I went to visit a friend of mine who has recently given birth to a gorgeous baby boy. I don't have any baby pictures to show you but I do have pictures of cake! My friend offered to cook dinner so naturally I said I'd make dessert. However, she wanted something low fat as she is still trying to loose her baby weight. So I went off in search of some healthy recipes, saving my full fat, triple layer cake for another day. I looked on my 'go-to recipe site' - BBC Good Food and found 2 options that looked reasonable - a light fruity sponge or a chocolate and mocha cake. I asked my friend to choose and she chose the latter which I was secretly pleased about as it fits into the theme for this month's We should Cocoa hosted by Chocolate Teapot which is to make a health conscious chocolate recipe.
I have to say I am a little disappointed with this recipe. I've not tried a bad recipe from BBC Good Food until now and there were certainly some unfavourable reviews on the website. The picture presented looks really good but sadly what I baked was nothing like the picture shown. Firstly, there was barely enough batter to fill 1 sandwich tin much less two and my sponge did not rise at all. Secondly, there was barely enough frosting to spread thinly much less oozing as shown. I followed the recipe exactly and actually debated about doubling it which would have defeated the purpose. I'll just have to use a much, much smaller tin next time.
Fortunately, it wasn't a complete disaster as the cake actually tasted reasonably good. It's nowhere near a lovely buttery, chocolatey sponge but it was a good alternative. The sponge was still light and moist and the icing was slightly sour due to the yoghurt and cream cheese but still palatable. I added some strawberries for extra 'health' factor and presentation.
low fat ingredients (apart from the chocolate) 
whip the eggs and sugar until it looks like this 
spread the icing on top of (flat) sponge
place another cake on top and spread chocolate mocha icing on top
drizzle with some melted chocolate 
add some strawberries 
Recipe is available from BBC Good Food website. I followed it exactly and added strawberries on top as garnish.
This sounds very virtuous! Obviously with the strawberries, it's one of your five a day too!
ReplyDelete:-)
I love the way you decorated the cake with strawberries. Looks really lovely to me. By the way, I've tried your Peanut butter Toblerone cheesecake recipe & it was really delicious. We all loved it. Thanks again for sharing your amazing recipes. Have a nice day :)
ReplyDeleteIt's like looking at an episode of GBBO! Fab cake, I don't think 'healthy' cakes are ever quite as good to eat as they look but that one looks pretty good.
ReplyDeleteLaura - thanks! and yes the strawberries are definitely one of five a day. I had 2 slices :)
ReplyDeleteLostinausten - thanks, I thought it needed something extra hence the strawberries. So glad you liked the cheesecake - I've just made another one (mini ones this time with 1/2 recipe)
Janice - thanks, thats so sweet of you :) it wasnt too bad in the end but I obviously prefer 'proper' cake!
Oh that is disappointing that it didn't quite fill up the pan but it looks delicious. I sometimes wonder if the cakes in cookbooks are the actual ones from the recipe having had a similar issue recently!
ReplyDeleteSorry it wasn't as good as you had hoped, but it sure looks great!
ReplyDelete"saving my full fat, triple layer cake for another day"
ReplyDelete.... lol! :D
Too bad it didn't quite turn out as you'd hoped, but you sure did a good job at making it look delicious to me, and after all... as long as the taste is ok, that's ultimately the most important quality! :)
How annoying...sorry it didn't work out the way you hoped, I have found that quite alot in the past with various recipe websites I have tried including the one you used so now I just stick to blogs because at least I know the picture shown is definitely what the person baked! Glad it still tasted good enough to share though :)
ReplyDeleteI too have rarely had an unsuccessful recipe from Good Food- its my go-to website for most of the suppers we eat! But I'm sure your friend really appreciated you baking a healthy cake for her- hope you had a lovely visit!
ReplyDeleteSorry it didn't turn out the way it should have, but very glad to hear it tasted yummy. Great ingredients, so that surely helped. Bet your friend was pleased, too. Yum!
ReplyDeleteSuch a shame it did not turn out the way it should, but it still looks amazing and pass me a slice!
ReplyDeleteKaren
You would never know it did not turn out right - belive me it is not as flat as one of my cakes was but I know the dissapointment well. I must look up some healthy recipes so this is a good start.
ReplyDeleteWOOOOOOOOW, Love it, Such a yummy :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a shame it didn't work out as you had hoped, looks pretty good to me though ;0)
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking part in the challenge this month, I know it was a tough one.
So frustrating when you run out of icing. Drives me mad!! Recipe sounds nice though and I suppose with less icing comes less calories! Ha ha!!
ReplyDeleteLovely use of lovely ingredients - it's a winner!
ReplyDeleteLorraine - Yes I've been wondering the same thing... in fact I'm sure of it!
ReplyDeleteCookie Sleuth - thanks :)
Charles - thanks, you always make me laugh :)
Cupcake Crazy Gem - I love baking from blogs. BBC Good Food has always been good.. until this one. oh well, cant win them all!
Kate - it was a brilliant visit, her baby is so cute. It won't put me off BBC Good Food but I'll probably stay clear from the healthy recipes unless it's requested.
Janet - she was very pleased and it did taste ok.
Karen - thanks! I'll send you a large slice :)
cakeboule - I really should start being healthier but I love my treats!
LoLy - thanks :)
Chele - thank you for your kind comments, appreciate it!
Dom - I usually have too much frosting so it was frustrating scraping every last bit out of the bowl! i'll take comfort in knowing there's less calories ;)
Caked Crusader - thanks!
Well it looks really good. Shame it didn't work as expected. Thinking about it, I reckon that I've had more problems with low-fat recipes not quite working than any others. I'm really not sure why that should be.
ReplyDeletePhil - I wonder if it's the ingredients... I much prefer 'normal baking' but am happy to try new recipes and variations :)
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's the size and lack of topping that makes it healthy!!! Anyway, you've made it look superb and I bet your friend was pleased.
ReplyDeleteChoclette - thanks, my friend was pleased :)
ReplyDelete