Deceptively Healthy Dessert: Gluten, Dairy, and Grain Free Chocolate Loaf Cake

Hello health food fans, vegans, and gluten free folks!

This recipe was suggested to me by my little brother, Kirby. I know, shocking, right?! Turns out he saw the picture of the original trending on buzzfeed. He didn't know what was in it and I changed the recipe anyway when the consistency wasn't what I wanted. Reading the recipe, I was a little skeptical, but it was better than I expected!

The Recipe: 

Cake:

• 1/2 cup plus 7 tsp pumpkin puree
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp applesauce
• 1 egg (***Dairy free by using 1/2 cup applesauce instead of egg)
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 6 tbsp honey
• 1/2 cup ground flaxseed
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup almond milk
• 2 tbsp cashew butter (almond butter or peanut butter would work as well!)
• 1 1/2 tsp nutella

Glaze: 

• 2 tbsp almond milk
• 1 tsp cocoa powder
• 2 tsp powdered sugar

The Process: 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Mix the salt, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder, and ground flaxseed in a small bowl. 
3. Whisk the pumpkin, almond milk, applesauce, egg, nutella, vanilla, and cashew butter in a larger bowl using a fork.
4. Add the dry to the wet bowl and mix. 
5. Grease a 1 lb loaf pan. 
6. Add batter to pan. 
7. Push chocolate chips into batter. 
8. Bake for 30 minutes. 
9. Mix glaze in a small bowl. 
10. Apply to cake while hot. 
11. Allow cake to cool. 
12. Enjoy! 

The Calories: 

Pumpkin: 53 calories

Applesauce: 2 calories

Cashew Butter: 150 calories

Egg: 70 calories (dairy free substitution has 30 calories)

Salt: 0 calories

Baking Powder: 0 calories

Baking Soda: 0 calories

Cocoa Powder: 98 calories

Vanilla Extract: 12 calories

Honey: 384 calories

Flaxseed: 365 calories

Chocolate Chips: 201 calories

Almond Milk: 10 calories

Nutella: 33 calories

Powdered Sugar: 20 calories

__________________________________________

TOTAL: 1398 calories

This genuinely surprised me! The cake was about 9 slices, which means each slice was only 155 calories of mostly healthy ingredients. The dairy free version contains 150 calories per slice, though applesauce is less protein than eggs. 

What went right:

          The cake tasted great and was gone in one night! Kirby ate three slices and my parents really liked it too. It was rich and moist with the bitterness of dark chocolate and nicely satisfying. It came out of the pan very easily and displayed well. 

What went wrong: 

          Once Kirby was told what was in the cake, he decided he was no longer a fan. We've decided he's no longer allowed to know what's in food. I think I'll make it again and tell him it's different (shhh! ;) )

What I would do next time: 

           While shopping for almond milk, I noted that there is such a thing as dark chocolate almond milk. That is something I definitely want to try, as well as adding more glaze so it covers the entire cake. I would also like to try using half as much cocoa powder and a square of melted baking chocolate (like in brownies). It would also be interesting to use almond butter or peanut butter instead of cashew butter; the consistency of using almond might make the taste more consistent. Additionally, adding pecans or walnuts on top would add some much needed texture. Finally, I would like to serve this with a frozen yogurt, sorbet, or ice cream. Something cold and fruity would go very well with this cake. 

Overall, an amazing and simple cake that I can't wait to play with!

Peanut Butter Nutella Cake

Happy Summer!!

Congratulations to the Emory graduating class of 2014 :)

It's bittersweet to have already finished a year of school. With so many wonderful experiences with friends and challenging courses behind me, I decided the only thing my last day in Turman Hall needed was a cake! Having won a jar of Nutella because my Italian group did such a great job on our video, I was starting to become addicted to the smooth mixture of chocolate and hazelnut. It was time to finish it once and for all!

