In a recent study conducted to compare the benefits of dark chocolate vs other types of chocolate, showed that dark chocolate actually had several health benefits which ranged from controlling blood pressure, blood sugar levels and cholesterol levels.
There are several simple recipes that can help you include dark chocolate in your regular diet with positive benefits to your health.
What Are The Health Benefits Of Dark Chocolate?
Dark chocolate is considered to be beneficial in improving overall health. Dark chocolate contains flavonols, which are powerful antioxidants and have strong anti-inflammatory properties. Recent studies have shown that,
- Dark Chocolate is beneficial in regulating blood sugar levels and prevent spikes of sugar levels.
- Regular consumption of dark chocolate can help in lowering LDL cholesterol, which is considered to be bad for health, while in turn contributes towards increase in good cholesterol or HDL.
- The anti-oxidants in the dark chocolate play a vital role in fighting aging and are also considered beneficial in preventing the occurrence of dreaded diseases like cancer.
- Dark Chocolates can also be beneficial in management of auto-immune and inflammatory conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, etc.
While most of the research studies reiterate the health benefits of dark chocolate, it is always recommended to consume dark chocolates in moderation.
Dark Chocolate Gateau Recipe
Here is a recipe for preparing chocolate gateau, which not only includes the dark chocolate but also contains cherries, which are also loaded with several anti-oxidants. The ingredients that you will require to prepare a chocolate gateau are dark chocolate cake, sugar syrup, cherries and whipped cream.
- Slice the dark chocolate cake into three equal parts and keep it aside.
- Now combine sugar syrup with cherry liquor (if you desire) and soak the syrup for some time. If you don’t want to add cherry liquor, just use the sugar syrup.
- Now soak the bottom layer of the dark chocolate cakes with the sugar syrup, so that the bottom 1/3 of the cakes gets soaked.
- Now remove one piece of the dark chocolate cake from the sugar syrup and place them upside down. Now add whipped cream on the soaked layer of the piece of cake.
- Add a few cherries on the top of the whipped cream and place the next dark chocolate cake piece on top, so that the soaked layer is upwards. Repeat the above steps, till you have used all the three pieces of the dark chocolate cakes.
- Once you have completed preparing the sandwich, spread the cream evenly on the top and sides of the chocolate cake sandwich. Refrigerate it for about 20 minutes to set and your chocolate gateau is ready.
Once the chocolate gateau is out of the refrigerator, scrape a slab of dark chocolate on the entire chocolate gateau. You will need approximately ½ a cup of chocolate shavings. Note that for the above recipe, use low fat whipped cream and limit the amount of sugar syrup that you use, so that dark chocolate remains the most important component of the recipe.