Recipe: Frosted Cake

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Courtesy of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute

This Valentine’s Day, treat the ones you love and satisfy your sweet tooth without damaging your diet with this heart-healthy chocolate cake recipe. Remember, moderation is the key to successful, sustainable weight loss. Unless your willpower is resolute, it is unrealistic to think a healthy lifestyle means never eating any desserts again – just remember to pay attention to the serving size. To garnish and add a nutritional boost, try adding fresh fruit such as strawberries on top of this delectable chocolate cake.

INGREDIENTS:

For cake:

2 ¼ cups cake flour
2 ¼ tsp baking powder
4 Tbsp margarine
1 ¼ cup sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp orange peel
¾ cup skim milk
Strawberries or other fruit to garnish

For icing:

3oz. low fat cream cheese
2 Tbsp skim milk
6 Tbsp cocoa
2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
½ tsp vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

To prepare cake:
  1. Preheat oven to 325°F.
  2. Grease 10-inch round pan (at least 2 1/2 inches high) with small amount of cooking oil or use nonstick cooking oil spray. Powder pan with flour. Tap out excess flour.
  3. Sift together flour and baking powder.
  4. In separate bowl, beat together margarine and sugar until soft and creamy.
  5. Beat in eggs, vanilla, and orange peel.
  6. Gradually add flour mixture, alternating with milk, beginning and ending with flour.
  7. Pour mixture into pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until done. Let cake cool for 5–10 minutes before removing from pan. Let cool completely before icing.
To prepare icing:
  1. Cream together cream cheese and milk until smooth. Add cocoa. Blend well.
  2. Slowly add sugar until icing is smooth. Mix in vanilla.
  3. Smooth icing over top and sides of cooled cake.
  4. Top with strawberries or fruit of your choice.

Serves 16

Nutritional information: 241 calories; 5g fat; 2g saturated fat; 57mg cholesterol; 273mg sodium; 1g fiber; 4g protein; 45g carbohydrates; 95mg potassium.