These Cakes May Change Your Life : BAKING WITHOUT FAT : It’s a revolutionary idea--substituting wholesome fruit for evil butter, shortening and oil. You won’t believe your mouth! : What’s Missing? Not the Taste, Not the Texture, Just the Fat

Big news? The biggest--possibly a permanent change in how we bake.

Last year we read a story by Washington Post writer Sally Squires that struck us as totally bizarre: A paste of prunes, vanilla and water, she claimed, “is replacing high-fat shortening in a variety of commercially baked goods.” She suggested cutting the fat content of brownies 75% by using this prune goop in place of butter.

What crazy things health-foodies will eat, we thought. We passed the story around and snickered. But we had to try it, if only to find out how awful it was.

We ended up eating every last brownie.

The chocolate flavor, we decided, could use some work--you could sort of taste the prunes, and we preferred the brownies when only half the butter was replaced--but we had to agree that even when we eliminated all the butter, the texture was everything it should be: rich and moist and tender. We ended our Nov. 11 report with the words: “Stay tuned for the no-butter chocolate-prune cake.”

Well, here it is: Chocolate Cloud Cake, made with no butter, and in fact no fat at all apart from two egg yolks. As if by a miracle, wholesome, fiber-rich prune puree substitutes for evil fat, and if nobody told you you were eating a cake made without butter, much less a chocolate cake containing prunes, you’d probably never guess.

But there turns out to be a lot more to the story. Times food stylist Donna Deane had solved the prune flavor problem, but she asked an intriguing question: Why just prunes? Why not other fruits as well?

It turns out that most dried fruits (and some fresh) can be pureed and substituted for fat in cakes. In this issue we give Deane’s recipes for five delicious cakes and a gingerbread using various fruits.

We were still puzzled by the very idea that fruit puree could take the place of shortening, though, so we put the question to food science writer Harold McGee, author of “On Food and Cooking.”

“There are a couple of reasons why shortening is added to a cake,” he commented. “One is to undermine the structure of the gluten, to make the dough tender. Another is that awful word food scientists use, ‘mouth-feel.’ Fat gives richness and a quality they call ‘go-away’--it allows a solid mouthful to disintegrate easily in the mouth to a comfortable mush.

“Fruit purees have viscosity and body, so they can add ‘go-away.’ I also suspect that since they consist of finely ground plant structural material, they can participate in the structure of the cake without strengthening it.”

In other words, they probably tenderize dough by diluting the chewy structure of the gluten. This is a totally different principle, however, from true shortening: Lard, oil and vegetable shortening create a tender structure by coating the gluten strands in the dough with fatty acids so that they slide past each other.

Since these recipes don’t contain any such lubricants, it’s important to keep gluten buildup to a minimum. In order to avoid over-mixing, Deane mixes these doughs by hand, like muffin dough, rather than with an electric mixer. She also holds down mixing time by beating the eggs separately before adding them.

She warns that these unshortened cakes will turn out distinctly dry if overcooked. But there’s a compensating bonus--the structure of the cake is not entirely based on flour, which readily gives up its moisture and stales. Like fruitcake, these cakes seem to get moister, rather than drier, as the days go by.

Deane solved the prune flavor problem by using baby food prune puree, which is blander than puree made directly from prunes, and she recommends using baby food purees whenever you want to downplay the flavor of the fruit you’re using. When making your own puree, she has found that dried fruit with a squeezable texture works better than the rock-hard sort of dried fruit. In fact, the fruit doesn’t always have to be dried. When Times food stylist and staff writer Minnie Bernardino decided to try the fruit-for-fat trick with a boxed cake mix, she used fresh mango. And, by the way, her modified mix cake came out just great.

The recipes we’ve included are mostly for cake, but we have plans to develop fruit-for-fat recipes for cookies, muffins, quick breads--maybe even pancakes. For those who want to experiment on their own, Deane advises trying the lighter sorts of cake. (Our pound cake turned out to be about a hundred-pound cake.) Also, as you’d expect, fruit puree is particularly suitable for cakes that already have a fruit or vegetable flavoring, such as carrot cake.

Reduced fat; the fiber, vitamins and minerals of fruit; good keeping qualities--and finally a convenience: Since there’s no creaming of sugar and shortening with these cakes, cleanup is easier.

Columbus? Yeah, that was pretty big news. But this--this is really big news.

Note: The nutritional information below compares our fruit-for-fat cakes with identical recipes--except butter, oil or shortening are figured in the count, instead of the fruit puree. The analyses were computed by Bruce Henstell of the research service NUTRICOMM.

