Sarah's Reduced-fat Chocolate Fudge Cake
- Ready In:
- 1hr 30mins
- Ingredients:
- 18
- Serves:
-
12
ingredients
-
CAKE
- 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate
- 1 3⁄4 cups sugar
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1⁄2 cup sour cream or 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1 large egg
- 2 large egg whites
- 2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
- 1⁄2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder or 1/2 cup natural cocoa powder (can be used interchangeably in this recipe)
- 1 2 teaspoons instant espresso or 2 teaspoons instant coffee powder (dissolved in 1 cup hot water)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda (added last)
-
FROSTING
- 1 ounce bittersweet chocolate
- 1 teaspoon instant espresso coffee powder
- 2 tablespoons boiling water
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
- 1 tablespoon Dutch-processed cocoa powder or 1 tablespoon natural cocoa powder (plus a scant pinch of baking soda)
- 1 1⁄2 cups confectioners' sugar
- 2 tablespoons 1% low-fat milk (skim is fine)
- 1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla extract
directions
-
FOR THE CAKE:
- Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F; Grease and optionally dust with cocoa powder (best used with"flouring" chocolate cake pans), two 8-inch round nonstick cake pans; The batter is very soupy and will stick to the pans unless properly prepared.
- Melt the chocolate squares over a double boiler or in the microwave; Don't allow any water droplets to get introduced into the chocolate while it's melting otherwise it might"seize" (not a pretty sight); Let cool until tepid.
- In a medium bowl, using a handheld electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until it resembles coarse bread crumbs, and scraping down the sides of the bowl often, about 2 minutes; Beat in melted chocolate; Add the buttermilk, eggs, egg whites and beat until smooth; I found that a food processor works well for this step.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and cocoa until well combined; (if the cocoa is lumpy, sift it, after measuring, onto a piece of waxed paper); With a large mixing spoon, add the flour mixture into the wet ingredients, scraping down the bowl often; Mix until smooth; With a cup held over the mixing bowl, dissolve the baking soda in a cup of hot coffee; The mixture will bubble up and may spill; Add to the batter and mix until smooth; The batter will be very thin; Divide it equally between prepared pans.
- Bake until the cakes begin to pull away from the sides of the pans, about 30 minutes; The tops should still be shiny; Do not overbake; Do not open the oven until the last 5 minutes of baking; Cool in the pans on wire cake rack for 10 minutes; Invert onto racks.
- Turn right side up and cool completely.
- Place one cake, flat side up, on a serving platter; Spread with 1/3 of the Fudge Frosting; Frost the top and sides of the cake with the remainder and serve.
-
FOR THE FROSTING:
- Melt the chocolate squares (1 minute on high power in the microwave); Let cool until tepid.
- Beat together ingredients (food processor works well); If this is too runny or dry, add sugar or milk to correct; Best used when applied to the cake at room temperature.
-
ADDITIONAL CHEF NOTES:
- For the cake, Sarah recommends using the sour cream as she says the result is moister; I used powdered buttermilk prepared in plain nonfat yogurt and was very pleased with the outcome.
- I had good results using 1 whole stick of light butter in place of 1/2 stick full-fat butter; I also whizzed up about 3 T of oatrim in with the liquid ingredients; Oatrim is hydrolyzed oat bran, and it's useful for helping to retain that oh-so-yummy fatty mouthfeel in reduced-fat baked goods.
- I didn't have bittersweet chocolate, and didn't feel like making a run to the store, so when I made this the other day, I used dark chocolate in the cake and semi-sweet chocolate chips in the frosting; worked great!
- I ended up using some xanthan gum (1/4 tsp) to thicken the frosting as I didn't want to add too much sugar; I recommend adding half the called-for amounts of liquid to the frosting, and then slowly adding more.
- When I prepared this, I doubled the cake recipe and the yield was 24 cupcakes plus 1 small rectangular cake prepared in an 8x4" loaf pan.
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Heather U.
United States
My husband, 10-year-old son, and I live in the Greater Boston area. I love to cook, and spend tons of time drooling over recipes.