Healthy Peanut Butter Cake with Chocolate Frosting
It’s about freakin’ time!!! I might have shouted that out loud in my head when I took my first bite of this cake. It was a long time coming. And by that, I mean, this Peanut Butter Cake recipe took six trials to perfect… let me explain:
Trial #1:
In my first attempt I was actually aiming to make simple Peanut Butter Blondies, not a cake. The blondies were super peanutty but they were dense, rubbery, chewy and definitely not sweet enough… yuck.
Trial #2:
I was still trying to making blondies in this trial. I adjusted some of the ingredients to get a lighter and less chewy texture. I reduced the xanthan gum, increased the baking powder and added egg whites for leavening. I also increased the stevia extract for sweetness. However, the blondies were still a bit dense and rubbery.
Trial #3:
Still trying to make blondies, I reduced the xanthan gum, increased the baking powder and upped the egg whites. I increased the stevia which resulted in the perfect level of sweetness. Sadly though, the blondies were dense and chewy once again!
Trial #4:
I started to rethink the recipe in this trial. I added 1/3 cup of peanut butter to double the peanut butter flavor and richness of the blondies. What a good decision that was, my taste-testing guinea pigs and I absolutely loved the flavor! However, I wasn’t really a fan of the texture… I blame the xanthan gum… it seems to make certain recipes bendy and rubbery.
Finalllyyyy!! The sucessful recipe!! I omitted the xanthan gum, increased the peanut butter and added more egg whites. This created an incredibly moist, fluffy and flavorful cake-like blondie. I baked this cake/blondies in a 9″ brownie pan (because I was still expecting them to turn out as blondies) so they looked more like a snacking cake or a sheet cake. To me, a cake has to be round. With frosting. And layered. So then there was Trial #6.
Deliciousness. It was so addicting that I ate two slices… in a row. Yes, I ate a quarter of the cake in less than an hour. But I don’t feel too bad, this Healthy Peanut Butter Cake is low sugar, high fiber, and high protein. Plus, I was accompanied by friends who did the same exact thing 🙂
Take a moment to observe the scrumptiousness, deliciousness, and perfection of this Peanut Butter Cake.
I wish I can send you a slice through the screen, Willy Wonka style!
Healthy Peanut Butter Cake with Chocolate Frosting
Ingredients
Cake:
- 430g (1¾ cups) Unsweetened Applesauce
- 275g (1 cup + 2 tbs) Egg Whites (fresh, not cartoned)
- 128g (½ cup) Natural Peanut Butter
- ⅓ cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk
- 48g (¼ cup) Sucanat
- 48g (¼ cup) Granulated Erythritol (or more sucanat)
- 1 tsp Liquid Stevia Extract
- 180g (1½ cups) Oat Flour
- 150g (1¼ cups) Peanut Flour
- 1 tbs Double-Acting Baking Powder
- ½ tsp Salt
Frosting:
- 105g (5 scoops) Chocolate Brown Rice Protein Powder
- 3 tbs Unsweetened Dark Cocoa Powder
- 1 cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk
- ¾ tsp Liquid Stevia Extract
Instructions
For the Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and generously spray two 6" cake pans with cooking spray.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the applesauce, egg whites, peanut butter, sucanat, erythritol, almond milk, and stevia extract.
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the oat flour, peanut flour, and baking powder.
- Sift the dry ingredients over the wet and stir together. Whisk the batter vigorously for 10-20 seconds, or until all of the clumps are gone.
- Pour batter evenly into the prepared pans and bake for ~52 minutes, or until surface is golden brown and springs back when tapped. Remove cakes from oven and let cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then turn them out onto a wire cooling rack.
For the Frosting:
- In a stand mixer bowl with whisk attachment, add the protein powder and cocoa powder. Whisk on low.
- Increase mixer speed to medium and slowly drizzle in the almond milk. Add the stevia. Whisk until creamy and fluffy. Frost the cake and refrigerate for ~30 minutes to firm the frosting. Slice and serve!
^^ Cakes cooling on the racks. You can totally make a four-layer cake if you like, just slice these two cakes in half and stuff some more frosting in the middle. I need to do this!
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Time for a nutrition label showdown, yes?! Here is the nutrition label for a TYPICAL Peanut Butter Cake (calculated using AllRecipes recipe — just the cake, no frosting).
WOW, what a difference, eh? Only 250 calories for a slice of my healthy Peanut Butter Cake while the other recipe has 410 calories. I choose mine because it’s also higher in fiber and protein, and lower in sugar and fat. By the taste of the cake though, you would never know this one is actually good for you!
My friend walked in while I was taking pictures and stood there hinting (way too many times) that she wanted a piece… of course I gave her one, but I saved the one with more of the chocolate frosting on it for me. Mwahaha, I hope you’re not reading this, B 😉
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With love and good eats,
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– Jess
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Indulge − no strings attached!
This looks amazing! Do you think I can use xylitol in place of some or all of the erythritol?
Erika-
As long as the xylitol measures cup-for-cup for sugar, it should definitely work to replace the erythritol 🙂
Nice one! I’ve always loved reading about your various baking trials. It makes the whole food blogging experience more real (too many pretty pictures makes people forget that it’s quite a task to prepare the recipes and tweak them to be just right).
This looks incredible!I can’t wait to try it!
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This turned out great! Thanks for the recipe 🙂
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