Low Calorie Cake

Are you trying to lose weight but can’t resist desserts? I’ve got your back. Clocking at 78 calories per slice, this Low Calorie Cake is the ultimate dessert for weight loss. So moist and delicious that you’ll never guess it’s healthy and low calorie.

Say goodbye to dry and boring diet snacks that taste like cardboard. Out of all low-calorie dessert recipes, this chocolate cake is the winner. It is rich, moist, and comes with a skinny chocolate frosting and dark chocolate chips. For under 80 calories, toppings included!

The ingredients for low calorie cake

To make low calorie cake, you will need the following ingredients on hand:

• Egg: Use a large fresh egg, or replace with a flaxseed egg if you follow a vegan diet.
• Greek yogurt: This recipe works with any thick yogurt of your choice – dairy or nondairy. For more protein and fewer calories, I like nonfat Greek yogurt. 
• Oat flour: Use homemade or store-bought oat flour, gluten-free if it is necessary. Feel free to replace with your favorite flour, such as all purpose flour, whole-wheat flour or spelt flour
• Protein powder: For the moistest texture, I recommend vegan protein powder or casein, chocolate flavored. Replace protein powder with more flour.
• Cocoa powder: For a sugar-free, low calorie dessert use unsweetened cocoa powder. 
• Granulated sweetener: This recipe is sweetened with erythritol, a calorie-free and sugar-free alternative to sugar. You can replace with your favorite calorie-free granular sweetener (such as stevia or xylitol), coconut sugar or brown sugar.
• Milk of choice: For the lowest calorie cake, use unsweetened almond milk or skimmed milk. Substitute with any milk you like, dairy or nondairy.
• Baking powder: It is a non-negotiable ingredients, your cake won’t rise without.

Homemade skinny frosting

This low calorie dessert comes with a skinny chocolate frosting and crushed cookies on top. The good thing is, you can make your own frosting at home. It’s pretty basic and only requires 3 common ingredients:

• Unsweetened cocoa powder
• Granulated sweetener
• Milk of choice

For a real sweet treat, this cake also comes with chocolate chips on top. I went for sugar-free chocolate chips, but you can pick any you have on hand. And don’t worry, some chocolate won’t crush your diet. They will satisfy your cravings while still staying within your macros. As I told you before, this weight loss cake has just 78 calories per slice, toppings (and chocolate) included!

Cake without protein powder

For a more macro-friendly dessert, this recipe uses oat flour in combination with protein powder. But no worry, this does not mean you must use protein powder. If you want to make low calorie cake without protein powder, replace it with more flour. There are however two things to keep in mind:

• You may need more sweetener. As this recipe uses chocolate flavored protein powder, my low calorie cake only needed 3 tablespoons of sweetener. If you substitute with more flour, your dessert may need up to 6 tablespoons of granular sweetener. 
• You may need less milk. Protein powder and flour have different compositions and therefore behave differently in baking. As a rule of thumb, flours absorb less liquid than casein or vegan protein powder.

Keto low calorie cake

If you follow a low carb diet, here is a simple way to adapt this recipe to your needs. For keto low calorie cake, replace the oat flour with almond flour and adjust with more flour or less milk to consistency. This is because almond flour absorbs liquids less than oat flour.

Make it dairy-free and vegan

Making dairy-free cake for weight loss is very simple. All you should do is swapping out Greek yogurt for a plant based alternative of your choice. My recommendation is to choose a yogurt that has a thick texture comparable to Greek yogurt.

And if you want to make it completely vegan, replace the egg with one flaxseed egg. Some people have told me that also 3 tablespoons of unsweetened applesauce work, but I haven’t tried it yet.

How to make low calorie cake

Step 1: Make the batter. In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg together with the low-fat Greek yogurt and the granulated sweetener until smooth. Add the oat flour, the protein powder (or more flour), the cocoa powder and the baking powder. Start mixing, gradually adding the milk until you get a smooth cake batter. This depends on the protein powder used, if any.

Step 2: Bake. Transfer the batter to a prepared loaf pan and bake in hot oven for 25 to 35 minutes. Let cool before serving.

Step 3: Make the low-calorie frosting and top. In a small bowl, stir together cocoa powder with the sweetener of choice and milk to consistency. You’ll need about 2 to 3 tbsp, or until you get a smooth cream. Once it has cooled, top the low calorie cake with chocolate frosting and optionally some chocolate chips.

Storage instructions

Before storing, let your low calorie cake cool completely. I suggest taking it out of the oven, placing it over a baking rack or plate and letting it rest at room temperature. Once it has cooled, you can transfer into a food container and refrigerate for a maximum of 3 days.

For a longer storage, seal in airtight zipping bags and freeze. Frozen, this low calorie dessert will last for up to 3 months. When it is time to reheat, remove from the freezer and pop in hot oven until warm. Or microwave for about 30 seconds.

FAQ – Recipe for low calorie cake

More low calorie dessert recipes

• Low calorie banana bread
• 69 calorie protein brownies
• Low calorie cookie dough
• Greek yogurt protein cookies
• Low calorie cheesecake
• 100 calorie chocolate mug cake
• Low calorie cookies