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Fat and Sugar Free Chocolate Cake

Ever dreamt of trying a truly decadent dessert which you wouldn’t later regret eating? This chocolate cake recipe was inspired by a friend of mine who cannot have sugar and has to limit fats in her diet (but loves sweets). Most recipes for sinless, guiltless chocolate cake are either low/non fat OR sugar free, but it is very difficult to find a fat AND sugar free recipe that works. This is because sugar and fat contribute a lot to the structure of the final baked cake.

Fat and Sugar Free Chocolate Cake

Not only is this chocolate cake enjoyed by those who are watching their intake of fats and sugars, but also by everyone who has tried it. It’s always a big hit at the office parties where it has been served. I’m sure you will enjoy it too, whether you need to cut back or not.

Here is how I make it:

FAT AND SUGAR FREE CHOCOLATE CAKE

Ingredients
1 c Milk, nonfat
2 Eggs
½ c Applesauce, unsweetened
2 t Vanilla

1 ¾ c Flour
2 ¼ c Sucralose (Splenda)
¾ c Cocoa powder, unsweetened
1 ½ t Baking powder
1 ½ t Baking soda
1 t Salt

1 c Water, boiling

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350. Coat a 9 x 13 baking pan with cooking spray.

Blend eggs, milk, applesauce and vanilla in a large mixing bowl.

Combine dry ingredients and add to liquid mixture. I recommend using Dutched Cocoa if possible. That and the boiling water contribute to the deep dark brown chocolate color of this cake giving the impression of richness.

TIP: I often use a large French Whisk to mix dry ingredients. While accomplishing the mixing, it also helps break up large chunks of dry ingredients and is easy to clean afterwards.

Dry Ingredients

Beat with electric mixer at medium speed for two minutes.

Stir in boiling water slowly and mix thoroughly.

Pour into pan (it will be very watery, but this is normal), place in oven and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

  Cake Batter

Cool completely if you will be icing the cake, which I recommend. I don’t recommend removing this cake from the pan to serve as its structure is very fragile.

As you can see from the following image, it is normal for this cake to have cracks after baking. That this cake has no fat or sugar also accounts for the reason it does not rise as much as a regular cake. The standard method for making cakes from scratch is to use the Creaming Method.

In the Creaming Method the sugar and fat (butter for cakes) are first blended together. The purpose of this blending is not primarily to soften the fat, but to add air bubbles. Then the leaveners (Baking Powder and Baking Soda) create the gases which cause those bubbles to expand. These bubbles are responsible for the final texture of the cake. Additionally, butter (which this cake does not have) contributes to the ‘moistness’ of the cake, which helps hold it together.

After Baking

It is because this cake has a tendency to form cracks that I recommend it be frosted, especially if you will be serving it at a party. Frosting, at least in cake baking anyway, covers a multitude of sins. 🙂

Here is the recipe I used for frosting the cake. It is essentially a thick chocolate pudding and although it does call for adding one tablespoon of butter, that amount of fat is pretty negligible in comparison with the composition of the cake as a whole.

SUGAR FREE LOW FAT CHOCOLATE ICING

Ingredients
½ c Cocoa powder, unsweetened
4 T Corn starch
1 c Sucralose
1/4 t Salt

2 c Milk, nonfat

1 T Butter
2 t Vanilla

Instructions
Mix together cocoa, corn starch, sucralose and salt. Add milk slowly and stir. Cook until thickened, stirring continuously. Add butter and vanilla. Cool, and then spread on the cake.

Wonton Feast

Fried Wonton

Wontons are an inexpensive and versatile food item that can be the basis for a wide variety of dishes. They are so versatile, in fact, that this last weekend I planned a whole meal around dishes made with wonton wrappers. Wonton wrappers can be used as the foundation for a wide variety of appetizers, soups, side and main dishes, and even desserts.

