Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting
 

I was craving this after seeing it served at a party I went to recently. I used two recipes from Unbelievable Desserts With Splenda by Marlene Koch (great book!) and modified them to fit SBD. I messed around a bit with the PB in the frosting, so you may want to add more. Enjoy...the cake is moist and very filling and tastes incredible. DH fought me for the last piece and he hates things that taste "splenda-y". ;)

Unbelievable Chocolate Cake

1/4 cup canola oil
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup brown sugar (I used this...it comes out to 1/36 of a cup per serving, and I figured that wouldn't be enough to cause cravings. I didn't have a problem, but if you do, try using less and make up the difference with half splenda and half SF maple syrup or use a brown sugar substitute)
1 cup Splenda Granular
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 1/4 cups WW pastry flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup Dutch-Process cocoa powder (I used Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa)
1/4 cup hot water

Preheat oven to 350. Spray an 8x8-inch baking pan with notick cooking spray.

In a large bowl whisk together the oil and the egg for 1 minute until the mixture is thick and frothy. Add the vanilla, brown sugar, and Splenda and beat with the whisk for 2 more minutes until the mixture is thick and smooth ad the sugars have been thoroughly beaten into the mixture. Add 1 cup buttermilk and mix.

(directions say to use a sifter for this next part but I've found that the hard bits of WW flour get caught in mine, so I just mixed it in a bowl and used it that way...turned out fine.) Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cocoa powder thoroughly in a bowl, then add to liquid mixture. Whisk vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes until the batter is nice and smooth. Pour the hot water into the batter and whisk one more time until the beatter is again nice and smooth. The batter will be thin. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and tap the pan on the counter to level the surface and to help remove any air bubbles. (wipe off any nonstick spray that remains on the pan above the level of the batter--otherwise it sticks to the pan forever!).

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes (it took me about 30-35) or just until the center springs back when touched and a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean. Do not overcook. Remove the cake from the over and cool.

9 servings
Per serving:
Calories: 160
Carb: 22g
Sugar: 8g
Protein: 3g
Fat: 7g, Sat: 1g
Fiber: 1g
Sodium: 200mg

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Creamy Peanut Butter Frosting
I modified the "Whipped Frosting" recipe in the cookbook mentioned above to make this frosting. You may have to work with the amount of PB a bit, as I approximated.
1/2 cup 1% milk
2 Tbs WW Pastry Flour
4 oz plus 1/4 cup of smooth natural peanut butter
4 oz light cream cheese (or Neufchatel)
1 cup Splenda Granular
2 Tbs Smart Balance (or other healthy margerine)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Pour milk into a small pot and add flour. Stir with whisk until smooth with no lumps. Place over low heat and cook until a smooth, thick paste forms. (This took at least 15 minutes if not longer. I stirred frequently, but did not have to stir constantly.) Set aside to cool slightly.

Place peanut butter and cream cheese in a small mixing bowl. Beat at high speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Beat in Splenda. Add flour paste and extract and continue to beat until smooth and creamy.

Frost cake. There will be some left over...you can either eat it (yum!) or you can make the frosting level on the cake higher. If you have a kid available, they will readily offer to lick the bowl...this stuff is good! :)

I don't have good nutritional info on this, since it's a mix of different recipes. Should be easy to figure out using Fitday, though. Frosts one cake with about 1/4 to 1/2 cup left over.

I made this again last weekend to serve at our BBQ. Several friends who are not on diets loved it and didn't believe me when I told them it was virtually sugar free AND allowed on SBD. ;)

It's good stuff, truly! :T

Just bumpin' this up... :devil:

This sounds yummy, I'm going to be having a gathering soon and I believe that I'm going to make this. thank you :)

OK....so I made this for dessert this week. OMG!!!!! So GOOD!!!!
Thanks for the great recipe!

So glad you liked it, Heather! :D When I made it for a party, I put one SF Reese's PB cup (the mini ones) on each slice before I cut it. Seemed to be the right thing to make it super-special!

I made this last week! It was really good! I made cupcakes instead though... I just have thing for cupcakes! ;)

I also didn't have the stuff for the peanut butter icing so I made the cream cheese icing recipe. I didn't have the vanilla pudding mix though so I used chocolate. It was really good. I put 3 small dark chocolate chips on them. See pic!! Thanks for the recipe!!

Thanks for the great photos, Kara! What a special treat! Yum!

Holy crap!

Phase 2 needs to hurry up and get here.

I fear I would eat far more than just a mere portion of that cake, though.

Heavenly!

I can't wait to try this for my birthday this year!

ArmyAng, that's a great idea! :hb: If I did it for mine, I'd wait until the day I have my 1oz of dark chocolate and add chunks of dark choc. to the cake or over the top. :devil:

I really want to make this. I wonder if I could make it but then freeze it. That would be the only way I could control the portions.

I'm sure you can freeze this, Tammie. I'd cut it into serving size portions first, then wrap and freeze them.

Thanks Cottage.

Tammie

I made this tonight. My frosting has sort of a weird texture...i think because of the peanut butter. it doesn't look like the picture. It is delicious though. This is definitely a cake to have a glass of milk with. I'm going to freeze it in individual portions.