The Recipe: Peanut Butter Nutella Cake

• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup hot water
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 3 tbsp peanut butter
• 5 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 jar Nutella (1/2 jar in cake, 1/2 jar to frost)
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

The Process:  

1. In a large bowl, whisk all ingredients (be sure to leave 1/2 the jar of Nutella for frosting!!) 
2. Assess your mixture: if it's too dry, add a little milk and re-mix. If it's too wet, add a little flour and re-mix. Continue until it is about as fluid as pancake mix. 
3. I ended up putting the batter in the fridge for about an hour because my floormates wanted to go to lunch and I'm not okay with leaving cakes in the oven without supervision, but cake batters are not typically refrigerated before baking so if you don't have time, don't worry about it! 
4. Pour into springform cake pan (or pan of your choice). 
5. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 40 minutes, watching carefully as this is dependent on your oven. 
6. Allow to cool for at least 1 hour before frosting (use your best judgement, the Nutella will very easily break your warm cake). 
7. Frost with Nutella (be careful!!! potentially apply it to the cake before spreading with an icing bag to avoid cake destruction)
8. Send pictures to friends trapped in airports and other states ;) 
9. Enjoy and share! 
   
   
   

The Calories: 

Sugar- 1546 calories

Flour- 910 calories

Baking Soda- 0 calories

Baking Powder- 0 calories

Eggs- 140 calories

Salt- 0 calories

Vanilla extract- 24 calories 

Milk- 103 calories

Water- 0 calories

Cocoa- 98 calories

Peanut Butter- 188 calories

Butter- 510 calories

Vegetable Oil- 964 calories

Nutella- 1425 calories

Chocolate chips- 359 calories

________________________________________

TOTAL:  6267 calories

Yes, it's a dense cake. But it was cut into at least 12 pieces, making each piece about 522 calories. Oops... :) 

But really, this was a great cake. More than worth it. In fact. while it was baking, three separate maintenance guys came in the kitchen and asked if I was making something. I told them I had a cake in the oven. They asked if I made it. (Duh....) I said yes. They asked if it was from a box. (I could rant for hours about box cakes.) I said no. And then there were some comments I found somewhat sexist regarding some man being very happy with me someday because of my desserts. (I only bake and cook for my family and friends...you know, people who care about me before there's chocolate involved? And of course for myself!) 

What went right: 

          The cake was FANTASTIC. Potentially one of the best cakes I have ever made. 

What went wrong: 

           I completely forgot that my friend Emma doesn't like peanut butter or nutella, so was unable to share it with her :( Also the smell was overwhelmingly seductive while I was trying to pack my room. 

What I would do next time: 

          Nothing in terms of the cake itself. It might be nice to add some chocolate dipped strawberries on top or do it in two layers with raspberry in the middle. Something to add some citrus. 

Overall, it was a great cake and eating it was my prize for creating such a thing of beauty! 

As noted by my friend Jordan, the cake is quite photogenic: 

Cookie Dough Brownie Cake

Yet another hall birthday cake day has come and gone, but not without enough sugar and chocolate to solve our global energy crisis.                  

Happy Birthday to Liljuan and Daniel K., hope you enjoyed our T3 celebration!! :) 

Thanks to Kevin for supplying some of the ingredients and helping me hold this program every month :)

Thanks to Nate for baking with me; you're a natural and I look forward to cooking together more often! I hope you had as much fun as I did :)

Thanks to Aunt Maggie, for the icing bag and tips that made our beautiful writing possible <3

...and to the Maintenance Staff for cleaning up after us the next morning. 

Don't worry, there will be a workout at the end. Trust me, it's worth it. 

The Recipe: Layer 1- Brownies

• 4 oz unsweetened baking chocolate 
• 2 sticks butter
• 2 cups brown sugar 
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

The Process:  Layer 1- Brownies

1. Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees Celsius
2. On low-medium heat, stirring frequently, melt the unsweetened baking chocolate and butter together in a small saucepan. 
3. Whisk the flour, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract together in a large bowl. (Try to not cover the kitchen in flour while mixing ;) )
4. Once the chocolate and butter are completely melted and mixed, add this mix to the bowl, being careful not to burn yourself on the pot. 
5. Mix with a spoon. 
6. Mix in chocolate chips. 
7. Bake for about 23 minutes (depends on your oven, be sure to watch it carefully!)
8. Allow to cool completely (we stuck the pan in the freezer, because it was going to be there later anyway and this accelerated the cooling process). 

