Larger than life milkshakes piled high with indulgent toppings overflowing onto the plate below. This dessert phenomenon recently left social media on fire and millions of mouths watering. We’re talking mason jars coated with ganache, followed by your milkshake of choice and finished off with a selection of toppings – salted caramel, Nutella, marshmallows, pretzels and doughnuts to name a few.
With one of these addictive beverages totaling up to 1500 calories, wholefoods lover and blogger Kate Cook, 26, turned the concept on its head by creating her own healthier alternative with an 88 per cent lower sugar count. We tracked down Kate to tell us her delicious story.
Can you tell us about your version of a freakshake and how you came up with the idea?
I kept seeing photos of freakshakes on my social media feeds and wondered how I might go about making a cleaner version. Then I saw one of my favourite YouTube channels How to Cook That create a pretzel freakshake, and since I often try to recreate her treats I knew I had my latest challenge.
I’m all for indulging in a treat every now and then but when I did a calculation on the number of calories it was just far too indulgent. Don’t get me wrong – I love a great dessert on the odd occasion but 1500 calories for just one drink was too crazy. I think this food trend is very scary when you see how popular some of these desserts are becoming. As a very occasional treat they are completely fine, but I wouldn’t be surprised if people were consuming them semi-regularly with no idea how many calories are in a single serve.
So I set about looking at the ingredients of the original and found a healthier alternative for each one. I swapped Nutella for a Cocoa Peanut Butter Spread, regular whipped cream for coconut whipped cream (both of which contain healthy fats) and regular sugar-ridden drinking chocolate for a sugar-free version. It is still an indulgent treat but it is made from much healthier, less calorie dense foods. Trust me – it’s absolutely delicious and totally worth the prep time when you know you can enjoy it guilt-free.
Your clean freakshake made some serious waves – even being picked up by buzzfeed.com. What other feedback did you get?
I have intrigued quite a few people with the concept. Some people can’t understand why you’d add pretzels to a milkshake and others love the idea of being able to eat a ‘guilt-free’ version of something so indulgent.
What did the experience teach you?
There are so many amazing options available these days and you can find a healthier substitute for many foods if you look hard enough. It is also possible to improvise and use what you have at home already. No chocolate peanut spread? Use peanut butter! No soy Bliss ice cream? Make yourself frozen banana ‘nice cream’ instead. Where there is a will, there is a way!
When did your interest in wholefoods begin?
I’ve cooked with wholefoods for the last four years. I came across Sarah Wilson’s blog when I was diagnosed with an overactive thyroid and was looking for ways to ease my symptoms through a healthy diet. Sarah talked a lot about how reducing sugar intake and increasing healthy fats in her diet helped with her thyroid issues, so I was keen to give it a try. I didn’t want to get rid of sweet foods altogether so I wanted to find a way to incorporate delicious treats into my diet that were more nutritious.
Do you have any plans to create similar version of other popular desserts?
I actually make a chia seed chocolate mousse that my fiancé can’t believe is healthy so maybe I should share that recipe with the world next.
Visit smallpaperthings.com to find out how to make Kate’s clean freakshake for yourself.
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