You can have your cake and be healthy and strong. Lose weight, too. I know this. I’ve done it. And guess what? You can as well. A sugar-free box of cake mix combined with a can of diet soda is not dessert to me. It might be zero WeightWatchers smart points, but it’s a bucket of chemicals. Who wants to eat sadness when you can eat chocolate?
One solution is a “small bake.” A small bake is just what it sounds like, a smaller-sized baked good. Instead of a 12-inch round or multilayer cake, you can bake this small 6-inch, satisfy your sweet tooth, and not have a whole lot of cake lying around to tempt you later. Smaller bakes are more economical and use less ingredients, and you’re more likely to eat the entire thing—so they help prevent food waste, too.
recipe 
yields
Makes about 1½ cups of batter for a 6-inch pan
Nonstick cooking spray
3 large eggs, separated
¼ cup sugar, firmly packed
¼ cup bittersweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled (1½ ounces)
⅔ cup finely ground pecans, walnuts, or almonds
1 tablespoon espresso powder
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
Berries, for serving
Cacao nibs, for garnish
Ingredients
steps
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Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray pan with nonstick cooking spray. Line bottom with parchment paper cut to fit. Set aside.
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Place the egg yolks and sugar in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Using a handheld mixer, beat until thick and light yellow. Stir in the chocolate, then, using a rubber spatula, fold in the nuts, espresso powder, and vanilla extract.
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In a separate large clean bowl beat egg whites and a pinch of salt until stiff. Using a large rubber spatula, lighten and loosen the nut batter by stirring in two heaping spatula-fulls of the whipped whites. Once the mixture is lightened, carefully fold the remaining whites into the cake mixture.
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Transfer the cake batter into the prepared pan. Bake the cake in the center of the oven for 30 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove to a rack to cool slightly. To serve, cut with a serrated knife. Serve with fresh berries and cacao nibs, for garnish.
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Recipe Adapted from
Bon Appetit, Y’all: Recipes and Stories from Three Generations of Southern Cooking, Revised and Updated, with New Recipes (University of Georgia Press).