The name wonton means literally ‘swallowing a cloud.’ Wontons have a long and rich history {predating the Tang Dynasty (circa 618 – 907 CE)} originating in Northern China as a sealed stuffed bun called ‘Huidun,’ or chaos. It is even said that a doctor, Zhang Zhongjing (circa 150 – 219 CE), filled wontons with medicinal herbs as a cure for frostbite. During the Tang Dynasty, a distinction began to be made between the wonton wrapper, which was typically a triangle with 2 – 3 inch sides, and the dumpling, made from a round piece of dough about 3 inches in diameter.

Although making wontons from scratch may appear to be a simple operation it can be very difficult and challenging. For this reason, and the time involved, many cooks prefer to purchase readymade wrappers. Of course, always intrigued with a kitchen challenge, I decided to make the wrappers (six batches in all) for this feast myself.

As mentioned before, there came to be a distinction between wontons (typically fried) and dumplings (typically boiled or steamed). Because of this potstickers, or Chinese Dumplings, deserve a special mention since they are prepared with a combination of the two cooking methods. Legend is that potstickers were created by a royal chef who pan fried wontons for his master’s meal, but overcooked them turning the bottoms black. Not having enough time to make another batch, he added broth to the pan and steamed the filled wontons, turned them over with their blackened side up, and presented them as a new creation. Fortunately, for the chef and his neck, they were a big hit!

Fresh Ginger

Some of these recipes call for using fresh ginger. Ginger is usually available in the produce section of your local grocer. When buying fresh ginger, choose a piece about the size you need which is firm, smooth, and free of mold. It should also have a paper thin skin which easily rubs off with your fingernail. After peeling away the skin you should smell a strong fresh ginger scent.

The menu I came up with for this feast is as follows:

STARTER
Fried Wonton
Crab Rangoon

SOUP
Wonton Soup

SIDE DISH
Potstickers

MAIN
Three Delicacies Wonton (San Xian Hun Tun)

DESSERT
Banana and Chocolate Wontons

SAUCES
Sweet and Sour
Chinese Brown Gravy
Chinese Mustard

The first thing to be made was the wonton wrapper dough.

WONTON WRAPPERS

Ingredients
1 egg
3/4 t Salt, Kosher
2 c Flour
1/2 c Water

Instructions
Lightly beat the egg, salt, and water. Mix together with flour in a bowl. Adjust water or flour to make a dough. Knead until smooth, about five minutes. Cover and let rest for thirty minutes. Turn dough out onto floured surface and roll out very thin into a rectangle which is about 21 x 14 inches. Cut into 3 ½ inch squares (makes 24 wrappers). Next add the filling, about one teaspoon per wrapper, and seal by folding the square into a triangle. Then take the small ends and pull them together forming a purse shape. It is very important to carefully seal the wrapper. You may need to wet the edges of the wrappers to help the dough adhere to itself.

Filling a Wonton

Here are the filling recipes I used:

FRIED WONTON

Ingredients
1 leaf Bok choy
1 Green onion
½ t Fresh ginger, grated
½ lb. Pork, ground
1 T Soy sauce
1 t Sesame oil
1 t Sugar
Pinch of salt
1 egg, lightly beaten

Oil for frying. I like to use Peanut Oil for Asian dishes, but you can use whichever oil you prefer.

Instructions
Chop the bok choy and green onion. Mince the ginger until you have 1/2 teaspoon.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Fill wonton wrappers with this mixture and seal.

Heat the oil to 375 degrees adding the wontons one at a time and cook until evenly browned, being careful not to crowd too many in the pan. Remove and drain on paper towels. Serve warm while they are still hot and crispy with Sweet and Sour Sauce and Chinese Hot Mustard.

CRAB RANGOON

Ingredients
6 oz. Crab meat, canned or fresh
6 oz. Cream cheese
1 Jalapeno pepper, chopped
1 Green onion, chopped
¼ Red onion, chopped
1 Garlic clove, minced
½ t Soy sauce
½ t Worcestershire sauce
Black pepper, to taste

Instructions
Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Fill wonton wrappers with this mixture and seal.

