Healthy Cake Recipes and Cooking Tips

Featured Recipes

One-Bowl Chocolate Cake

This easy-to-make chocolate cake is dark, moist, rich—and only dirties one bowl! Not quite as easy as boxed cake mixes, but those often contain trans fats. Our simple “from scratch” recipe gives you a home-baked cake with healthful canola oil and whole-wheat flour.

» One-Bowl Chocolate Cake

Carrot Cake

Carrots give carrot cake a health-halo effect—people think it's health food, but it's usually very high in fat and calories. But our version has about 40 percent less calories and 50 percent less fat than most. First, we use less oil in our batter. Then we skip the butter in the frosting (don't worry, it's still light and smooth). To ensure the cake is moist, we add nonfat buttermilk and crushed pineapple.

» Carrot Cake

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Pound cake got its name from the original formulation: a pound each of sugar, flour, butter and eggs. Just the thought of it is enough to raise your cholesterol. Our version calls for half whole-wheat flour, less sugar, a modest amount of butter and loses quite a few egg yolks. To keep it rich we moisten the cake with reduced-fat cream cheese and buttermilk. It is every bit as delicious as the original, with only a third of the calories and fat.

» Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Key Lime Meringue Cake

A cake with a meringue? Though not unheard of, this one is definitely a flight of fancy, a cakey version of Key lime pie.

» Key Lime Meringue Cake

Linzer Cake

Linzer Tart (or Linzer Torte) is an Austrian specialty: an almond pastry topped with raspberry jam. Here it is reinvented as an American cake: almond-rich layers divided by raspberry jam. It's even better when prepared a day in advance, giving the jam time to soak into the cake. If you like, buck tradition by using strawberry jam and garnishing with fresh strawberries.

» Linzer Cake

Mini Molten Chocolate Cakes with Mocha Sauce

Some molten-cake recipes call for simply underbaking the batter so the middles stay lava-like, but mini cakes get done so quickly it's best to give them a filling that won't set up. These rich, mocha-flavored morsels are guaranteed to stay moist and gooey, owing to a simple mocha ganache in the middle. Serve the cakes with a scoop of low-fat coffee ice cream and garnish with a chocolate-covered espresso bean, if desired.

» Mini Molten Chocolate Cakes with Mocha Sauce

Pineapple-Coconut Layer Cake

In this stunning dessert, two layers of coconut-flavored cake are filled with sweet pineapple curd and topped with creamy coconut frosting, chunks of fresh pineapple and toasted coconut.

» Pineapple-Coconut Layer Cake


Healthy cake recipes for birthdays, holidays and festive celebrations all year long.

Who said you can’t have your cake and eat it too? Birthdays, holidays and other celebrations just aren’t complete without cake! However, traditional cake recipes are often loaded with fat, sugar and calories, taking some of the joy out of enjoying dessert. We’ve transformed the typical cake recipe by cutting back on white flour and limiting the use of full-fat ingredients, making healthier substitutions that will satisfy everyone’s sweet tooth. So bake up one of these delicious healthier cake recipes for your next celebration—and enjoy eating it too.

Chocolate Cakes

A sublime silky chocolate custard fills this simple hazelnut shortbread crust. Serve...
A treasured family recipe for Passover chocolate-apple torte, updated to be lower in...
Some molten-cake recipes call for simply underbaking the batter so the middles stay...
This easy-to-make chocolate cake is dark, moist, rich—and only dirties one bowl! Not...
This serve-from-the-pan cake is a winner at pot-luck suppers, classroom celebrations...

Cheesecakes

Sometimes we even stun ourselves. This ultra-rich and creamy chocolate cheesecake...
With its exquisite lemon-oil fragrance, lemon verbena adds a sophisticated accent to...
A spectacular, graceful ending for a holiday feast or any elegant fall or winter...
Softened dried pears give this low-fat cheesecake much of its body. For the best...
This is the simplest to make of all our cheesecakes but not a bit less extravagant...
Our Test Kitchen created this showpiece cheesecake to celebrate one of winter's...
This tangy yogurt cheesecake is topped with ouzo-poached figs inspired by sikomaida...

Fruity Cakes

Combining traditional flavors with modern sensibilities, the creamed butter and...
During August in Maine, one could happily survive on a diet of lobster, corn-on-the-...
Ah, the maligned fruitcake. Many store-bought varieties, stuffed with unrecognizable...
A cake with a meringue? Though not unheard of, this one is definitely a flight of...
Linzer Tart (or Linzer Torte) is an Austrian specialty: an almond pastry topped with...
In this stunning dessert, two layers of coconut-flavored cake are filled with sweet...
Top down is the way to go for a gooey pecan-filled pineapple cake. Note: Do not sift...
The neat rows of shiny strawberries bring to mind the local strawberry patch. When...

Other Cakes

Buttermilk and apple butter contribute to the moistness of this simple, one-bowl...
Carrots give carrot cake a health-halo effect—people think it's health food,...
Pound cake got its name from the original formulation: a pound each of sugar, flour...
A perfect ending to a Passover seder.
A gallon of pure maple syrup may be priced like liquid gold, but for cooks the...

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