Is it possible to cut the fat out of chocolate cake? Lots of people have tried. Few have succeeded. The problem: nothing brings out chocolate’s smooth texture, that luxurious feeling it leaves on your tongue, like high-fat butter.

This is the chocolate cake we made with prunes--but prunes aren’t what you taste. Though we aren’t going to pretend this is the richest or most chocolatey cake you can make, we’ve gone through enough low-fat chocolate cakes to know that this is the best of many we’ve tried.

As you can see in the nutritional analysis below, simply replacing one cup of butter with prune puree reduces the fat count from 17 grams to 2 grams. The percentage of calories from fat drops from 41% to 7%. And you lose more than 100 calories.

Since many people prefer their chocolate cake plain, we’ve done our analysis on the cake without frosting. But as you’ll see in the analysis of the Seven-Minute Frosting below, you aren’t adding any fat if you like your chocolate cake dressed up with icing.

CHOCOLATE CLOUD CAKE

2 cups flour

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 (2 1/2-ounce) jars baby food pureed prunes (replaces 1 cup butter)

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup nonfat milk

2 tablespoons instant espresso coffee powder

1 cup boiling water

Seven-Minute Frosting, optional

Sift together flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt into mixing bowl. Stir until blended. Add prunes, vanilla, eggs and milk and stir just until blended.

Combine espresso and boiling water and stir until dissolved. Stir into batter until blended. Pour batter into 2 (9-inch) round baking pans sprayed with non-stick vegetable spray.

Bake at 350 degrees 30 to 35 minutes, or until center tests done with wood pick. Let cakes cool in pans 10 minutes. Invert onto wire rack to cool. Spread top of 1 cake with Seven-Minute Frosting. Place remaining cake on top of prepared cake and frost both layers. Makes 12 double-layered servings, or 24 single-layer cake pieces.

Chocolate Cloud Cake with prunes in place of butter:

Each double-layered serving, without frosting, contains about:

257 calories; 161 mg sodium; 36 mg cholesterol; 2 grams fat; 58 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams protein; .37 gram fiber; 7% calories from fat.

Compare to Chocolate Cloud Cake made with butter, no prunes:

Each double-layered serving, without frosting, contains about:

376 calories; 314 mg sodium; 77 mg cholesterol; 17 grams fat; 54 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams protein; .37 gram fiber; 41% calories from fat.

Seven-Minute Frosting

1 tablespoon instant espresso coffee powder

1/4 cup hot water

3 egg whites

1 1/2 cups light brown sugar, packed

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Dissolve coffee in hot water. Combine egg whites, brown sugar, coffee mixture and cream of tartar in top of double boiler. Beat with mixer until frosting forms stiff peaks, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from heat. Beat in vanilla. Makes about 5 cups.

Frosting for each serving, based on 12-serving cake, contains about:

72 calories; 35 mg sodium; 0 mg cholesterol; 0 grams fat; 18 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram protein; 0 grams fiber; 0% calories from fat.

Pears are the fruit we’ve used in place of shortening for this Gingerbread. If you like, you can serve it with a dollop of low-fat non-dairy whipped topping sprinkled with chopped crystallized ginger.

GINGERBREAD

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 (2 1/2-ounce) jars baby food pureed pears (replaces 1/2 cup shortening)

1 teaspoon peeled and grated ginger root

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup dark molasses

1/2 cup boiling water

Sift together flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, baking powder, baking soda and salt into mixing bowl. Stir to blend. Add pureed pears, ginger root, brown sugar, egg, molasses and water. Stir just until blended.

Pour into 8-inch round baking pan sprayed with non-stick vegetable spray. Bake at 350 degrees 25 to 30 minutes. Cool 5 minutes in pan. Remove cake from pan and cool to warm on wire rack. Makes 6 servings.

Gingerbread with pears in place of shortening:

Each serving contains about:

227 calories; 255 mg sodium; 35 mg cholesterol; 1 gram fat; 50 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams protein; .03 gram fiber; 5% calories from fat.

Compare to Gingerbread made with shortening, no pears:

Each serving contains about:

365 calories; 255 mg sodium; 35 mg cholesterol; 18 grams fat; 47 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams protein; .03 gram fiber; 45% calories from fat.

Most people look at carrot cake and see a healthy cake. What they forget is that most carrot cakes are made with a load of oil--in the high-fat version of this recipe, there’s 1 1/2 cups. But replace the oil with pureed figs and you reduce the percentage of calories from fat from an extremely high 50% to just 4%.

Though they are traditionally added to carrot cake, you may want to omit the walnuts, which are high in fat. (Check the figures below.)

