"Not as bad for you" chocolate cake

[76_TypeLT]

My mom made me a chocolate cake for my birthday (thanks mom!) and to my surprise it is on the "not so bad for you" side as far as cakes go. The secret is that you use agave nectar instead of refined sugar as the sweetener. Agave nectar is a low glycemic sweetener. While it still contains calories, it does not have the same adverse effect on blood sugar levels that refined sugar does. It is a very moist, decadent cake. I was surprised that is had no refined sugar, no eggs and no butter. The original recipe is for cupcakes but of course you can just make one big ole cake The batter won't be as thick as you are used to, but that is OK. Also, you can opt to not use any frosting and just use some powdered sugar or some cool whip, etc. Enjoy!


Delicious Chocolate Cupcakes

Serves: 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:
• 1 3/4 cup. all purpose flour
• 1 cup. agave nectar
• 4 Tbsp. cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup. sunflower oil
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cup. hot water
• 2 T. instant coffee

1. Place all dry ingredients in large mixing bowl. Add hot water and using a whisk, stir vigorously until there are no lumps. Add agave last with vanilla and oil. Stir until smooth.

2. Divide evenly into 12 cupcake cups. Bake at 325 for approx 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool.


Frosting (optional)

Makes enough for at least 24 cup cakes

Ingredients:
• 2 cups fat free cream cheese, cold
• 1 cup butter, softened at room temperature
• 2 T vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup agave nectar

1. Mix butter until light and fluffy in bowl of electric mixer. Slowly add in chunks of cold cream cheese. Mix on high until smooth and begin to add agave and vanilla. Once incorporated, stop mixer, scrape down the sides and mix on high for about 30 more seconds.

2. Decorate cupcakes with 2 1/3 Tablespoons frosting per cupcake using either a piping bag or spatula.

Nutritional Analysis per cupcake: Cals: 361 T Fat: 18 gm Chol: 24mg Sodium: 563mg TCarb: 45gm Fiber: 1gm Pro: 6gm

If you really want to dramatically reduce the fat in these cupcakes, you can elect not to use the frosting at all. Without the frosting, and perhaps a dusting of powdered sugar, the nutritionals look like the following:

Cals: 256 Tot fat: 11g Chol: 0mg Sodium: 346mg Tot Carb: 39gm Fiber 1gm Protein: 3gm

[72350RS]

Thanks!

[POS71RS]

that agave sweetner is pretty good stuff. I use it in my coffee.

I've also recently started using a product called NuStevia which is a refined version of the Stevia plant, a natural, herbal sweetner. The plant is dried and ground, which is sweet, but a bit bitter. Then refined NuStevia is a non-bitter version. Pretty good stuff too.

[76_TypeLT]

It costs a little more than sugar or synthetic sweetener, but at the end of the day it's going into your body, so the cost is easy to justify IMO.

[rscamaro73]

Nothing like the cake you add coffee too. They do taste good....

[probizjudi]

This ones sounds like a winner! Anything that does NOT use refined sugar has got to be great IMO! I use agave in my pancake batter as well as on top of them instead of syrup! Yummmm!

I got some Stevia in the Raw (little individual packets) which I use just one in iced green tea. Just sweet enough but not too much!

thx for sharing!