HELP PLEASE! Need Alternative to Birthday Cake

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU4pZ14qrQw go to youtube type lean body lifestyle

Make one... or better yet, let your hubby make it. :-) Here's a great recipe and for only 175 calories a slice, it's the bomb!

Dark Chocolate Orange Cake Recipe (from Cooking Light, Nov 2005)

Ingredients

Cooking spray
3/4 cup powdered sugar
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon Triple Sec (orange-flavored liqueur)
1 tablespoon hot water
Dash of salt
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
Powdered sugar (optional)
Orange rind strips (optional)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

Coat an 8-inch springform pan with cooking spray; line bottom of pan with parchment or wax paper. Wrap outside of pan with aluminum foil.

Place 3/4 cup sugar and eggs in a bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed 7 minutes.

Combine cornstarch and cocoa in a small bowl; set aside. Place juice, liqueur, water, salt, and chocolate in a small glass bowl; microwave at high 1 minute or until almost melted, stirring every 20 seconds until smooth. Add cornstarch mixture; whisk until smooth.

Gently stir one-fourth of egg mixture into chocolate mixture; gently fold into remaining egg mixture. Scrape batter into prepared pan. Place pan in a 13 x 9-inch baking pan; add hot water to larger pan to a depth of 1 inch. Bake at 350º for 20 minutes or until top is set. Remove cake pan from water; cool 5 minutes on a wire rack. Loosen cake from sides of pan using a narrow metal spatula; cool to room temperature. Cover and chill at least 4 hours or overnight. Garnish with powdered sugar and rind just before serving, if desired.

Nutritional Information
Amount per serving

Calories: 175 (1/6 of cake)
Calories from fat: 31%
Fat: 6.1g
Protein: 4.3g
Carbohydrate: 26.1g
Fiber: 1.7g
Sodium: 33mg

I know my local grocery store sells individual cake slices? Perhaps buy exactly enough slices for everyone to have one piece? This way even if you are tempted to have more there isn't more to have.

Why not cupcakes? They are small you can make a 1/2 batch of 6 and decorate them with the kids!(Or buy a box of minis at the grocery store) It would be fun and portion controlled! you can put a candle in it too!! :flowerforyou:

PS HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

I made my sister a birthday cheesecake this year for her birthday, thats a better choice than most others. I had also thought about an ice-cream cake (home made healthier icecream).

Otherwise you could make a bunch of cupcakes and tower them as the birthday cake. Then you dont even have to think about portion control!

Go out for a treat, and enjoy it. Don't bring home any leftovers (not that there's a high risk of leftovers when it comes to treats).

This is one way you can "have your cake and eat it too"

When the dessert blues get me down and I feel I just have to get my cake on, I always turn to the magical can of pumpkin.

Buy a box cake mix, add a can of pumpkin to it, stir and bake. Don't add the oil, eggs, butter or water; just the pumpkin. It turns out slightly denser than a cake and lighter than a brownie. My favorite box mix to use with the pumpkin is chocolate. It tastes great, counts as a serving of veggies and soothes the sweet beast.

Top it off with a dab of fat free cool whip or a very light sprinkling of powdered sugar instead of frosting, add a candle and celebrate another year of being older, wiser and healthier.

Happy Birthday!

you could make little cupcakes that way you and your family can have something sweet to celebrate with but a much smaller portion.

here is a link that has ideas for alternative healthy options for bday cake:

http://www.ehow.com/way_5217266_healthy-birthday-cake-alternatives.html

There was a discussion on here a few days ago about making cupcakes using diet soda instead of all the other ingredients (cake mix, diet soda, mix and bake). You could try that and use whipped cream instead of frosting. There are entries in the database for the cal counts, but 1 cupcake is between 90 and 120 cals, depending on the mix you use.
Happy Birthday!

A couple of my local grocery stores sell half cakes so there's not nearly as much to eat. You could look for something like that or even get a small package of cupcakes. I think the local bakeries do 6 packs for a reasonable price. You'd have built in portion control that way.

Make one... or better yet, let your hubby make it. :-) Here's a great recipe and for only 175 calories a slice, it's the bomb!

Dark Chocolate Orange Cake Recipe (from Cooking Light, Nov 2005)

Ingredients

Cooking spray
3/4 cup powdered sugar
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon Triple Sec (orange-flavored liqueur)
1 tablespoon hot water
Dash of salt
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
Powdered sugar (optional)
Orange rind strips (optional)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

Coat an 8-inch springform pan with cooking spray; line bottom of pan with parchment or wax paper. Wrap outside of pan with aluminum foil.

Place 3/4 cup sugar and eggs in a bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed 7 minutes.

Combine cornstarch and cocoa in a small bowl; set aside. Place juice, liqueur, water, salt, and chocolate in a small glass bowl; microwave at high 1 minute or until almost melted, stirring every 20 seconds until smooth. Add cornstarch mixture; whisk until smooth.

Gently stir one-fourth of egg mixture into chocolate mixture; gently fold into remaining egg mixture. Scrape batter into prepared pan. Place pan in a 13 x 9-inch baking pan; add hot water to larger pan to a depth of 1 inch. Bake at 350º for 20 minutes or until top is set. Remove cake pan from water; cool 5 minutes on a wire rack. Loosen cake from sides of pan using a narrow metal spatula; cool to room temperature. Cover and chill at least 4 hours or overnight. Garnish with powdered sugar and rind just before serving, if desired.

Nutritional Information
Amount per serving

Calories: 175 (1/6 of cake)
Calories from fat: 31%
Fat: 6.1g
Protein: 4.3g
Carbohydrate: 26.1g
Fiber: 1.7g
Sodium: 33mg

If I had bittersweet chocolate I would make this right now! it sounds so good! Thanks for sharing the recipe I'm copying it for later.

I was going to tell the OP to make an angel food cake. Cut it into slices and freeze what you don't use. Chocolate angel food is delicious with fresh strawberries!

Oh, I am SO trying the pumpkin/cake thing, and maybe the diet soda thing too.

I don't even really like cake, but I do like brownies....something with a texture in between sounds great! (And I have a can of pumpkin hanging out in the cupboard right now...hmm....)