced-fat aerosol cream for the creamy top layers. Our recipe uses raspberries, but you can always use strawberries if you prefer.

Banana Cream Pudding comes in at 236 calories per ramekin – that puts it firmly in our Everyday Light category. We love serving up puds in adorable little ramekins because they always look so impressive for little effort, and they’re great for keeping portions nice and even.

Our indulgently thick, banana-based pudding is really simple to make; whisking together the hot milk with eggs is the only tricky part (if you don’t get the knack right, you could end up with scrambled eggs). Don’t worry! Our recipe guides you through.

We’ve heard whispers that the bakers will be faced with a meringue challenge in this week’s episode, so our Creamy Strawberry Mini Meringues would be perfect to nibble on while you’re watching.

They’re surprisingly light at 33 calories per mini meringue, even with their luxurious-tasting, velvety-sweet filling.

A batch made in heaven

When you want a dessert but you don’t want a faff, it’s so handy to have a tasty treat in the freezer that’s good to go. We’ve picked out a couple of recipes that will keep until you’re ready to enjoy them.

Everybody loves brownies! Our Chocolate Orange Brownies are rich, chocolatey and zesty, and they’re even dreamier with a dollop of low-fat cream or custard.

Best of all, they’ll keep nicely in the fridge for 3-4 days in an airtight container, so you can make them well in advance of Bake Off days. If they go a little stale, a few second bursts in the microwave should freshen them up in no time.

With just 5 ingredients, Chocolate Mousse is one of the simplest desserts you can make. For a few extra calories, you can add some sprinkled bits of biscuit too. The crumbs level it up into more of a deconstructed cheesecake.

Your batch of mousse will keep in the fridge for a few days as a go-to accompaniment with strawberries or any other fruit you prefer. You can keep it in the freezer too, just make sure you follow the freezing guidelines outlined in the recipe.

We can’t talk about dessert without mentioning ice cream. Our Biscoff Swirl Ice Cream is gloriously simple to put together, using a small handful of vegan-friendly ingredients. Remember…the riper your bananas, the better for this recipe!

You could try folding in a few chopped walnuts or other nuts of your choice into the mixture, to make this one extra special (just be sure to adjust the calories, if you’re counting).

Say cheese… cake!

If cheesecake is always your go-to order, you’re in the right section. All of these cheesecake-inspired desserts are rich, creamy and slimming friendly, and they’re far more simple to make than you’d think!

Raspberry and Blueberry Cheesecake is a dessert recipe you can rely on for special occasions year-round. For just 259 calories per slice, it’s a fruity, creamy cheesecake that’ll always go down a treat. 

To give it a little something extra that Prue would approve of, we’ve flavoured the biscuit base with honey, cinnamon and lemon. Yummy!

A cake tin with a loose bottom is always best for cheesecake, like this one from Amazon.

Last but certainly not least, our Biscoff Cheesecake recipe is a real showstopper! Lovers of Biscoff’s subtly spiced, caramelised flavours will be obsessed. We’ve used Biscoff biscuits with Biscoff spread to get ALL the deliciousness into the mixture. And it’s still only 234 calories per serving!

We’ve kept this hugely popular slimming-friendly recipe low in calories by using a few clever low-fat swaps. You can’t freeze this one, but leftovers won’t be an issue. Trust us!

For a taste of cheesecake without making a larger showstopper, our Fruit Swirl Cheesecake Squares are absolutely perfect. As well as an irresistible creamy layer, you’ll also bite into a moreish, crunchy, reduced-fat biscuit base.

You’ll simmer fresh berries and and orange juice until syrupy to create the fun and colourful fruit swirl topping. Keep them in your tupperware until it’s time to pop the kettle on for The Great British Bake Off!

What’s your dessert speciality?

Do you go for a showstopper or keep things simple? We’d love to see your photos of what you’re cooking up while you’re watching The Great British Bake Off 2023 over in our Facebook Group. With almost 1 million members, it’s the place to be if you’re looking for some moral support or inspiration on your slimming journey.

If you share your photos on Instagram, don’t forget to tag us in your stories – we don’t want to miss any of your posts! You can also upload your masterpieces to our website Gallery. It’s really simple to do if you’ve got a website account already (our step-by-step guide to sign up for a free website account is here).