The Daily Balance

It seems as if this past weekend was a popular one to host family picnics! The Mister and I had one on both sides of our family, and many friends of ours had cookouts in their respective ‘hoods, as well.

I always like bringing a dessert. Why? Two reasons.

The first is obvious, I need to make sure there WILL BE a dessert – I mean, who throws a gathering without dessert? Well, you’d be surprised…

The second reason is a bit more complicated, and quite genius if I do say so myself. I like to bring the dessert, because then I know, no matter what, there will be a healthy option for me. The funny things is that I don’t even tell anyone else that my dessert is ‘healthy,’ yet it’s always gobbled up in its entirety!

This weekend was the perfect opportunity to bake the perfect HEALTHY chocolate cake. Make this for your next family function — I swear, no one will ever know this cake is healthy – it’s THAT good!

I used the Maple Grove Farms Chocolate Velvet Cake recipe, but made the following adjustments:

• Used 1/2 cup egg beater instead of eggs (I was out!)
• Used 3/4 cup buttermilk with 1/2 cup skim milk (couldn’t taste the difference!)

I received several compliments on this cake and many were very surprised to find out that it was healthy. If you don’t like using sugar substitutes, just use sucanat or regular sugar. I brought along some whipped topping that really took this cake over the top. And since it was ‘healthy,’ you KNOW I had seconds (okay, maybe thirds!) This cake was so incredibly moist and full of chocolately flavor. Hard to believe that each serving was less than 200 calories…

What do you typically bring to a picnic? I brought angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream to the other function…

8 Responses to “Make it – The Perfect Chocolate Cake”

1. VeggieGirl said:

   Oooh!!

   To picnics, I typically bring a batch of blondies or some fruit.

   Posted on August 17, 2009 at 9:58 am | Reply
2. Lizzy said:

   holy cow that looks amazing! I’m sure it tasted just as good if not better! YUMMMMM

   Posted on August 17, 2009 at 9:58 am | Reply
3. Mara @ What's for Dinner? said:

   I do the same thing! I’ll bring an appetizer and dessert so I know theres at least SOMETHING healthy

   Posted on August 17, 2009 at 10:55 am | Reply
4. K said:

   What a great cake! I’m the same (token dessert bringer) for the same reason, I know there will be something healthy

   Posted on August 17, 2009 at 11:25 am | Reply
5. Jenny said:

   woo-wee that cake is a masterpiece!

   Posted on August 17, 2009 at 8:48 pm | Reply
6. Sweet_Tooth said:

   I do the same thing! I always volunteer to bring the bake goods to an event because I’ve developed a nack for substituting healthy low-cal alternatives into baking recipes just like this! That way I can stay in control and don’t have to sweat about a little social indulgence.

   Glad your cake was a success!

   Posted on August 17, 2009 at 11:33 pm | Reply
7. Free Stuff said:

   Thanks for the informative post – I loved reading it! I always love browsing this blog.

   Posted on November 29, 2009 at 4:27 am | Reply
8. Elliott Gilmore said:

   You have done a marvellous job by exploring this subject with such an honesty and depth. Thanks for sharing it with us!

   Posted on January 8, 2010 at 7:53 pm | Reply