I’ve had this healthy chocolate cake recipe of mine popping up here and there on iFOODreal since 2014, without comments, and frankly, making me nervous. Every time I would see it, I would cringe. And that is not good when you cringe at your own food, especially if you make a living off cooking. It just can’t be good, the cake and the situation.
You know what no comments means? Well, sometimes, not always, but it means that recipe sucks. I bet there are at least 2 human beings that made my cake and thought “meh”, but were too polite to protest. However, there were no life threatening comments either. So, I think it wasn’t that bad but could be better.
I also blame this chocolate cake on a batch of Instant Pot yogurt. Have you tried yet? Now, that I calculated it is 5 times cheaper than a store bought, I make a batch of organic yogurt every few weeks, place in Mason jars with plastic lids, and we are good for 10 days. Seriously, life changing hack and I was super sceptical – “why would anyone wanna make yogurt in the pressure cooker when you can go buy it?!”.
What you need to know about this slice of heaven?! It is every dark chocolate lover’s dream! My kids claimed that, since they love their overly sweet milk chocolate, me and Alex were left to enjoy pretty much entire cake (if too much dark chocolate keeps you awake, I recommend eating 1 slice before bedtime – sounds like a doctor’s advice haha). It is moist, not overly sweet and light. I based my chocolate cake on vanilla sour cream cake I grew up with in Ukraine.
If you are not “a baker” like me, this healthy chocolate cake is for you! The process and ingredients list couldn’t be simpler. You and whoever you make it for will love it! Looking for other simple cake recipes? Try my healthy almond cake, healthy peanut butter pie or no bake nutella pie.
How to Make Healthy Chocolate Cake
Gather all your ingredients.
Place 2 cake pans bottoms down on 2 pieces of parchment paper, circle around with pencil, then cut out each circle with scissors.
Place cut outs inside each cake pan and spray with cooking spray covering the sides. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large mixing bowl, add eggs and maple syrup, beat with an electric mixer for 30 seconds or until well incorporated.
Add yogurt, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla, salt and beat with a mixer for another 30 seconds.
Add cacao powder and using a whisk, whisk until well mixed.
Add flour and whisk until smooth and well combined. Do not over mix but whisk until smooth consistency.
Divide batter between 2 previously prepared cake pans and bake on a bottom rack for 27 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
While cake is baking, prepare the frosting. In a large bowl, add yogurt, maple syrup, cacao powder and vanilla; whisk well. Refrigerate until ready to assemble the cake.
If you want runnier frosting like mine, use 2%+ yogurt. But if you want thick frosting that you can spread, use 2%+ Greek yogurt. You would have to buy 2 large containers of yogurt anyways, so you can choose the type of frosting.
Here is my test #2 picture, when I frosted entire cake with 2% Greek yogurt frosting.
Remove cakes from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Using a spatula, separate the edge of each cake from the pan, flip over on your hand, peel off parchment paper, and place bottom down on a cooling rack. Let cakes cool off completely before assembling.
When ready to assemble the cake, using long (fillet) knife, cut each cake in half lengthwise.
Place bottom layer and spread 1/4 of frosting on it (my picture show drizzle, you actually spread with spatula). Repeat with remaining layers. I would recommend to use a bit more frosting in between the layers and less on the top – cake will be richer.
Decorate however you wish. I grated a few candies on top, you could use sprinkles, fresh berries or icing sugar.
Healthy Chocolate Cake
This Healthy Chocolate Cake Recipe with yogurt, maple syrup and whole wheat flour is every dark chocolate lover’s dream and is perfect for beginners bakers.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 27 minutes
- Total Time: 52 minutes
- Yield: 10 slices 1x
Ingredients
Cake:
- 3 eggs, large
- 1 cup maple syrup or honey
- 2 cups plain regular or Greek yogurt (3%+ fat)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, aluminum free
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup cacao powder
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
Frosting:
- 1 1/2 cups plain Greek yogurt (2%+ fat)*
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1/3 cup cacao powder
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Place 2 cake pans bottoms down on 2 pieces of parchment paper, circle around with pencil, then cut out each circle with scissors. Place cut outs inside of each cake pan and spray with cooking spray covering the sides. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, add eggs and maple syrup, beat with an electric mixer for 30 seconds or until well incorporated. Add yogurt, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla, salt and beat with a mixer for 30 seconds.
- Add cacao powder and using a whisk, whisk until well mixed. Add flour and whisk until smooth and well combined. Do not over mix but whisk until smooth consistency. Divide batter between 2 previously prepared cake pans and bake on a bottom rack for 27 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
- While cake is baking, prepare the frosting. In a large bowl, add yogurt, maple syrup, cacao powder and vanilla; whisk well. Refrigerate until ready to assemble the cake.
- Remove cakes from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Using a spatula, separate the edge of each cake from the pan, flip over on your hand, peel off parchment paper, and place bottom down on a cooling rack. Let cakes cool off completely before assembling.
- When ready to assemble the cake, using long (fillet) knife, cut each cake in half lengthwise. Place bottom layer and spread 1/4 of frosting on it. Repeat with remaining layers. Decorate however you wish. I grated a few candies on top, you could use sprinkles, fresh berries or icing sugar.
Store: Refrigerate covered for up to 5 days. Freeze tightly wrapped or in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
Notes
*If you want runnier frosting like mine, use 2%+ yogurt. But if you want thick frosting that you can spread, use 2%+ Greek yogurt. You would have to buy 2 large containers of yogurt anyways, so you can choose the type of frosting.
Did you make this recipe? Please give it a star rating in the comments.
