75 Per Cent less Carbohydrate

"I've always been a healthy eater, but with a tremendously sweet tooth," explains Bygrave, who is also a complementary therapist with a massage and reflexology practice. "I had very bad eczema as a child and poor digestion, so I've always been aware of the effect food has on my wellbeing. I avoid wheat and dairy as they make my skin flare up. But I crave sweetness and, as the years have gone by, I've developed recipes for desserts using natural ingredients that virtually anyone can eat."

We begin with the raspberry mousse, made from cashew nuts and desiccated coconut ground up finely in a coffee grinder. To this we add xylitol, a naturally-occurring sweetener that is found in plants, fruit and the human body. Marketed in Britain as Perfect Sweet, it can be found in supermarkets and health food shops. Xylitol has 75 per cent less carbohydrate than sugar and 40 per cent fewer calories, and is extracted from birch trees. White and powdery, it's very sweet on the tongue but has no sugary aftertaste.

After that comes sweet agave syrup - extracted from the plant used to make tequila - followed by water, then coconut oil, which we melt in a pan and use to bind the mixture. Finally we introduce the (frozen) raspberries and mix them using a blender. Then we place the mixture in the fridge to set. Next up is the lemon cheesecake. The base is made from hazelnuts and sunflower seeds. The topping ingredients are desiccated coconut, cashew nuts, coconut oil, agave syrup, lemon juice and zest, which are combined and blended, then poured over the base after it has set in the fridge.

"Because all the ingredients are natural, you aren't eating empty calories, so these desserts are much more filling than bought puddings," says Bygrave. "One of the beauties of xylitol is that it has a glycaemic index that's just over seven, 10 times lower than sugar, so you don't get a blood sugar high followed by a slump." Finally we make the chocolate truffles, which have the same basic ingredients, but with the addition of raw chocolate powder and cocoa butter. We flavour them with vanilla extract, but you can also use tiny amounts of essential oils such as orange or lime. After shaping them into balls, we roll them in xylitol, which makes them look pretty much like a standard truffle. The proof of any pudding however, is in the eating and I am keen to find out just how they taste.