Watermelon Cake

Here are a couple of pictures of a watermelon cake that I made by carving a fresh watermelon into the shape of a rose, then I garnished it with fresh sliced strawberries and pineapple. It's so good, I want some right now. 

Cakes and Icings

A 3" by 3" piece of cake with 1/2 cup of light ice cream. 

  In moderation, cakes can fit into a healthy eating plan. The main fat sources are vegetable oil and 2 or 3 eggs, making them lower in saturated fat than cookies and pastries made with solid fats. Of course, they still have a considerable amount of refined flour and sugar, and the icing or frosting usually has to be made with a solid fat to achieve the appropriate consistency. If you have to use a solid fat, I recommend butter both for taste and to avoid trans fats in hydrogenated products. Remember portion sizes, too. A serving of cake is about a 3" by 3" square, which is perfectly adequate without making you feel like you just downed a whole bag of sugar.

  Portion size and moderation are always important, but today I've come up with some solutions to the saturated fat dilemma in icing. My first idea is to use a fruit topping, and secondly I have a new recipe for frosting with no solid fats. 

Cake with cherry topping.

  The cake that I made today was inspired by a photo of cake, cherries, and ice cream on Tumblr. I made a cake from a mix and topped it with cherry pie filling in place of frosting, then added 1/2 cup scoop of light vanilla bean ice cream before serving. 

  Just bake the cake per the instructions, then add the fruit topping about 5 minutes before the cake is done. Continue baking so the fruit gets nice and warm. Any combination of cake, fruit topping, and ice cream can be used. Be creative and use your favorites. The back of the Betty Crocker cake mix box even suggested adding a layer of apricot preserves under a thin layer of icing.

  Now I have an actual recipe for chocolate cake and frosting from Hershey's Cocoa. The cake is a typical chocolate cake made from scratch, but the frosting has no solid fats! Dream Whip is used for texture and consistency, so butter, margarine, or shortening are not needed.

Hershey's Light Chocolate Cake

Ingredients: 

1 1/4 cup flour

1/3 cup Hershey's Cocoa

1 tsp. baking soda

6 Tbsp. extra light corn oil spread

1 cup sugar

1 cup skim milk

1 Tbsp. white vinegar

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions: 

Heat oven to 350 F. Spray two 8" round pans with cooking spray. 

In bowl, stir flour, cocoa, and baking soda. 

In saucepan, melt corn oil spread; stir in sugar. Remove from heat. Add milk, vinegar, and vanilla to mixture in saucepan; stir. Add dry ingredients; whisk until well blended. 

Pour evenly into pans. Bake 20 minutes or until wooden pick inserted comes out clean. Cool. 

Fill and frost top. Refrigerate. 12 servings.

Light Cocoa Frosting

Ingredients: 

1 envelope Dream Whip dry whipped topping mix

1/2 cup cold skim milk

1 Tbsp. Hershey's cocoa

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions: 

In small mixing bowl, stir together all ingredients. Beat on high speed of mixer about 4 minutes or until soft peaks form. 

Each serving contains 160 calories and 115 mg sodium with the frosting, 140 calories and 105 mg sodium without frosting, and no cholesterol. 
This cake is low enough in total carbs that it can fit into a diabetic meal plan as long as the proper portion size is consumed. However, the cherry topped cake with ice cream is a little too high in carbs for diabetics.

American Flag Cake

  Today I want to share a recipe for the flag cake I made yesterday for a 4th of July cookout. It's made with white cake, vanilla icing, and fresh strawberries and blueberries. The cake is lower in saturated fat and cholesterol thanks to the use of egg whites and vegetable oil. Icing, however, really has to be made with a solid fat, otherwise it won't get thick enough. With this in mind, I say use real butter. You won't have to worry about trans fats, and the taste is unmatchable. 
  This cake is perfect for a 4th of July celebration, but could be made for any Summer holiday or party.

 

Recipe for White Cake
Ingredients:

1 box Duncan Hines white cake mix

1 pkg. Dream Whip

2 whole eggs

2 egg whites

1 1/4 cup water

1/4 cup oil

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Mix at medium to high speed until well blended and lumps are gone. 

Pour batter into a greased 9" x 13" pan. 

Bake for 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. 

Cool completely before icing. 

Vanilla Icing Recipe

Ingredients: 

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter

1 box (approx. 2 1/2 to 3 cups) powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract 

1/4 cup skim milk

Directions: 

Combine all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. 

Mix at medium to high speed until creamy. 

Decorating the Cake: 

Wash blueberries and strawberries in advance, and let them drain. Slice the strawberries in half longways. 

When the cake has cooled completely, cover the full surface of the cake with icing. 

Place the blueberries in rows on the top left corner of the iced cake. It's helpful to mark your corners for the blue section, this gives you a guide so it's easier to get the rows straight. 

Then place the strawberry halves in rows for the red stripes on the cake. 

Keep the cake refrigerated so the fresh fruit doesn't get too soft.