KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 7 — When it comes to following a healthy diet, usually desserts are limited to fresh fruits. Those pretty tempting treats like cakes are verboten since they are laden with sugar.

But now you can indulge without ditching your healthy-eating regime by ordering The Honest Treat’s range of raw desserts that is crafted from healthy fruits and nuts. The treats are also free from refined sugar, gluten, dairy, eggs, preservatives and artificial colouring. A majority of their ingredients is also organic.

The two ladies behind The Honest Treat (left to right): Fatin Khalid and Irene Chiaw

The venture is set up by mothers Fatin Khalid and Irene Chiaw who have been friends since they were schoolmates. Both women share a common vision which is to provide their children with healthier options for desserts and treats.

"I came from an oil and gas background. When my husband was posted overseas, I followed him and found a passion in baking and cooking. After that, I reconnected with Irene and we decided to do something about this idea I had for healthy desserts. Irene’s husband Kong is one of the co-founders of La Juiceria, a healthy food company,” said Fatin.

Long story short, The Honest Treats became a sister company of La Juiceria as they both share the same mission which is to promote healthy living through nutritious food. Chiaw and Fatin saw that Malaysians are getting health-conscious and felt The Honest Treat could fill the gap for healthy desserts.

Their first creation was "raw” cakes. One part of the cake is composed of cashew cream. It’s made by soaking cashew nuts for hours or overnight before it is blended with an industrial blender  to form a creamy paste. The recipe that The Honest Treat uses consists of 90 per cent cashew nuts making it rich and tasty.

For the cake base, a mixture of hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts and dates is blended together with raw cacao powder and Himalayan sea salt until it is dense enough to be packed into a tin.

Each "cake” layer will be given different flavours by adding in pureed blueberries, bananas, raspberries and lemons. The raw cakes are not baked but frozen for at least six hours to let the mixture set. They are then taken out of the mould and decorated. Its texture is similar to that of a no-bake frozen cheesecake.

The Berry Banana raw cake is made with dual layers of blueberry and banana flavoured cashew cream

No preservatives or artificial colouring is used hence it has to be kept frozen at all times and can only last two weeks. It is best served after thawing for 15 minutes. The colour you see on the cakes is natural... from the fruits and nuts.

The Honest Treat has seven cake flavours such as Berry Banana, Banoffee, Minty Chocolate, Tropical Surprise, Raspberry Dream, Raspberry Choc and Orange Chocolate. According to Fatin, most of their customers love the chocolate flavours.

However each flavour has its own fans. For Chiaw and Fatin, their personal favourite is the Orange Chocolate flavour. Fatin is also working towards providing nut-free cakes as well because nut allergy is one of the common allergies faced by many people here. "There are nut-free recipes using ingredients like dried mulberries but that could be pricey and we want to be able to make it affordable for everyone,” said Fatin.

For a special occasion, order the Raspberry Dream raw cake beautifully decorated with edible flowers

At RM14.90 a slice, The Honest Treat cakes are fairly reasonably priced since most of the ingredients are organic. Instead of brown sugar or honey, agave nectar is used. Virgin coconut oil replaces the butter or margarine used in normal cakes.

Although The Honest Treat raw cakes are 350 calories, which is almost equivalent to a slice of regular chocolate cake, Fatin said that these are filled with vitamins, nutrients, good fats and minerals which are not empty calories. The cakes are dense and compact making each slice very filling.  Unlike eating a cake filled with sugar that may set off cravings for more sugar, you will find that is absent when you consume a The Honest Treat raw cake.

The Honest Treat also offers Petit Fours consisting of pitted dates stuffed with nuts and chocolate truffles made from raw cacao. For Ramadan and Raya, they offered a special gift box consisting of the Petit Fours. For ice cream lovers, you can also pick up their RawC pops — dairy-free ice cream churned from cashews and raw cacao. Coming up on the RawC pop menu is the Raspberry Banana flavour.

The brand just launched in February this year and there are plans to expand to more La Juiceria outlets.

A favourite of the two owners is the Orange Chocolate raw cake

"The future plan for The Honest Treat is to be able to have its own outlet, a healthy dessert bar that also serves cakes, ice cream, chocolates and granola bars and also to promote healthy living and giving Malaysians the healthier options when it comes to desserts and treats.

"The Honest Treat is blessed to be able to use La Juiceria Detox Juice bars as our platform to sell our cakes. We believe the healthy juices complement our treats and vice versa. Customers have the convenience of La Juiceria outlets to get their hands on The Honest Treat cakes and treats,” said Chiaw.

The Honest Treat products are sold at select La Juiceria stores found in Sri Hartamas, 1 Utama Shopping Centre, Bangsar Shopping Centre, Berjaya Times Square, Mid Valley Megamall and their cafe Goodness Greens in Taman Tun Dr Ismail. Plans are also underway to include the La Juiceria outlet at NU Sentral.

Customers can also buy online at www.thehonesttreat.com or their Facebook (www.facebook.com/thehonesttreat) and Instagram (www.instagram.com/thehonesttreat) page. Whole cakes are also available for purchase. Delivery is available in Klang Valley and the delivery fee is charged according to your area code