Heat the oil to 375 degrees adding the wontons one at a time and cook until evenly browned, being careful not to crowd too many in the pan. Remove and drain on paper towels. Serve warm while they are still hot and crispy with Sweet and Sour Sauce and Chinese Hot Mustard.

Wonton Soup

WONTON SOUP

Ingredients
½ lb. Pork, ground
1 Green onion, finely minced
1 t Cornstarch
½ t Sugar
Black pepper, to taste
1 t Sherry
1 T Soy sauce
1 T Oyster sauce
Dash sesame oil

6 c Chicken broth
1 Green onion, chopped

Instructions
Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Fill wonton wrappers with this mixture and seal.

Bring the chicken stock to a boil and add the wontons, cooking until they float. Add green onion and serve.

POTSTICKERS

Ingredients
1 lb. Pork, ground
1 c Napa cabbage, chopped
2 Green onions, chopped
1 T Sherry
1 t Sesame oil
1t Salt, Kosher
1 t Cornstarch
Black pepper, to taste

½ c Chicken broth

Instructions
Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Fill wonton wrappers with this mixture and seal.

Add 1 tablespoon oil in a skillet and heat to 375 degrees. Fry for two minutes, or until the dumpling bottoms are golden brown.

Add ½ cup chicken broth to skillet, cover and steam for six to seven minutes, or until the broth is absorbed.

Serve with Chinese Brown Gravy.

THREE DELICACIES WONTON (San Xian Hun Tun)

Ingredients
2 Filets, tilapia, cut in chunks
16 Shrimp, medium raw, cut in thirds
1 lb. Pork, ground

1 c Napa cabbage, chopped
½ Red onion, chopped
2 Green onions, chopped
1 T Fresh ginger, grated
1 Carrot, large shredded
1 T Sherry
2 T Oyster sauce
1 T Sesame oil
1t Salt, Kosher
2 T Cornstarch
Black pepper, to taste

½ c Chicken broth

Instructions
Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Fill wonton wrappers with this mixture and seal. Since this is the main dish, make the wonton wrappers much larger and use an equivalent amount of filling in each. These can also be steamed or fried rather than prepareed like potstickers.

Add 1 tablespoon oil in a skillet and heat to 375 degrees. Fry for two minutes, or until the dumpling bottoms are golden brown.

Add ½ cup chicken broth to skillet, cover and steam for six to seven minutes, or until the broth is absorbed.

Serve with Chinese Brown Gravy.

Crab Rangoon

CHOCOLATE BANANA WONTONS

Ingredients
2 Bananas, ripe diced
½ c Chocolate chips

Powdered sugar

Instructions
Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Fill wonton wrappers with this mixture and seal.

Heat the oil to 375 degrees adding the wontons one at a time and cook until evenly browned, being careful not to crowd too many in the pan. Remove and drain on paper towels. Dust with powdered sugar and serve warm while they are still hot and crispy.

BAKED
Preheat oven to 350. Place filled wontons on cookie sheet and bake until golden brown, about 10 to 12 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar and serve warm while they are still hot and crispy.

Here are the recipes for the sauces:

The Sweet and Sour Sauce recipe can be found in a previous blog.

CHINESE HOT MUSTARD

Ingredients
½ c Mustard, dry
½ c Water, cold
¼ t Oil, cooking

Instructions
Combine all ingredients in a bowl, cover and let stand for one hour before serving.

CHINESE BROWN GRAVY

Ingredients
1 ½ c Chicken broth
1 t Molasses
1 t Soy sauce
1 T Oyster sauce
2 T Cornstarch
2 T Cold water

Instructions
Combine cornstarch with cold water, add to remaining ingredients and cook over medium heat, stirring continuously until smooth and thickened.

I hope this article will encourage you to make dishes using wonton wrappers.

Whether you use these recipes, or others, I believe you will really enjoy preparing and serving dishes made with wontons to your family and friends.