The Recipe: Layer 2- Eggless Cookie Dough (safe to eat without baking!)

• 1.5 sticks of butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3 tbsp milk
• 1.5 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1.5 cups chocolate chips

The Process: Layer 2- Eggless Cookie Dough

1. Soften butter in the microwave. (We put the butter in ceramic containers to microwave for a few seconds. Be careful you don't over-nuke it to the point where it explodes in the microwave)
2. Mix all ingredients together with a hand mixer. 
3. Spread over completely cooled brownies (This will take some teamwork and diligence...this recipe only JUST covers the whole pan we used). 

The Recipe: Layer 3- Chocolate Chips

• Chocolate Chips

The Process: Layer 3- Chocolate Chips

1. Spread chocolate chips over cookie dough as desired. I made the admittedly wonderful mistake of not specifying an amount, so SOMEONE decided to go ahead and dump the rest of the bag of chocolate chips on top. He got lucky that I'm from a family that believes you can never have too much chocolate ;) 

The Recipe: Layer 4- Cream Cheese Icing

• 4 oz Neufatchel Cream Cheese
• 1/8 cup butter 
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

The Process: Layer 4- Cream Cheese Icing

1. Mix the butter and cream cheese with a hand mixer. 
2. Mix in vanilla extract. 
3. Mix in powdered sugar. 
4. At first it will not look like icing. Give it a minute, increase the power of the mixer, and you'll see the transformation before your eyes. 
5. Put icing into the icing bag with desired tip. 
6. Write, draw, design, personalize!
7. Be sure to hold the icing tip slightly higher over the chocolate chips than usual, so that they will not come off the cake. 
8. Put cake in freezer until it's time to eat. 

Finally...share with amazing friends!!

The Calories: 

Baking Chocolate- 568 calories

Butter- 375 calories

Brown Sugar- 1724 calories

Eggs- 368 calories

Vanilla Extract- 45 calories

Flour- 1138 calories

Chocolate Chips- 3200 calories

Sugar- 580 calories

Milk- 103 calories

Cream Cheese- 388 calories

Powdered Sugar- 233 calories

___________________________

TOTAL:  8722 calories

Mind you, this is for an entire pan. Now it needs to be divided by about 60....which makes 145 calories per serving. Not bad at all when you share it :) To be honest, most of the icing was not used on the cake  either, so most of the cream cheese and powdered sugar should be removed from the total, but we can just know that we're even healthier than we thought, but work off enough calories to cover it anyway!

What went right: 

         Everything. This cake is flawlessly rich and filling. Everyone who tried it loved it, and the energy and happiness cloud on our hall afterward was quite encouraging! 

What went wrong: 

         Yeah, so, it's not a healthy cookie. Whatever. For 145 calories, this cake is about as rich as any chocolate fudge cake or cheesecake for 200 calories less. Like I said, worth it! 

What would I do next time: 

         The only thing I would do next time is be prettier with the icing. We didn't have time to make it as perfect as I wanted to, but it still looked great! Otherwise, there is nothing that should be changed with this recipe. 

          However, if I were making this for my little brother, I would make peanut butter cookies and melt the chocolate on top, so that it would be a Reese's cake. 

Overall, a fantastic cake, entirely worth the calories, and so much fun to make :) 

Now the workout...

So, we need to burn at least 145 calories. There are a few easy ways to do so: 

1. Run 1.5 miles at 10 minute pace. 
2. Walk for an hour at a moderate pace. 
3. Crunches for 15 minutes (45 calories), Squats for 15 minutes (70 calories), Kneeling Pushups for 15 minutes (60 calories). This should be done in intervals, but these are the totals necessary. 
4. 15 minutes yard work (75 calories) and 15 minutes of walking up and down stairs (100 calories). You'd be surprised how easy it is to spend 15 minutes doing stairs in college! 

