A healthy and low fat chocolate cake recipe that tastes so sinful you will never believe it!
There is NO oil needed for this chocolate cake!
The recipe gets rave reviews every single time I make it… even from people who aren’t normally fans of healthy desserts!
It can definitely hold its own against any high-calorie chocolate cake from a fancy restaurant or cake shop, and no one ever guesses it isn’t full of fat and sugar.
Also Try These Overnight Oats – 15 Recipes
Bonus points: There are no crazy ingredients in this recipe.
No offense to my cauliflower based Healthy Chocolate Cake.
By using yogurt (I like nondairy yogurt) you can cut way back on the fat and empty calories while still retaining all of the moisture and richness of a traditional cake made with oil.
Years of experience have taught me that chocolate tastes much better when some fat is included, and therefore I chose to add a little nut butter to the healthy chocolate cake recipe as well (for allergy-friendly, you can use Sunbutter or Peabutter).
Can you think of a better way to spend one’s birthday (my birthday was this past Saturday) than taste-testing chocolate cakes?
I couldn’t, and so this is exactly what I did!
Anyways, back to the chocolate cake…
What was your BEST birthday ever?
Although my best birthday was probably my 16th, this past birthday came pretty close. When it started to lightning and pour rain around 8 PM, I was initially worried no one would show up.
But the rain quickly dissipated, and I had an amazing night in downtown DC with around 30 close friends, none of whom I knew a year ago.
It was completely terrifying to start over when I first moved to the area, and I think last Saturday was the first time I realized I finally didn’t feel like an outsider anymore.
P.S. If you need ideas for your next birthday, please feel free to steal my idea of spending the day eating chocolate cake!
Watch the video above for how to make a low calorie chocolate cake
100 Calorie Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup spelt, white, or gf ap flour
- 6 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp each: baking soda and salt
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar of choice or xylitol
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips, optional
- 1/4 cup yogurt (I like nondairy)
- 3/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup almond butter, peanut butter, OR allergy-friendly sub – For a nut-free cake, try my Vegan Chocolate Cake Recipe
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, and grease an 8-in square or round pan. Set aside. In a large bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, optional chips, and sweetener, and stir very well. (If your nut butter is not stir-able, gently heat it until stir-able.) In a new bowl, whisk together the nut butter, yogurt, water, and vanilla. Pour wet into dry and stir until just combined (don’t over-mix), then pour into the greased pan. Bake 25 minutes or until batter has risen and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out mostly clean. (I like to take it out when it’s still a little undercooked, let it cool, and then set in the fridge overnight. This prevents overcooking, and the cake will still firm up nicely as it sits.) If you can wait, I highly recommend not taking a taste until the next day… this cake is so much richer and sweeter after sitting for a day. Trust me! View Nutrition Facts
Notes
More Low Calorie Recipes
Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bars
Cinnamon Sugar Pillow Cookies (vegan recipe)
Low Calorie Desserts – 10 Recipes
Found this recipe as I searched for a good low-calorie chocolate cake since my husband and I just started counting calories.
I tried it with a few modifications: 2 large eggs in place of nut butter (to reduce total calories and fat– we’re not vegan) and Truvia rather than sugar/xylitol. I also accidentally used about 2x as much cacao. By my calculation, this all led to 1 slice= 79 calories. I topped with a low-calorie frosting I made by combining skinny Truwhip with fat free no sugar Jello chocolate pudding mix; also sprinkled mini chocolate chips on top. This brings you up to 109 calories/slice.
The cake came out a little dense compared to your regular store-bought chocolate cake; I was reminded of the difference in taste/texture of whole wheat bread vs. white bread. Pretty tasty and practically guilt-free. The intensity of the chocolate flavor makes me think of Oreos. It’s disappearing quickly, and we will definitely make it again.
I want to make a plug for spelt flour, because I hadn’t used it before I tried this recipe. I didn’t know spelt has about 2x as much protein and 6x as much dietary fiber as regular white flour, as well as higher levels of other nutrients. Seems worth the small trade-off in taste and texture! I appreciate Katie including that in the original recipe, because I wouldn’t have tried that otherwise.
