Quick Chocolate Cake -- a treat for yourself

  When I saw a post about a mini-chocolate cake, I thought it was a great idea... just one small cake to make for treating yourself. It is easy to make, needs no butter or refined sugar, and is gluten-free. I experimented a couple times to come up with a recipe, and the result is pretty good.  Also you may substitute ricotta cheese (which works better in cooked/baked items than yogurt) for the yogurt. 

As the author says in the post, “There are so many things I love about this cake… two [are]: It has no oil, butter, or refined sugar in it. And I cooked it in the microwave. I wasn’t intending on cooking it in the microwave but I wanted to experiment with the batter and it tasted just like I wanted, so why preheat the oven for 20 minutes and cook the cake for 10 when 2 minutes in the microwave does just fine?” 

   

  I often feel the same way when I bake one loaf or pan of cake at home. It takes 10-15 minutes to heat up the oven and another 30-40 minutes to bake just one cake. I don’t use the microwave oven very often, but a recipe like this, which takes only a few minutes, justifies using it. 

Quick Chocolate Cake -- a treat for yourself

Recipe inspired by Chocolate Birthday Cake by Ms. Adventures in Italy

http://www.msadventuresinitaly.com/blog/2011/10/12/no-oil-sugar-or-butter-microwave-chocolate-happy-birthday-cake/

Makes one mini cake in an 8-ounce ramekin/casserole**

(Make two for a dinner date, or save one for the next day!)

4 ounces plain Greek Yogurt (2 % fat), or ricotta cheese, about 1/2 cup

2 tablespoons unsweetened cacao/cocoa powder, Dutch process

1 tablespoon almond milk, unflavored

2 tablespoons honey (or other sweetener)

1/2 egg, lightly beaten first (so you can divide it)

1 tablespoon almond flour (or grind  a handful of almonds in food processor)

1 teaspoon corn or potato flour

¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Optional toppings:

Fresh, seasonal berries

whipped cream

1-2 tablespoons melted semi-sweet chocolate, or chocolate ganache (bittersweet chocolate melted with a little cream)

Instructions:

Mix the cacao and almond milk in a small-medium bowl, then add the honey and egg and whisk. Add the yogurt, vanilla, almond flour and corn or potato flour and mix well. Pour batter into the ramekin. Place the ramekin in microwave oven and cook on high for about 2 minutes. Cook on high heat about 3 minutes if you use fresh ricotta cheese.

Serve with toppings (optional) and/or a port wine or muscat.

Nutrition (assuming using yogurt rather than ricotta; toppings not included):   320 calories, 10 g fat (3 g saturated), 111 mg cholesterol, 110 mg sodium, 51 g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber, 41 g sugars, 18 g protein. Good source of iron (18% DV); excellent source of calcium (25% DV). Using ricotta (from part-skim milk) instead of Greek yogurt will increase the calories to 415 and fat to 17 (sodium, saturated fat, etc. will also go up)... and even higher if you use whole milk ricotta, so you might want to reduce the ricotta to 1/3 cup (calories will go to 360, fat to 14 g and saturated fat to 6 g for part-skim; using whole milk ricotta it will be 390 calories and 18 g fat, with saturated fat at 9 g).
Nutrition calculated by Palate Works.

** Using LE CREUSET Mini Cocotte (8 oz Petite Round Casserole).