Frugal Baking

Around here, birthdays call for a Deep Dark Chocolate Cake. Yum!! This is the best chocolate cake I've ever had.

The cake tradition began last year when we visited a dietitian who helped us learn how to lower my husband's cholesterol through his diet. (We wanted to avoid starting cholesterol meds at all costs!) We cut beef/pork down to two servings weekly and went chicken, fish, and beans for the rest of the week. We began checking labels for any partially hydrogenated oils and realized that that type of oil was listed on almost every processed food label we read. We found a few packaged snack items he could eat, but it got old eating the same things all the time.

That's when I got creative with my baking. I tried taking traditional recipes and altering them so that they were more cholesterol-friendly. I found this cake recipe and changed it so that my husband could eat it... and everyone loved it. So it's stayed around. If you'd like to try it, here's my version:

Deep Dark Chocolate Cake

2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup Hershey's cocoa

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup Egg Beaters (I use the Kroger brand of these.)

1 cup skim milk

1/2 cup canola oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
Begin heating water in your tea kettle.
Grease and flour a 13x9 cake pan (or two 9-inch rounds).
In a large bowl, stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Add Egg Beaters, milk, oil, and vanilla.
Beat on medium speed of electric mixer for two minutes.
Stir in the boiling water. (This will REALLY thin the batter.)
Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake:
35-40 minutes for 13x9 pan
30-35 minutes for two 9-inch rounds

I have yet to find an icing recipe that isn't made with butter or shortening. So we top this cake with vanilla frozen yogurt and Hershey's chocolate syrup. Everyone except my hubby usually sprinkles a few mini chocolate chips on it too. YUMMY!

If you love to bake, be sure to stop by the Ultimate Recipe Swap hosted by Life As MOM. You'll find LOTS of baked goods recipes there this week!