In conclusion, highly recommend, especially if you are trying to eat healthy or dieting, or just love chocolate.
(I also didn’t use the “optional” chocolate chips within the cake)
this version of the cake sounds good (im vegetarian not vegan) so re adding eggs is a better option (also i just dont like nut butters)
I love your modifications! Going to try it that way next time.
We’re not vegan either, so the eggs (or an egg and some egg white) to sub for the high cal peanut butter sounds good to me!
Hi Katie! Just wanted to say a big thanks 🙂 I had a massive craving for some chocolate but without all the empty calories… I came across your recipe and got super excited as I had all the ingredients at home (especially now during curfew I wouldn`t have been able to go out). I added some chopped up walnuts for some crunch. It`s delicious! Exactly what I was looking for. I`ve saved the recipe, definitely not the last time I`ve baked it. Love these simple yet nutritious treat recipes. Thank you 🙂
Hi, I really want to make this cake but I have a nut allergy. What can I use instead of the almond or peanut butter??
You can use oil, or sunbutter if you can have that 🙂
This is wonderful and really addressed my chocolate cake cravings. As per other comments, it’s denser than store bought cake. To me, it felt like a cross between a cake and a brownie. I used white whole wheat flour and peanut butter then all other ingredients following the quantities in the recipe, except for this: I ran out of Swerve (sugar substitute), so instead I used 1/3 Swerve and 2/3 unsweetened applesauce. I topped it with one of Katie’s frostings (1/4 cup peanut butter, 2 tbs cocoa, 4 tsp maple syrup + additional Swerve, 1/2 cup milk, 3/4 tbs vanilla extract mixed in a small food processor). Total of 10 slices with 198 calories per slice. I’ve been counting calories, so this is a really nice treat that I can indulge without blowing quickly through my daily calorie budget! Also interesting: I thought it would taste like peanut butter, which I was hoping for. It doesn’t, but it’s still delicious and super rich. I’ll be baking this again in the future!
I used cup for cup gluten free flour in this recipe and the texture was perfect – moist, fluffy, and rich. I had to bake for 7 minutes longer than called for but that is not unusual for gluten free flour (gf flour usually takes longer to bake). The flavor is good but is not what I expected from chocolate cake. This cake tastes like Reese’s peanut butter cups. I *did* use peanut butter for the nut butter portion of the cake. Is there a way to make this cake tastes only like chocolate cake and not like chocolate nut cake? I love how the cake is only 100 calories per slice (the recipe makes a total of 9 slices, am I correct?)
Hi! Just use almond butter. Oil also works, but then of course it wouldn’t be oil free. So almond or cashew butter are the best bet. To be honest, I like it with nondairy yogurt or banana subbed for the peanut butter too, but not everyone will like that 🙂
The 100 Calorie chocolate cake was AMAZING! I left out the choc chips, but added 1/4 cup of hazlenut spread. Absoloute delicious. Thank you for all your amazing recipes.
Irene Batini, Perth, Western Australia
I calculated the calories and am confused by how its only 100 because I calculated over 500 with the sugar alone, just a tad confused. No complaints though it was amazing xx
sorry I miss read it my dyslexia was kicking in. now relise its 100 per slice. I sincerely apologise x
I’ve just made this chocolate cake with the plan to make mint frosting for a choc mint cake. But I’m not sure that will work now because the cake smells of peanutbutter. For regular frosting it would be fine but I worry the peanutbutter will add juuust enough flavor to interfere! It’s my own fault for using crunchy peanutbutter. I haven’t tasted the cake yet bc I was going to frost it and serve. Maybe the delicious choc-peanut smell will turn into just a choc flavour.
I do love the easy ingredients tho and will make this again. Maybe I’ll try egg instead of peanutbutter like someone else did. Thx
It’s 100 calories a slice.
I made this for my 60th. bday and while it was good, it was gummy not light probably from the peanut butter. I am wondering if adding an egg would lighten it up. I used coconut sugar which is healthier and organic natural peanut butter. very dense and rich. I prefer lighter cakes but the frosting was easy, quick and spread well