Mellow Moist Low-Fat Chocolate Cake  

It doesn’t seem that long ago that low-fat recipes were all the rage and and a sort of panacea for losing weight and maintaining cardio health. This was a little unfortunate in that many fine things such as eggs, butter and even olive oil became dietetically verboten. That has all changed a good deal recently but I’d still like to introduce you to this recipe, because I think it makes a very good cake even though the complete fat content is one egg yolk. I dragged it out a couple of weeks ago. Some friends were coming to dinner and one was having gall bladder trouble and needed to restrict the fat in her diet. I like a good challenge — Colcannon Christmas dinner at one time needed to accommodate vegetarian, lactose-intolerant and gluten-free diet preferences and it was always fun to come up with a festive dinner.  

I found the recipe in a book called CookWise by Shirley Corriher which deals with the science of cooking and offers recipes for how to apply that science to one’s cooking. It’s an intriguing read and the recipes are very good.  

You’ll see below that it calls for puréed sweet potato. You’ll save yourself some time and work by using two 4 oz jars of sweet potato baby food. 

Ingredients:  

1 cup (250 mL) no-fat sour cream 
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Dutch processed cocoa powder 
1 large egg 
1 large egg white 
2/3 cup (150 mL) pureed baked sweet potato, cooled (1 large, about 3/4 pound/350 g) 
1 tablespoon (15 mL) vanilla extract 
1 ounce (30 g) unsweetened chocolate, melted 
3/4 cup (175 mL) cake flour 
1/2 cup (125 mL) packed light brown sugar 
1/2 cup (125 mL) granulated sugar 
3/4 teaspoon (4 mL) baking powder 
1/4 teaspoon (1 mL) baking soda 
1/2 teaspoon (2 mL) salt 
Icing sugar, optional 
Preparation: 
Grease 9-inch (23 cm) round cake pan and line with parchment or wax paper. Grease circle. Lightly dust bottom and sides with flour.  

Put sour cream in large bowl. Sift cocoa through sieve on to sour cream and stir together. Add egg and egg white. Beat for 1 minute. Add sweet potato puree, vanilla and melted chocolate; beat well.  

Combine and sift together cake flour, brown and granulated sugars, baking powder, baking soda and salt into medium bowl. Stir half the flour mixture into cocoa mixture. Add remaining flour mixture and stir well. Scrape down sides with each addition. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth the surface with a rubber spatula.  

Bake at 350º F (180º C) for 25 to 30 minutes or until cake springs back when pressed lightly in centre. Do not overbake.  

Let cake cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes. Invert cake on to rack sprayed with nonstick cooking spray; let cool completely. Just before serving dust with icing sugar.  

Makes 8 to 10 servings. 
Approximate nutritional analysis for each of 8 servings: 232 calories, 4.7 g protein, 2.8 g fat, 48.8 g carbohydrate.