Instant Chocolate Pudding

This weekend I had company over. We had food planned for our dinner, but a little later we were all wanting something sweet. Having settled in for the night and not wanting to go out again I decided to make us some homemade chocolate pudding.

Chocolate Pudding

This recipe makes a great chocolate pudding from ingredients you probably already have in your pantry (or maybe you should). The mix can even be made ahead and kept on hand for your next dessert emergency, or even nicely packaged up and given as a gift. I don’t know of many people who don’t like chocolate pudding.

Even though the recipe calls for heavy cream and milk, it can just as readily be made with all milk. Also, the pudding can be eaten hot or warm and does not have to be chilled first. Once you smell the wonderful chocolate aroma, I bet you and your guests won’t be able to wait that long.

Instant Chocolate Pudding Mix

Instant Chocolate Pudding Mix

 

There are two parts to this recipe: one for the mix, and the second on how to convert the mix into pudding.

INSTANT CHOCOLATE PUDDING MIX

Ingredients
1 c Cocoa, preferably Dutch process
1/2 c Cornstarch
1 1/2 c Sugar, confectioners
1/2 c Instant non-fat dry milk
1 t Salt

Directions
Combine the cocoa, cornstarch, sugar, instant non-fat dry milk, and salt. This can be stored in an airtight container or zippered bag until you are ready to use it, but I I’m pretty certain it won’t last long. The recipe makes 3 1/2 cups dry mix, which is enough for 2 batches.

CHOCOLATE PUDDING

Ingredients
1 3/4 c Instant Chocolate Pudding Mix (see above)
2 c Milk
2 c Heavy cream
1 t Vanilla

Directions
Place 1 3/4 cups of dry pudding mix into a medium saucepan. Add milk and heavy cream and whisk to combine. Over medium heat, bring mixture to a boil, continuously whisking gently. Reduce heat to low and cook for 4 minutes while continuing to whisk. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour the mixture into individual dishes. Cover the surface of the pudding with plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator to chill completely before serving, approximately 4 hours.

Monkey Bread

All families have family traditions, or at least I hope they do!  For my family Monkey Bread is one of these traditions.  A little background on our family history and then I’ll jump into the heart of the article, delicious, gooey monkey bread!

My Grandmother used to make monkey bread for the family at gatherings, it was always a crowd pleaser, easy to eat, the perfect combination of gooey sweetness, to crunchy yumminess.  Another nice trait about monkey bread is that it’s a very informal dessert, you don’t need any sort of serving tools, you don’t even really need a plate, you can grab a few tasty morsels and continue on with what your doing.  Or you can sit down with whomever you are sharing it with and literally break bread.

As I grew older my brother and I would help my Grandmother making it, I was young and didn’t remember exactly what was involved with it until just a few years ago.  I was visiting my Grandmother about 5 years ago and we got to talking about cooking and food in general.  I mentioned how I always loved her monkey bread and was curious if she remembered how to make it, and she just started rattling the directions from her head, I quickly wrote everything down and took all of the notes so I had it directly from the source with all of the information.

With the newly acquired recipe in hand I stopped by the grocery store to round up all of the ingredients, this is one of those rare occasions that I used a recipe.  My grandmother was kind enough to send me home with a spare bundt cake pan which is my preferred vessel for baking a monkey bread in.  I got home and got to work right away!

Here is the ingredients list:

2 – 7.5 oz Buttermilk biscuit tubes.

1 cup granulated sugar (more on this later)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 Tablespoon Water

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

1 pinch salt

1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Preparation of monkey bread goes something like this, but feel free to personalize it to suit your tastes. In a large mixing bowl combine the sugar and cinnamon. If you are using raisins put them in the bottom of the bundt pan, ungreased.  Quarter the individual biscuits, I find it’s best to get a very sharp knife and take the entire tube of biscuits and cut down it lengthwise so you have two half moon lengths of dough.  Then lay them on the flat part of the half moon and cut down the length of  biscuits, do this to both half moon sections and you’ll have effectively quartered the biscuits.  After you do this a few times you get very good at it and it goes very quickly.   I have a friend who enjoys the process of making monkey bread and he prefers to hand tear the biscuits.  There is no wrong way to do it as long as you make them a little smaller. As you cut the pieces toss them in  the cinnamon and sugar mixture, gently stir the pieces so they are entirely coated.

