Healthy Cake Recipes and Cooking Tips

Featured Recipes

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

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

Banana Cream Layer Cake

Here we layer delicate banana-buttermilk cake with a fluffy Bavarian-style cream that's made low-fat by combining nonfat milk with a reasonable amount of whipping cream. The rich taste makes it hard to believe that this cake has only 300 calories and 3 grams of saturated fat per slice.

» Banana Cream Layer Cake

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

Greek Yogurt Cheesecake with Ouzo-Poached Figs

This tangy yogurt cheesecake is topped with ouzo-poached figs inspired by sikomaida, a traditional delicacy from Corfu made with dried figs macerated and kneaded with ouzo and pepper, which are formed into disks and dried in chestnut leaves. It's also delicious with seasonal fruits, fresh or dried and poached, or with whole preserves.

» Greek Yogurt Cheesecake with Ouzo-Poached Figs

Raspberry-Swirl Cupcakes

These raspberry-lemon cupcakes are topped with an easy cream cheese frosting tinted pink with a little raspberry puree. For those unaccustomed to the mildly nutty flavor of whole-wheat flour (used in these cupcakes), the flavor of the raspberry puree swirled into the lemony cake makes the wheat flavor undetectable.

» Raspberry-Swirl Cupcakes

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.