Skinny Dark Chocolate Cake
Regardless of whether you’re looking for a low calorie dessert, or just a decadent chocolate cake, Skinny Dark Chocolate Cake is awesome. The cake is super moist and the frosting has a touch of coffee in it for that delicious mocha flavor. Oh yeah, and it really is low calorie; only 187 calories vs. a typical 535 calorie piece of chocolate cake. Yikes!
Made with Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa, the rich dark chocolate will satisfy any chocolate lover’s craving. Then between the layers of moist cake is the smooth and creamy mocha frosting made with sugar-free chocolate fudge pudding. Having served this cake many times, nobody ever believes it’s low calorie.
Baking a chocolate cake in a jelly-roll pan
Yep, a jelly-roll pan. Start by preparing your pan by cutting a piece of parchment paper to fit inside a 10 x 15-inch jelly-roll pan. For extra measure, spray the parchment with cooking spray; we want this cake to come out nice and easy. Next, mix some boiling water with sugar and Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa to create a gooey dark chocolate syrup. Let that cool down until it’s back to room temperature. Then you make an Angel Food cake mix per directions on the box, which is to add water. LOL I love the “easy” in life. Stir in the chocolate syrup and pour into your jelly-roll pan.
Will it fit?
It does, but just barely. It’s all you need, though, not to worry. The dark chocolate syrup added to the Angel Food cake mix makes this cake more dense. In other words, it won’t rise as high as some other cakes. So, carefully put the cake into the oven and bake it until the surface looks dry, or approx. 22 – 26 minutes. Remove it from the oven and carefully invert the cake onto a wire rack. I have a trick for this.
Inverting the cake onto a wire rack
I do this by setting the cake from the oven on top of my stove. Then take the wire rack, flip it upside down over the cake. Now grab the sides of both the jelly-roll pan and the wire rack together (using your hot pads) and flip them both over at the same time. Your wire rack should be right-side up now and your cake should be upside down. Remove the pan, peel off the parchment paper, and let it cool completely.
Frosting the 3-layer Skinny Dark Chocolate Cake
Start your frosting by dissolving instant coffee in 1% milk. Then, add the whipped topping and pudding mixes, and beat on high until soft peaks form. Let the frosting chill out in the frig, which will make it all the easier to spread. Meanwhile, cut the cake into 3 individual 5 x 10-inch rectangles, and place one on a cake plate as your bottom layer. Spread a third of the frosting on the bottom layer and repeat with the second layer and frosting, then top layer and frosting. Done. Mmm! I can’t wait for you to try this cake.
As shown in the pictures, I piped some Cool Whip around the top and bottom of the cake, then added some chocolate sprinkles. Decorations are not needed on a cake this good, but I figured my Skinny Dark Chocolate Cake wanted to look fancy for the photo shoot.
Skinny Dark Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup Hershey's Cocoa - Special Dark
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup boiling water
- 16 oz. box Angel Food cake mix
- 1 1/4 cup water
- 2 tsp. instant coffee
- 1 1/2 cups 1% milk
- 1.3 oz. whipped topping dry mix
- 1.4 oz. box instant chocolate fudge sugar-free pudding mix
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. Line bottom of 10 x 15-inch jelly-roll pan with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.
- In small bowl, whisk together cocoa, sugar, and boiling water. Cool to room temperature.
- In large bowl, mix Angel Food cake mix and water. Add cocoa mixture. Mix thoroughly. Spread better into pan and bake for 22-26 minutes, or until top looks dry.
- Carefully invert onto a large wire rack. Remove pan and parchment paper. Cool.
- In medium bowl, dissolve coffee in milk, then add dry topping and pudding mixes. Mix on low until moistened, then beat on high until soft peaks form. Chill for 10 minutes.
- Cut cake into thirds (3 - 5 x 10-inch layers). Place 1 cake layer onto cake plate. Spread 1/3 of topping over layer. Repeat layers, stacking. Chill for 2 hours and enjoy.
- Optional: decorate top with Fat-free Cool Whip and chocolate sprinkles.
Nutrition
Looking for more low calorie recipes? Try my Really Good Turkey Meatloaf or my Turkey Spinach Stuffed Bell Peppers, with a side of Lemon Basil Broccoli.
Also, here are some great sizes for your Pinterest board. Have a blessed day and happy baking!
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