But in all reality, as long as this is your only dessert for the day, there's really no need to worry! 

German Apple Cake

Guten tag und willkommen! 

This post was inspired by my want to make a cake today and an abundance of apples in the fridge. The recipe comes from pinterest, and it's one I've wanted to make for a long time just so I could try it. 

While the cake was cooling, I sent a photo to a couple friends in Germany, and one asked why he'd never seen something like it before. To be honest, I was wondering the same thing, since I'm German and Austrian by blood. I did a little research on the topic, assuming it has a German name. Lo and behold, the recipe I found is an adaptation of Weiner Apfelkuchen. Now that I've found a more traditional recipe, I will definitely be trying that as well, despite the traditional sugar and fat content.

A German Apple Cake is essentially four layers. 

The Recipe: Layer 1: The Cake

• 1.5 cups Flour
• 3/4 cup Sugar
• 1 stick Butter
• 2 Large Eggs
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 3/4 cup Milk
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

The Process: Layer 1

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 
2. Blend all cake ingredients and pour into desired pan. (I used a glass casserole dish. The original recipe recommends a 9 x 13 baking dish. Next time I make this dish, I would like to use a shorter dish, because it took a very long time for mine to bake.)

The Recipe: Layer 2 

• 3-4 Apples, peeled and thinly sliced

The Process: Layer 2

1. Lay the apples on the cake layer in your desired pan/dish. Be sure to cover the whole area. (Mine covered a much larger area.)

The Recipe: Layer 3

• 1 cup Butter
• 1 cup Flour
• 1 cup White Sugar

The Process: Layer 3

1. Combine the three ingredients in a small bowl. It will be very crumbly even after mixed. 
2. Spread over the apples (Layer 2). 

The Recipe: Layer 4

• 1.5 tablespoons White Sugar
• 1.5 tablespoons Cinnamon

The Process: Layer 4

1. In a small bowl/plate, combine the Cinnamon and Sugar. 
2. Carefully sprinkle this on top of the whole of Layer 3. 
3. Bake for about 40 minutes. (Mine took much longer! Be sure to watch and test to see when your cake is finished.)

The Calories: 

Flour- 1138 calories

Sugar- 589 calories

Butter- 2430 calories

Eggs- 147 calories

Baking Powder- 2 calories

Milk- 65 calories

Vanilla- 6 calories

Apples- 380 calories

Cinnamon- 2 calories

________________________

TOTAL: 4759 calories

Yes, this seems bad. However, the cake that I made is very very thick, meaning half a slice is about all you need to be full, as it is extremely rich. Assuming the cake is about 10 servings (which would change if you made a thinner, larger cake), each serving is 475.9 calories. Admittedly, this is not a healthy cake. 

What went right:

          The cake was magnificently delicious, and even more delicious after it was refrigerated. 

What went wrong:

          Because I used such a thick pan, baking took a long time, and I don't think I completely finished baking it by the end, because the middle was slightly soft. This did not make it taste any worse, but altered the texture. I would like to try making it in a different pan and see if that makes it better. 

Would I make this in college:

           This is one of those cakes that takes a very long time to make by yourself, but would be fun and easy to make with a group of people because there are so many tasks that can theoretically happen all at once. Therefore, I would make this cake as a Month Birthday Cake for sure, but not necessarily just for the sake of making a cake. 

What would I do next time:

          Like I said, I would like to try the more traditional version of this cake, and try making it in a different pan. 

Overall, this cake was delicious, but not healthy. 

So......

The workout that accompanies this cake is an elliptical workout. In one hour, I burned 500 calories by doing an interval workout that alternated between 9, 11, and 13 crossramp, with 1 resistance. Essentially, I did high knees for an hour. It was easier than it sounds; once you get into a rhythm, it's easy to hold it even when the crossramp increases. 

Geneissen!!

M&M Eclair Cake

Hello Decadent Dessert Connoisseurs!

Today's recipe was shared with my entire hall as the birthday cake for October. Happy birthday to my hallmates, Emma, Clarissa, and Kyle :) Thanks to Emmy, Lauren, and Liljuan for baking with me! 

