healthy cake recipes

Everybody stay calm! There is no cinnamon in my crispy top apple cake. You can add some if you like but I tried using cinnamon and I prefer it with just a little vanilla. This way the apples are the star. This is another easy one-bowl recipe for an easy light dessert that I absolutely love. Here’s why:

~ No mixer
~ No butter
~ Uses less sugar
~ Has lots of fruit
~ Minimal cleanup

This fresh apple cake is healthy enough to include with breakfast. (notice I said “with” and not “for!”) 🙂 Be sure to keep the apple pieces small, no bigger than 1/2-inch so they cook through. I use Granny Smith apples. 🍏 You can also make this cake using half whole wheat pastry flour + half all purpose flour and it turned out well. I’m loving my one-bowl recipes and am always looking for an easier way to make my favorite foods. And it doesn’t get much easier than this. With or without cinnamon, this is still the easiest apple cake you will ever make. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

You won’t find a coconut cake anywhere that’s this easy to make. One bowl. Simple ingredients. Quick and easy recipe. It’s a variation of my easy one bowl yellow cake with just a couple of changes and one of them is of course, lots of coconut. This is an easy cake you can make quickly and have a delicious homemade dessert ready any time.

I try to always use ingredients that most people either have on hand or can easily find. And I always try to bake without butter and I have done it again with this cake. Even the cream cheese frosting is made without butter and I promise you will not miss it. What you will miss is the rest of the cake because it will disappear very quickly! Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

This is my go-to yellow cake, one you can make from scratch in 40 minutes. Try it with my 2-minute chocolate frosting that has only 2 tablespoons of butter. What I like the most is all the things you can do with this quick and easy recipe.

For a fast dessert, I make this cake and frost it right in the pan. It’s a healthier dessert I feel good about and it really satisfies my sweet tooth. I have made it using 1% and 2% low fat milk as well as whole milk. All versions turned out great.

I have also doubled the recipe and made two cakes using two cake pans and used it for my fresh strawberry cake so now you can make my wildly popular strawberry cake with no butter at all!

The one I really love is my Boston cream cake that I make with just one 9-inch cake, which I slice across in half, fill it with homemade custard and top with a chocolate glaze. (why do they call it Boston cream pie? – it’s not pie!)

One thing of note: this is a much better cake when you use a cake strip. See in the picture how the cake is perfectly flat? I highly recommend using a cake strip, also called a baking strip, whether you buy one or make your own. It keeps the edges of the cake from over-baking.  Click here to learn about cake strips.

If you want a healthier cake that’s low in sugar and saturated fat, try my recipe. You can use my frosting or do your own thing with this simple, easy recipe.  Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

I’ve been so busy working on new recipes and photos that I’ve neglected some of my older recipes and this week, I had a taste for carrot cake. I was surprised at how much healthier my baking is now and I thought that if any cake could be made with olive oil, it’s carrot cake. There is so much flavor there with the pineapple, toasted pecans, and cinnamon, I didn’t think you would ever taste the olive oil. So I tried it… and I was right. But that wasn’t the only change I made.

I also made it with whole wheat pastry flour so now it’s whole wheat carrot cake and I’ve even simplified the process. Carrot cake is such a great American creation. I remember the first time I was offered a piece of carrot cake. It was in the early 60s and my landlady in Las Vegas asked me if I wanted to try some carrot cake. Who puts carrots in a cake? You might as well put broccoli in my ice cream! What’s happening here? I must have made a face because she immediately said, “I know it sounds weird, but it’s really good. Just try it.” So I did. Wow! I loved it then and still love it today.

If I’m going to have cake, it has to be as healthy as I can make it and whenever I can avoid butter, I do. This cake has no butter, not even in the frosting. It’s a cream cheese frosting made with reduced fat cream cheese. Regarding the flour, the new recipe calls for 1/2 whole wheat pastry flour and half all purpose flour but you can make it with 100% whole wheat pastry flour or even 100% all purpose flour if you like. All variations taste great.

One more thing: toast your nuts! There is a world of difference in flavor between raw and toasted nuts. And it’s easy. Put the raw nuts on an ungreased baking sheet at 350 degrees F  for 7 – 10 minutes. I toast a whole bunch at a time and keep them in the fridge for all my baking. I prefer pecans in this recipe but walnuts work too… toasted!  I hope you’ll try my new Whole Wheat Carrot Cake. Click here for the recipe.

I forgot how much I love this cake! Sometimes I’m in the mood for something just a little sweet and my Oatmeal Snack Cake is just what I need. It’s still plenty sweet enough for a healthy dessert but I have to admit I like it with breakfast. And why not? It’s made with oats and some whole wheat pastry flour. The crispy broiled coconut-pecan topping is my favorite part!

This morning I had a boiled egg, toast, melon, a slice of whole grain oat snacking cake, and a glass of milk.  Maybe I should change the name… how about Oatmeal Breakfast Cake? After all, granola has oats, pecans, and coconut so why not have it in a slice? With breakfast. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones