You’d have no idea that there’s a few healthy ingredient swaps in this Healthy Chocolate Cake! So decadent & made with wholesome ingredients!
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Why you will LOVE This Recipe
If you are looking for a rich and decadent dessert that EVERYONE will love, chocolate cake is always the answer. It’s chocolatey, it’s tender, and silky frosting just seals the deal for me! You could bake up a paleo chocolate avocado cake, go low carb with some keto chocolate cake, or even make a chocolate cake in the instant pot! You could ALSO swap out typical cake ingredients and replace them with better-for-you ones, and that’s what we did with this healthy chocolate cake recipe easy. It’s made with ingredients that you will feel good about, but has all the decadent flavor, sweetness and texture that you crave when it comes to chocolate cake. Give it a try and you’ll be glad you did!
What does this chocolate cake taste like?
Chocolate cakes have been one of the most popular desserts of all time. It’s rich and decadent cake that has that sinfully sweet chocolate frosting. And everyone has their own version of it from keto to cooking it in an instant pot. After all, chocolate is one of the greatest pleasures in life. And this recipe doesn’t cut down on the richness and decadence. Did we mention it’s deceptively healthy as well? We swapped out
some of the ingredients for a healthier approach but went all out to achieve that tempting, silky, chocolatey taste that we all look for.
Healthy Chocolate Cake Recipe Ingredients Swaps
- White Whole Wheat Flour: Instead of regular all purpose white flour, I used white whole wheat flour!
- Sugar: This recipe calls for less sugar than a typical cake recipe would. You could also try it with coconut sugar for a less refined sweetener.
- Plain, Non-fat Greek Yogurt: Instead of using a lot of butter or oil for this healthy chocolate cake, we used protein-loaded plain greek yogurt. It makes the cake moist and rich and helps to hold it together, too!
How to make Healthy Chocolate Cake
Prepare
Fire up your oven to let it preheat. Line the bottoms of 2 round cake pans with parchment paper and rub the sides with oil. Set aside.
Mix
In a large bowl, add all the ingredients up to the milk and whisk to combine. Add all remaining ingredients up to the water and mix a little bit to combine. Next, add the hot water and whisk until nice and smooth.
Bake
Divide the batter between the 2 prepared pans and place them in the oven. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let them cool in the pans completely.
Make the Frosting
Beat the butter and yogurt in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually add in the powdered sugar and cocoa powder until smooth, then beat in the vanilla and salt. Cover and chill.
Assemble
Take your cooled cake and place it, bottom side up, on a cake plate. Frost the top, then place the second layer on top. Seal it off with a very thin layer of frosting, then place the cake in the fridge to cool for a bit. Once chilled, frost the rest of the cake.
Enjoy
Slice your cake, serve, and DEVOUR!
Top Tips for making Chocolate Cake
- Don’t Overmix: Until you add the hot water, be careful to not overmix the batter as it will affect the texture of the finished cake.
- Line the pans: While you can just oil the cake pans, I recommend lining the bottom of each pan with parchment. It makes for a clean release when the cakes are cooled.
- Don’t skip the crumb coat: It’s important to frost the cake very thinly, then chill it before frosting the rest. This will keep the crumbs from mixing with the frosting when you go to frost the whole cake.
Chocolate Cake FAQ
You should be able to use a 1:1 gluten free flour instead of the flour in this recipe. While this is not a healthy flourless chocolate cake, it could totally be a healthy gluten free chocolate cake!
If you want to leave the dairy out of this cake or even use flax eggs to make it a healthy vegan chocolate cake, you most definitely can! Simply use dairy free yogurt and dairy free butter.
Yes, you can a little bit! We LOVE how the tang compliments the sweetness in the frosting.
This cake is a little more dense and fudgy than a regular cake, but it is much less dense than a brownie. This leaves the texture in the middle of cakes and brownies and it is SO GOOD!
Is this cake low in calories?
As much as this cake would like to be the perfect end to your meal it’s not low in calories. That would be too good to be true. This chocolate cake contains 390 calories per serving.
How can you store this chocolate cake?
Storing a cake can be problematic sometimes, especially when it’s one big cake. But you can actually store this decadent dessert easily. If you’re keeping it in the fridge for immediate consumption, transfer the cake to an airtight container. This will keep it fresh longer.
You can also freeze it as well. First, freeze the cake uncovered for 2 hours until the frosting has hardened. Once the frosting has hardened you can wrap it in two layers of plastic wrap.
more healthy sweets
- healthy greek yogurt brownies
- healthy avocado chocolate truffles
- healthy chocolate chip avocado cookies
Ingredients
- 2 Cups White whole wheat flour (240g)
- 2 Cups Granulated sugar
- 2/3 Cup Cocoa powder (sifted if lumpy 60g)
- 2 tsp Baking powder
- 3/4 tsp Salt
- 1/2 tsp Baking soda
- 1 Cup Milk, of choice at room temperature *important*
- 2/3 Cup Plain, non-fat Greek yogurt, at room temperature *important*
- 2 Eggs, at room temperature *important*
- 2 tsp Vanilla extract
- 1/2 Cup Very hot water
For the frosting
- 3/4 Cup Unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 Cup Plain, non-fat Greek yogurt, at room temperature *important*
- 1 Cups Powdered sugar (220g)
- 1/4 Cup Cocoa powder (25g)
- 2 tsp Vanilla
- 1/4 tsp Salt
Instructions
- Pre heat your oven to 350 degrees F and line the bottom of 2 8 inch cake pans with parchment paper, spraying the sides with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, whisk all the ingredients up to the milk.
- Add all the remaining ingredients, except the water, and whisk just a little bit until it just starts to mix together but is not fully mixed.
- Pour the hot water over and whisk until smooth.
- Divide between the 2 pans and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 38-42 minutes. Let cool in the pan completely.
- While the cake is cooling, beat the butter and Greek yogurt in a large bowl until fluffy.
- Gradually add in then powdered sugar and cocoa powder and beat until mixed.
- Beat in the vanilla and salt.
- Transfer to a bowl, cover and refrigerate to firm up while the cake cools.
- Once the cake is cool, place one of the cake layers on a cake stand, bottom side up and spread 3/4 cup of the frosting on top.
- Place the other cake on top. Spread a VERY thin layer of frosting over the cake to seal in the crumbs, then chill 30 minutes.
- Once chilled, frost the rest of the cake
- DEVOUR
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Info:
Recipes written and produced on Food Faith Fitness are for informational purposes only.
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