The recipe was originally adapted from the girl who ate everything's Eclair Cake, and a Pinterest photo of a cake covered in M&Ms. However, due to some complications with the instant pudding not solidifying properly in a four hour time period, we had to make some changes to the original plan. Thankfully, it still tasted fantastic and our hall -quite literally- ate it up! 

The Recipe: M&M Eclair Cake

The Crust: 

• 1 cup of all-purpose flour 
• 1 stick of unsalted butter
• 1 cup of water
• Four large eggs

The Filling:

• 1 large box of Vanilla Instant Pudding
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 3 cups milk

The Whipped Cream:

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar (can be substituted for 3 tbsp granulated white sugar)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

The Decorations: 

• 1 bag of Dark Chocolate M&Ms

The Process: 

The Pudding: ****Must be made the night before or you will not have firm pudding!!****

• Beat pudding mix and milk for 3 minutes.
• Boil pudding-milk mix on the stove. 
• Put in the fridge until set. 
• Also chill a separate bowl for your cream cheese.

Ours did not set, and we ended up pouring the liquid into the crust and refrigerating the whole cake, it still didn't completely set after four hours, and we poured out the liquid, topped it with whipped cream, and ate a slightly less thick cake.

After reading the directions on the actual pudding box rather than the online recipe for this cake, I realized it was missing a crucial step: boiling the pudding-milk mix before putting it in the fridge. We did not do this, but I added it in just for you.

The Filling:

• Whip cream cheese into the chilled bowl
• Slowly add pudding and whip until there are no lumps. It must be thick before being added to the cream cheese. 

The Puff Pastry:  

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Lightly grease a regular baking sheet
• In a medium saucepot, slowly melt butter in water until it boils. Remove from stove. 
• Put flour in bowl, add water/butter mixture, and stir. 
• Completely mix in one egg at a time (this is the part where it's so much easier to have two people!)
• Spread mixture evenly onto the pan, covering the bottom and sides. It should be relatively wet, like cake batter, rather than thick like cookie batter. 
• Bake until golden brown. (Ours took about 30 minutes.) Remove from the oven and allow to cool without covering it. 

The Whipped Cream: 

• Using a separate chilled bowl, or the chilled bowl from your filling, mix cream and sugar for 1-2 minutes on high. 
• Add vanilla and beat for an additional couple minutes. It should look fluffy rather than thick. 

Putting it all together:

• Once your crust has cooled, pour in the filling. 
• Top with whipped cream. 
• Arrange M&Ms in a pattern, or cover the whole cake, as desired! 

The Calories:

Flour: 455 calories

Butter: 810 calories

Water: 0 calories

Eggs: 312 calories

Pudding: 480 calories

Milk: 309 calories

Cream Cheese: 776 calories

Cream: 821 calories

Powdered Sugar: 154 calories

Vanilla Extract: 6 calories 

M&Ms: 3120 calories

__________________________________________________

TOTAL: 7243 calories

However, I'd say 80% of the milk, pudding, and cream cheese were not in the cake, so subtracting:
7243-[.80*(480+309+776)]= 5991 calories

The cake made about 60 servings, and was shared between 30 people. This means a single serving was about 100 calories. At an average of 2 servings each, that makes a single person's consumption only about 200 calories. (Looks a lot better, doesn't it!!)

While this is far from a healthy dessert (workout included at the end), one of my friends made a wise, biological observation grounded in 100% scientifically proven fact: Calories don't count on your birthday! ;) 

So keep this treat as a birthday favorite, or be sure to share it, as we all deserve a treat sometimes :) 

What went right:

         Most people loved the cake and the puff pastry was perfect; it ended up tasting relatively like a crepe. It's definitely necessary to have the M&Ms for texture and taste, and I think this would be true regardless of the filling concentration.

What went wrong:
        The filling, as mentioned, did not set easily. It would have been nice to know about that earlier. Maybe our fridge just isn't as cold as it should be, but at least now we know for next time.

