Cake Adventures: Dairy-Free Chocolate Cake

Last year for my birthday I had two cakes. The first one was a sugar-free jello poke cake to go along with my sugar free commitment for Lent. The other cake was chocolate and decorated to look like a hamburger. (I made the sugar-free cake, but we bought the hamburger cake).

Survivor Jello Poke Cake

April Fool's Cheeseburger Cake

 The jello cake turned out amazing, even though I hate jello! Some of my friends actually preferred it to the hamburger cake. Many of them thought that it was strange that I didn't eat the regular cake. This year, I am I want to eat regular cake along with everyone else, but I am not willing to compromise my healthy, low-sugar diet to do so.

Enter in my CAKE ADVENTURES. Over the next few weeks I am going to be experimenting with different cake recipes as well as developing my own. The best recipe will be used for my 18th birthday party.

Most of the recipes that I am going to try will probably be chocolate because that is what most people enjoy, but I really like white/yellow cake, banana cake and strawberry cake as well. Basically any good-tasting cake will pass. My criteria then is not what flavor it is, but the nutrition facts. I want it to be somewhat low in calories, sugar and fat, but my expectations are not going to be unrealistic in those facts. Preferably I want the calories to be under 250, the sugar under 15 grams of added sugar, and the fat to be under 8 grams. That may not sound particularly healthy, but remember, I want my friends to enjoy this cake too!

So, here is my first cake recipe. It is fat-free, low in calories and sugar, and it is dairy-free! This recipe does include 1/4 cup egg beaters, but that can be replaced with 1/4 cup applesauce or egg-replacement to make this recipe vegan. This also includes a low-calorie frosting recipe.

Healthy, Dairy-Free Chocolate Cake

Makes 8 servings

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup flour
• 5 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup applesauce
• 1/4 cup egg beaters
• 1/4 cup almond milk
• 3/4 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 355 degrees.
2. Mix first 5 dry ingredients in a bowl.
3. Add the wet ingredients and mix until well combined.
4. Spray a loaf pan or small round pan (Area of about 40 inches) and evenly distribute the cake batter.
5. Bake for 22 minutes or until the cake springs back at your touch.
6. Let cool and frost with chocolate frosting (recipe below).

Low Calorie Chocolate Frosting Recipe:
Combine 5 Tbsp of cocoa powder, 5 Tbsp powdered sugar and 4 Tbsp almond milk. Blend in a food processor for the smoothest texture and best results.

Calories: 75 for cake, 27 for frosting, 102 for entire recipe
Added sugar: 5.5g for cake, 4.5g for frosting, 10g for entire recipe
Fat: 0g for entire recipe

This totally passes the test! It was sweet enough for me, but if I made this for my friends I would probably increase the sugar by 2 Tbsp for the recipe above. Also, I would double the recipe, distribute between two small round pans and layer up the cakes with frostingin between. If divided by 16 servings that would be and extra 11 calories per serving, or if more realistically divided by 10 it would be 180 calories per serving. Not bad at all.

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Know any healthy cake recipes? Please share!

What kind of healthy food do you share at parties?

Do your friends support your healthy eating habits?