I find it’s easier to do the biscuit pieces tossing using about 1/4 of the total biscuit pieces at a time, you can do them all at once but it’s just quicker and seems to do a more thorough job when you do them in smaller groups.  After they are coated with the cinnamon and sugar mixture place them in the bundt pan on top of the raisins.  The main thing to take care of here is to make sure you don’t pack them down and make sure that you fill the bundt pan evenly.  This recipe typically fills up 1/2 of a normal sized bundt pan, that is 100% normal.

Once all of the biscuit pieces are tossed with the cinnamon and sugar and in the bundt pan you’ll notice you have sugar left over, this too is normal.

In a small saucepan, combine the water and butter and slowly melt the butter.  Once the butter is melted entirely add the remaining sugar and cinnamon mixture to the party and slowly bring the heat up.  Be sure to stir almost continually as you bring the heat up, you want to stir this until all of the sugar is dissolved in the butter and the grittiness vanishes, you’ll notice it starts to froth a little bit while doing this, once that starts it typically means it is ready.  Remove it from the heat and allow it to cool for a minute or two.  Carefully cover the top of the biscuit pieces in the bundt pan with the melted butter mixture, paying particularly close attention to the sides, I find it’s best to use a tablespoon and spoon it on.

Preheat your over to 350° F once preheated bake for 30 minutes.  You’ll know it’s done when you see the bits on the top (which becomes the bottom) are lightly brown and crunchy looking.  Once that happens take it out of the oven and before it cools, flip it onto a plate, it should look something like this:

Monkey Bread

 

A few tips for making this, I typically use 3/4-7/8 cup sugar, I tend to like things less sweet than most.  I’ve also found different people like their monkey bread a different ways, some like it softer and less done (then bake it for a little less time) while others prefer it crunchy and more done (in which case you bake it for a little longer).  I’ve also done experiments replacing the raisins with dried cherries, fresh blueberries, fresh peaches, fresh apples and the list goes on!  I typically use less cinnamon when using fruits other than apples.  Also be cautious about fresh fruit adding too much liquid, I find it’s best to cook the fruit in the butter sugar mixture first and then assemble the monkey bread.  It adds a little bit extra work but produces better results.

I’ve even experimented with savory monkey breads, removing the sugar entirely, replacing the raisins with parmesan cheese, then add finely chopped fresh garlic to the butter mixture, you could easily add some italian seasoning, parsley or marjoram – the options are limitless.  I’ve even seen a recipe for a mexican monkey bread that is like a whole meal all in a monkey bread!

I’ve also done testing replacing the bundt pan with a ramekin or other cooking vessel, they always seem to cook less even unless the cooking container is on the small side, for example if you were making single serving sized monkey breads.  I also want to stress that you should use the water, this is an old pastry chef’s trick, water in the oven when baking pastry and bread is what gives it a crusty crust.  If you prefer it softer throughout omit the water and you’ll get less of textural difference, it will be softer throughout.  You can also mist the monkey bread with water while baking for even more crunch in the crust.  Some bread shops keep bake pans with water in them steaming in their ovens to provide the famous bakery crust.  I know it sound counter intuitive but that is a great baking tip snuck into this post!

Monkey Bread is a great comfort food that I enjoy sharing with family and friends, it always brings a smile to people’s faces and despite the simplicity of this dish it is extremely well balanced and incredibly enjoyable.  After you prepare it a few times you probably won’t need a recipe and you’ll start trying new things, as long as you follow basic rules of cookery you’ll be rewarded with a delicious, homemade monkey bread.