Streamlined Cherry Cake Still Just As Tasty As Ever

A layer cake doesn’t necessarily have to be high in fat to be deadly to your diet. Sometimes a cake has so many calories from sugar that the calories from fat seem low by comparison.

That was the case with the original recipe for this maraschino cherry cake. Not including frosting, it contained a whopping 12 grams of fat per serving - which accounted for just 30 percent of the total calories.

To streamline the original recipe, we substituted cup of canola oil for 1/4 cup of butter to reduce both the total calories and fat calories significantly. Switching from a high-fat butter cream icing to a Low-Fat Cream Cheese Frosting further reduced the calories without making the cake taste like a “diet” dessert.

A few tablespoons of maraschino cherry juice in the frosting colors the cake a delicate pink, making it a festive dessert for a special occasion.

However, even this lower-fat version should be reserved for times when you want to splurge; with frosting, the revised recipe still has 12 grams of fat per slice. If you eliminate the walnuts, you’ll save an additional 27 calories and 2.5 fat grams per serving.

Light Maraschino Cherry Cake

1/4 cup canola oil

1-3/4 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup skim milk, divided in half

2-1/2 cups cake flour

2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 (6-ounce) jar maraschino cherries, drained (reserve juice for frosting) and chopped

4 egg whites, stiffly beaten

Low-Fat Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows)

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly coat 2 (9-inch) cake pans with cooking spray. Dust with flour and tap pans to remove excess flour. Set aside.

In the large bowl of an electric mixer, combine the canola oil, sugar, salt and vanilla. Beat on low speed until the sugar is lumpy. Slowly add cup of the skim milk until the sugar dissolves.

In a separate bowl, combine the cake flour, baking powder, chopped walnuts and chopped cherries. Stir to coat the nuts and cherries evenly with flour. Add the flour mixture to the oil and sugar, alternating with the remaining 1/2 cup skim milk. Fold in the beaten egg whites by thirds. Pour the batter into the prepared pans.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes, or until surface of the cake is golden brown and edges have shrunk slightly from the sides of the pans. Cool 20 minutes in the pans, then remove and cool completely on a wire rack. Stack layers and frost with Low-Fat Cream Cheese Frosting, if desired.

Yield: 12 servings.

Nutrition information per serving, without frosting: 286 calories, 8 grams fat (25 percent fat calories), 5 grams protein, 50 grams carbohydrate, no cholesterol, 209 milligrams sodium.

Low-Fat Cream Cheese Frosting

2 ounces unsalted butter

12 ounces fat-free cream cheese

2 tablespoons maraschino cherry juice

2-1/2 cups powdered sugar

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter until creamy. Add the cream cheese and beat until no lumps of butter are visible. Add the cherry juice and continue beating until mixture is smooth. Gradually add the powdered sugar and continue beating until smooth and fluffy.

If frosting is too thin, chill for 10 to 15 minutes in the refrigerator or 5 to 8 minutes in the freezer. Use between cake layers and on top and sides of cake.

Yield: 12 servings.

Nutrition information per serving: 166 calories, 4 grams fat (22 percent fat calories), 4 grams protein, 28 grams carbohydrate, 10 milligrams cholesterol, 176 milligrams sodium.

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