I made this with 4 eggs, half the amount of maple syrup, half wheat flour and half plain flour and 0% fat free Greek yoghurt. It wasn’t very sweet, but I was expecting that, but once I added the frosting it was perfect. I love the fact that it has a high protein value. Definitely a recipe I shall use again and again.
★★★★★
I am out of Greek yogurt can I sub sour cream??
Probably. Yes should be fine.
I only thing I did differently was 5% fage yogurt in the cake and boy was it thick! It was a.chore to spread, but did come.out very well. If anything it was super fluffy, full of air pockets and a tad bit spongey. I was thinking it could also have to do with how the leavening reacts in different altitudes… Worth a mention of the difference. In high altitude my cakes would need extra help, but I live in low altitude and baking powder and soda just make it bubble like crazy. Overall a very good recipe for the desired flavor of a typical chocolate cake!
★★★★★
Great recipe!! I never liked the idea of baking cakes because it’s inherently unhealthy…but I chanced upon this and am now hooked onto baking without guilt! Many thanks for this perfect recipe and please share more of these gems
★★★★★
Yay! I occasionally start eating or baking unhealthy desserts and gain weight right away. I on purpose do not bake a lot.
Enjoyed by all. Nice to have a recipe with Maple syrup that doesn’t fall flat.
★★★★
Very good we loved it. Very moist, I added honey and almond butter to the frosting, and berries on top, Awesome.
★★★★★
Happy to hear.:)
I require a conversion to metric measurements please.
★★★★★
I’m sorry I don’t offer conversions with my recipes right now. But you can google them.
Sorry I think your name is Olena not Jeanette. Your recipe was perfect! Let me know if you would like pics of it as I made it a bundt.
No worries haha. You can post pics on Instagram and tag me @ifoodreal or #ifoodreal. Thank you!
The honey was overpowering. Way too much honey and we didn’t even put in the full amount. I should have used maple syrup instead. No one wanted to eat it. Only good thing was that it was moist. It was very dense and I used half whole wheat and half all purpose flour because I anticipated that it would be too dense with all whole wheat.
★
In all fairness, Jeanette, if you followed the recipe your cake wouldn’t be so dense. You can’t expect recipe to work if you cut back liquids and use half of different flour. AGree about personal preference on honey, sure. And other thing, you can’t expect whole wheat baked goods to taste exactly same as white flour goods. If you want a taste of cake with white flour, butter and sugar then you bake or buy cake made with white flour, butter and sugar. Hope you consider this info for next time you decide leave some other recipe 1 star.
Thank you Jeanette so much for this recipe! I made it for my son’s second birthday, and everyone thought it was delicious, even my two year old!
What I did differently: Instead of using cake pans, I used a bundt pan. I also added about a cup of jumbo raisins in the cake batter, and studded raspberries on top of the bundt.
★★★★★
Sounds amazing and creative!!! So happy to hear.
I made this for my daughter’s 3 year birthday cake. It looked amazing and was pretty delicious. The only thing is that it needed more maple syrup than I had in my fridge so I used honey in the cake and maple syrup in the icing. I wished I had used maple syrup for the cake because it tasted very strongly of honey. Or perhaps I should have used slightly less honey than the recipe called for. It was also quite dense although I like that. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
★★★★
You are very welcome, Charlotte! Whole wheat flour is more dense than all purpose. Try spelt next time, it is lighter. And yes, honey has a strong taste.
Hi there,
I’d love to give this a go without wheat flour. When you say try with spelt, would you use white or wholemeal spelt? Same measurements?
Also, does it make a difference to use cacao/cocoa/Dutch press cocoa? I’m learning!
Thanks so much.
Hi Amber. Spelt is kind of wheat. The only one I have seen is just spelt flour, sprouted or not. Same measurements. So not sure what is white or wholemeal.
Cacao powder is less processed than cocoa powder or Dutch cocoa. You can use any. Enjoy and happy baking!:)
THE BEST CHOCOLATE CAK EVER!!!!
THANK YOU!
Very excited to try this out. Can I use brown sugar instead please? 🙂
Um no. Not because it is less healthy or because I’m being difficult. But because it will throw off the ratio as maple syrup is a liquid and sugar is dry ingredient. Cake won’t come out right. Sorry.:(
Hey thanks for your reply. I tried it with brown sugar. Added some water to turn it into a liquid. Decreased baking soda. It rose beautifully but fell flat 30min in. Very dense. Nevertheless it was delicious! We loved the taste! So thank you for sharing 🙂 Will experiment with the ratios next time… 🙂
Hello!
I just made this cake , and I have to say it was a big success! Not overly sweet, good texture, and all my friends loved it 🙂 I will definitely bake it again!
Thank you 🙂
Andrea
★★★★★
So happy to hear, Andrea! Healthy cakes are a no joke recipe to come up with.:)
Can I use spelt flour ? I’m gonna try this this weekend I hope it works
Yes you can. Whole wheat or spelt are interchangeable 1:1. 🙂
Hi, this recipe looked perfect until I realised I don’t have any baking soda. Will it work with just baking powder?
Unfortunately not.
gave this a go today..only because i had spare wheat flour and all the other ingredients to hand. Must say it was easy and i got a decent result. thanks
Very easy to make, and super yummy. I would use 1 1/2 tsp of baking soda instead as my cake was quite dense
★★★★★
Glad to hear.:) It wasn’t as fluffy as mine? Whole wheat flour is heavier and you can’t achieve same lightness like with all-purpose flour. But still should be fluffy like in pics.
Maybe I just miscalculated, but either way I loved it 🙂
Cake came out moist and very chocolate. For dark chocolate lovers definitely, not super sweet.
★★★★★