14-CARAT FIG CAKE

2 eggs

2 egg whites

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 1/2 cups Pureed Figs (replaces 1 1/2 cups canola oil)

2 cups peeled and grated carrots

1 (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained with juice reserved

1 cup seedless raisins

1/2 cup chopped walnuts, optional

1 cup powdered sugar, optional for glaze

Lightly beat together eggs and egg whites in bowl. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon into mixing bowl. Stir to blend. Add Pureed Figs, beaten eggs, carrots, pineapple, raisins and nuts. Stir until blended.

Turn into 13x9-inch baking pan sprayed with non-stick vegetable spray. Bake at 350 degrees 35 to 40 minutes or until cake tests done in center. While cake cools, blend together powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons reserved pineapple juice until smooth and of spreading consistency. Drizzle over cake. Makes 24 servings.

14-Carat Fig Cake with figs in place of canola oil:

Each serving, without nuts or powdered sugar, contains about:

183 calories; 150 mg sodium; 18 mg cholesterol; 1 gram fat; 43 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams protein; .98 gram fiber; 4% calories from fat.

Compare to 14-Carat Cake made with canola oil, no figs:

Each serving, without nuts or powdered sugar, contains about:

260 calories; 148 mg sodium; 18 mg cholesterol; 15 grams fat; 33 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams protein; .18 gram fiber; 50% calories from fat.

Optional walnuts, per serving, contain about:

16 calories; .25 mg sodium; 0 mg cholesterol; 1.5 grams fat; .5 gram carbohydrates; .33 gram protein; .11 gram fiber.

Pureed Figs

2 cups dried figs

3/4 cup water

2 teaspoons vanilla

Puree figs, water and vanilla in blender or food processor. Makes about 1 1/2 cups.

Apple Cake made with applesauce--what could be more logical? Again, the cake has been analyzed without walnuts, but if you’d like to include them you can check the figures below and know what you’re adding.

APPLE CAKE

2 cups flour

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup applesauce (replaces 1/2 cup vegetable oil)

1/3 cup apple juice

2 cups chopped peeled apples

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup chopped walnuts, optional

Sift together flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, cloves and nutmeg into mixing bowl. Stir to blend. Add eggs, vanilla, applesauce and apple juice. Stir just until blended. Fold in apples.

Spoon batter into 8-inch square baking pan sprayed with non-stick vegetable spray. Combine brown sugar and walnuts. Sprinkle evenly over top of batter. Bake at 350 degrees 40 to 45 minutes or until cake tests done. Makes 9 servings.

Apple Cake with applesauce in place of oil:

Each serving, without nuts, contains about:

265 calories; 148 mg sodium; 47 mg cholesterol; 2 grams fat; 59 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams protein; .23 gram fiber; 5% calories from fat.

Compare to Apple Cake made with oil, no applesauce:

Each serving, without nuts, contains about:

366 calories; 148 mg sodium; 47 mg cholesterol; 14 grams fat; 58 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams protein; .16 gram fiber; 34% calories from fat.

Optional walnuts, per serving, contain about:

21.4 calories; .3 mg sodium; 0 mg cholesterol; 2.1 grams fat; .66 gram carbohydrates; .44 gram protein; .15 gram fiber.

Baby food fruit purees work well when you want to downplay the flavor of the fruit. But some cakes work better with stronger-tasting fruit purees that you make yourself. When you take the nuts out of a banana-nut cake, for instance, freshly pureed dried dates not only reduce fat but add flavor--and a good chewy texture, which can take the place of the walnuts. You can, of course, add the nuts and make banana-date-nut cake.

BANANA-DATE CAKE

2/3 cup nonfat milk

2 teaspoons vinegar

2 1/3 cups flour

1 2/3 cups sugar

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 egg white

1 1/4 cups mashed very ripe bananas (about 3)

3/4 cup Pureed Dates (replaces 3/4 cup shortening)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup chopped walnuts, optional

Powdered sugar, optional

Mix nonfat milk and vinegar and let stand until thickened.

Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt into mixing bowl. Stir to blend. Lightly beat eggs and egg white. Add to flour mixture with bananas, Pureed Dates, soured milk, vanilla and nuts. Stir just until blended.

Pour into 12-cup bundt pan sprayed with non-stick vegetable spray. Bake at 350 degrees 45 to 55 minutes or until cake tests done. Remove to wire rack to cool. If desired, sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve. Makes 16 servings.

Note: In place of nonfat milk and vinegar, substitute 2/3 cup buttermilk if desired.

Banana-Date Cake with dates in place of shortening:

Each serving, without walnuts or powdered sugar, contains about:

212 calories; 198 mg sodium; 27 mg cholesterol; 1 gram fat; 48 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams protein; .33 gram fiber; 4% calories from fat.