What I would do next time:
         Make the pudding the night before. I also might try making a custard instead of pudding, since that way I know for sure it will set in a given bake time.

Will I make this again in college?: 
         Given that we all decided we would like make the cake together again, I'd go with yes on that one, as long as it's with my friends :)

Overall, a great cake despite the contents. Made with the full recipe, it definitely needs a work out, but not if you only eat two servings of the one we ended up making.

My personal favorite way to get over college calories is a dance party! Dancing is a fantastic workout, when done full-out. It's a great ab work out, and if you dance in three inch heels like I do, you get some extra leg toning too!

If you're not up for a dance party, do the following rotation three times:
50 crunches
50 reverse crunches
50 oblique crunches
20 leg lifts on one side
20 bridges
20 leg lifts on the other side
20 squats

This should take about 15-20 minutes and you'll burn about 100 calories, depending on your initial weight.

Deceptively Healthy Dessert: Fat Free Chewy Chocolate Cookies

Welcome Deceptively Healthy Baking Fans! 

I was skeptical of this cookie recipe when I came across it on Pinterest. 'Fat free' and 'chocolate cookie' just didn't seem to fit in the same paragraph, much less recipe title. As the cookies came together, it made more sense...

The Recipe: Fat Free Chewy Chocolate Cookies

• 1.5 Cups Flour
• 1/2 Cup Sugar
• 1/2 Cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup Karo syrup
• 3 egg whites 

The Process:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
• Butter a cookie sheet or spray with cooking spray
• In a large bowl, mix/sift the cocoa, baking soda, flour, sugar, and salt. Try to get out all the lumps.
• Crack your eggs into a smaller bowl, separating the whites from the yolks by carefully transferring the yolk back and forth between the egg shell halves. (You can save the yolks separately for later use in any other small container. If you do not save them separately, remember to label the container '3 egg yolks', so you know later on)
• Add the egg whites and Karo (corn syrup) to the dry ingredients
• Mix until the dough becomes thick, sticky, and thoroughly blended
• Use a spoon to drop small cookie balls onto the cookie sheet (the recipe says it makes 30, but I made almost 60...size matters!)
• Bake for 7-9 minutes, watching to see that the cookies rise
• They will still be soft to the touch, but a toothpick test will come out dry
• Allow cookies to cool and set for a couple minutes
• When storing, be sure to use wax paper to separate the cookies, and do not lock them into the container. Otherwise, they will stick together. 
• Enjoy!

The Calories:

Again, I've taken this recipe from another source. The only thing I changed was the salt content, which I cut in half. Additionally, mine were smaller. The recipe online says 55 calories per cookie. This makes mine about 27 calories per chewy chocolate cookie, and zero fat! 

What went right: 

         They are fantastic!!! Everyone who's had one loved it. They almost taste like brownies, and the small size, zero fat, and low calorie content makes them guilt-free as well :) 

What went wrong: 

         The first time I packaged them, I learned that they stick together. This was quickly remedied, and did nothing to the amazing taste of the cookies.

What I would do next time:

          A few new recipes for the batter come to mind...

1. Fat Free Blondie Cookies (no cocoa powder and light Karo syrup)
2. Fat Free Chewy Chocolate cookies with walnuts (add walnuts...could be done with pecans or almonds as well)
3. Fat Free Chewy Chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips (add white chocolate chips)
4. Fat Free Chewy Chocolate cupcakes with banana chocolate frosting (made with a frozen banana and unsweetened cocoa powder)
5. Chewy Chocolate Boston Creme cupcakes (bake cupcakes, cut the top open, fill with custard, close, and top with all natural, home made whipped cream)
6. Fat Free Chewy Chocolate cake batter (filling can vary from raspberries to chocolate truffle/mousse and caramel...possibilities are endless)

Will I do this in college:

          To all my lovely future classmates who so kindly read my blog, I promise you I will be making these cookies a LOT! They are quick and easy and -for the 15th time- fat free!

This recipe is definitely going to come back in other forms, so stay tuned for the fat free results!