EMBODYING EMOTIONS: Not sugary, just sweet!

A sweet dish almost always touches the deepest corners of our heart and soul. Be it a spongy, chocolate oozing cake or the hot gulab jamuns, our meals as well as our lives are incomplete without desserts.

But somewhere, in this journey of inseparable bond sweets became synonymous with 'sugars' and health issues crept in.

As someone has rightly said that all good relations face the test(s) of time. Our relation with sweet dishes is facing one too.

With more than 62 million people suffering from Diabetes Mellitus in India alone, sweet lovers are being forced to give up on this special bond with desserts.

I think, its time now to realise that sugar can never be synonymous with sweet.

So, I decided why not give a sugar free touch to our bond with the ' dearest desserts'?

Presenting you one of my favourite, extremely easy yet deliciously sweet recipe

'custard trifle-the sugar free way'

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Refrigeration time: 2-4 hours

What you will need

1) Milk - 1 litre

2) Custard powder(Vanilla) -

3) sponge cake - 5-6 pieces

4) Sugar free Natura - according to taste

5) Mixed fruits

6) Whipped cream - 3 tbsp

7) Dry fruits - optional

8) Colourful jelly - optional

Method

1) Warm about a half cup milk in a microwave or on the stove top. Then add 4 tbsp custard powder to the warm milk. Keep this custard powder paste aside.

2) In another pan, take half litre or more milk. stir and heat this milk on low to medium flame. Just bring to a gentle heat and stir.

3) Now add the custard powder paste and stir quickly, so that no lumps are formed.Keep on stirring continuously till the custard thickens.

For trifles you will need a slightly thick consistency. But remember that as the custard cools, it will thicken more. Allow the custard to cool at room temperature.

4) When you can taken the custard mixture off flame, let it cool slightly and then add Sugar free nature according to taste.

5) In another bowl, take 1/2 cup chilled cream. I used amul cream here and whip it till smoothened.

6) Now cut the fruits. You can use apples, bananas, strawberry or just about any seasonal fruits except the citrus ones.

7) Next, slice out the sponge cake into small cubes or you can simple crumble them and spread generously.

8) Now comes my favourite part.

Take a glass dish or if you want to make separate portions in dessert glasses you can do that too.

9) first spread a layer of sponge cake and then moisten it with a layer of custard mixture.

10) Next add a dash a mixed fruits and then again the custard.

11) Then a layer of dry fruits and whipped cream.

12) You can keep on layering and repeating it till the top.

13) Lastly, make the top cream layer even with a spatula and start to decorate it. You can use fruits, berries, jelly or even chocolate shavings to decorate the top layer.