Tuesday 5 February 2013

Review of 'Sweets from the Earth' Gluten Free Fair Trade Espresso Cheesecake

Sweets from the Earth -- Gluten Free Fair Trade Espresso Cheesecake (vegan, gluten free)
Overall Rating: 4/5
Summary: the cream cheese is rich, light, smooth, and creamy. It was sweet, with a hint of that cream cheese sharpness. The espresso flavour was present, but I feel that it could have been a bit more intense. Unfortunately the cake/crust layer was not so great. It wasn't crunchy and crisp enough to feel like a crust, but not moist enough to feel like cake. It was just okay. The nutritional profile is a bit of an issue for me. There's a high calorie-count and for a small portion size (250 calories, 14g of fat, and 25g of sugars for only 100g). Still, overall, I'd recommend this cake for a special occasions. It was quite good. I'd pick it up for an event, not for my home and personal consumption.

Where to buy: Whole Foods, Metro, Highland Farms, Fortinos, Wanigan, Longos


Ingredients: non-hydrogenated vegan "cream cheese" (water, expeller pressed oils (soybean, palm fruit, olive), maltodextrin, soy protein, tofu, non dairy lactic acid, organic sugar, natural gums (locust bean, guar, cellulose, xanthan and carrageenan), veg mono and diglycerides, salt), organic evaporated cane juice, organic tofu, organic fair trade espresso, arrowroot flour.
Crust: gluten free flour blend (whole grain brown rice, sorghum, chickpea, tapioca), organic evaporated cane juice, brown rice syrup, natural oil blend (sunflower, palm, soya, canola, olive), cocoa, baking soda, sea salt.

Nutrition Facts
Serving size: 100g or 1/8 of the cake
Calories: 250
Fat: 14g
     Saturated: 4.5g
     Trans: 0g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 330mg
Carbohydrates: 28g
     Fiber: 0g
     Sugars: 25g
Protein: 3g
Iron: 4%

So, I'm always pleased to find desserts that don't make me choose between great taste and great ingredients. I love that Sweets from the Earth is GMO-free. However there is now some budding concern over the negative health impacts of carrageenan. You can read more about its links to gastrointestinal issues and cancer here.

The nutritional profile isn't that great, unfortunately. It's quite high in calories for such a small piece, but it is quite filling. The fat content is very high (14g!), with 4.5g of saturated fat. It's also pretty high in sodium and sugars and has no fiber and only 3g of protein. There are mostly empty calories, it pains me to say.

Other Gluten-Free Cakes:
Brand:
  • Born in 2002
  • All products are vegan
  • All natural ingredients
  • All products are kosher
  • Over 50% of ingredients are organic
  • No refined sugars
  • Their sunflower oil is GMO-free; they do not use canola oil (most commonly GMO)
  • The corn-based ingredients they do use are organic, and thus GMO-free

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