Compare to Banana-Date Cake made with shortening, no dates:

Each serving, without walnuts, contains about:

257 calories; 197 mg sodium; 27 mg cholesterol; 9 grams fat; 40 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams protein; .09 gram fiber; 33% calories from fat.

Optional walnuts, per serving, contain about:

24 calories; .37 mg sodium; 0 mg cholesterol; 2.3 grams fat; .75 gram carbohydrates; .5 gram protein; .17 gram fiber.

Pureed Dates

1 cup dried dates

6 tablespoons water

1 teaspoon vanilla

Puree dates, water and vanilla in blender or food processor. Makes about 3/4 cup.

This is another cake that we feel works better with fruit that you puree yourself. It’s a terrific cake with no glaze or frosting whatsoever, but we’ve also provided a way to make a double-layer cake with strawberries and an Apricot-Brandy Glaze.

APRICOT CAKE WITH STRAWBERRIES

2 3/4 cups flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 1/4 cups nonfat milk

3/4 cup Apricot Puree (replaces 1/2 cup shortening)

2 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

9 tablespoons raspberry or strawberry preserves, optional filling

Apricot-Brandy Glaze, optional

8 large strawberries, sliced thin

Sift flour, baking powder and sugar in mixing bowl. Stir to blend. Add nonfat milk, Apricot Puree, eggs and vanilla. Stir until ingredients are blended. Pour batter into 2 8-inch round cake pans sprayed with non-stick vegetable spray. Bake at 375 degrees 25 to 30 minutes or until cake tests done in center. Let cake cool in pan 5 minutes. Remove cake from pan and cool on rack.

If glazed layer cake is desired, split each cake in half horizontally. Assemble layers, spreading 3 tablespoons raspberry preserves between each layer. Brush enough Apricot-Brandy Glaze on cake top to cover. Arrange strawberry slices in petal-like pattern on top. Brush remaining Apricot-Brandy Glaze on strawberries and sides of cake. Makes 12 double-layered servings, or 24 single-layer cake pieces.

Apricot Cake with apricots in place of shortening:

Each double-layered serving, without glaze, filling or topping, contains about:

263 calories; 112 mg sodium; 39 mg cholesterol; 2 grams fat; 57 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams protein; .22 gram fiber; 7% calories from fat.

Compare to white cake made with shortening, no apricots:

Each double-layered serving, without glaze, filling or topping, contains about:

321 calories; 112 mg sodium; 39 mg cholesterol; 11 grams fat; 52 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams protein; 0 grams fiber; 29% calories from fat.

Apricot Puree

1 cup dried apricots

6 tablespoons water

1 teaspoon vanilla

Puree apricots, water and vanilla in blender or food processor. Makes about 3/4 cup.

Apricot-Brandy Glaze

1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 cup apricot nectar

1 1/2 teaspoons apricot brandy

Stir together cornstarch and sugar. Blend in apricot nectar. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Stir in apricot brandy. Makes 1/2 cup.

Apricot-Brandy Glaze, strawberry topping and raspberry jam filling:

Total ingredients contain about:

681 calories; 25 mg sodium; 0 mg cholesterol; 1 grams fat; 171 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams protein; 1.19 grams fiber; 0% calories from fat.

Once we got the fruit-for-fat formula to work for cakes we made from scratch, we started to wonder: Does the formula work for cake mixes too? The answer, in this case, is yes.

QUICK MANGO-RUM CAKE

1 cup peeled mango cubes

1 (18.5-ounce) box butter recipe golden cake mix

1/2 cup rum plus water to make 2/3 cup liquid (or 2/3 cup water)

3 eggs

1/2 cup pureed ripe mango (replaces 1/2 cup butter)

Spray bottom of 10-inch tube or bundt pan with non-stick vegetable spray. Arrange mango cubes in bottom of pan.

Blend cake mix, rum liquid, eggs and pureed mango in large mixer bowl at low speed just until moistened. Beat at medium speed 4 minutes.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake immediately at 375 degrees 40 to 45 minutes or until wood pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool about 20 minutes in pan. Loosen and remove from pan onto serving plate. Makes 10 servings.

Quick Mango-Rum Cake with mangoes in place of butter:

Each serving contains about:

83 calories; 36 mg sodium; 64 mg cholesterol; 2 grams fat; 8 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams protein; .21 gram fiber; 21% calories from fat.

Compare to Quick Mango-Rum Cake made with butter, no mangoes (in batter):

Each serving contains about:

159 calories; 129 mg sodium; 89 mg cholesterol; 11 grams fat; 7 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams protein; .14 gram fiber; 63% calories from fat.