Having Their Cake

The article and recipe for the “secret-ingredient cake” was interesting. But it’s still a very high-fat and high-calorie dessert. I believe it might be possible to make a very good-tasting, low-calorie, low-fat cake with these revisions:

Instead of 3 eggs, use 6 egg whites. Cut the sugar amount from 1 3/4 cups to 1 1/2 cups. Instead of using 1 1/4 cups of oil, use 1 1/4 cups of applesauce. Delete the 1 1/4 teaspoons of salt from the recipe.

I’ve analyzed both recipe versions with Nutritionist III software. You’ll note that the calories are reduced by 53% (283 to 133 calories), and cholesterol is eliminated completely. Only a tenth of a serving/exchange of vegetables (3 calories) results from the addition of the beans--I’d be tempted to sneak in double that amount at least.

--JIM GRIZZELL, M.A., health educator, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona