Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

So You Wanted a Low Sugar Chocolate Frosting for your Low Sugar Chocolate Cake?

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When I shared this Low Sugar Super Moist Chocolate Cake recipe and told you that I’d adapted it from a Texas Sheet Cake recipe, several asked if I could come up with a low sugar chocolate frosting to go with it. I mean, the Cream Cheese Frosting is great, but sometimes we just need some chocolate with our chocolate, yes?

Low Sugar Super Moist Chocolate Cake

Creating a chocolate frosting for this cake was a little bit tricky. See, low sugar chocolate can turn out quite bitter if you’re not a dark chocolate fan (um, or even if you are). Plus, powdered sugar is typically what gives frosting its bulk. That’s why I’ve been using cream cheese frosting. The cream cheese and whipped cream provided the bulk, then the stevia provided the sweetness and we were good to go. (More about stevia here.)

Here’s what I learned through this trial and error process: Making chocolate frosting with stevia is not so good. Spread on top of the cake it was so-so, but wow, the bitterness had too much of a bite, even for me – the one who loves dark-dark chocolate.

So here’s the solution I came up with: I used honey. This frosting is really more of a glaze, because there’s not much in it to make it thick and creamy. But a thin chocolate glaze on a chocolate cake like this? Just right.

Find the Super Moist Chocolate Cake recipe here.

Low Sugar Chocolate FrostingYum

1/2 cup butter
4 Tablespoons cocoa powder
2 Tablespoons milk
2-4 Tablespoons honey (sweeten this to your taste)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a small saucepan combine butter, cocoa, milk, and honey. Cook and stir over low heat until ingredients are well combined and mixture begins to thicken slightly. Removed from heat. Stir in vanilla. Spread over cooled cake.

Honey Sweetened Chocolate Frosting

We really liked this cake with whipped cream on top. I simply whipped the cream, then added a few drops of stevia.

Low Sugar Chocolate Cake with Honey Sweetened Frosting

I continue to be fascinated by the fact that we can take so much of the sugar out of recipes and still turn out a delicious treat.

And guess what??!! Coming up next week…Low Sugar Carrot Cake with Maple Frosting recipe. YES!! I played with a recipe and my family loved it! I’ll get it typed up to share with you soon.

Do you have any low sugar treat requests for me to play with? I won’t make any promises on being able to create what you want, but I bet I’ll have fun trying. :)

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Low Sugar {Real Food} Oatmeal Cookie Recipe

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Taking the Super Moist Chocolate Cake from 6 cups of sugar to just 1/2 cup of sugar worked great. I figured why not play with other cake and cookie recipes to make them lower in sugar? And all the people said, “Amen.”

Low Sugar Chocolate Cake

If you haven’t tried this Low Sugar Super Moist Chocolate Cake yet, I have to ask:
Why?
Go make this. For the love of chocolate, people.

Now here’s another low-sugar treat I experimented with. I took my oatmeal cookie from 1 1/2 cups of sugar down to just 1/2 cup. I thought they were great. My kids ate them fine, but were sure to let me know that they would have been much better had I included chocolate chips.

Well duh. Everything is better with chocolate chips. But we’re going for low sugar here. So the boys suggested that maybe next time I could add chocolate chips to half the batch (for them) and leave the other half plain (for me). Apparently I’m the only one who needs to cut back on sugar and the boys still need plenty of it? And I’m not sure where Matt fits into this equation. Does Dad get any cookies, boys?

I’m sure they’d be happy to let me share my plain half with him. They are very nice.

Give these a try – with or without chocolate chips. Hey, you could even add raisins. Or dried cranberries.

Low Sugar Oatmeal CookiesYum

1 cup melted butter
1/2 cup sucanat
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups whole oats
1 1/2-2 cups whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground hard white wheat)

Stir together melted butter and sucanat. Add eggs, baking soda, salt, and vanilla. Stir in oats and flour until you reach desired cookie dough consistency. (If you’re using store-bought whole wheat flour, you may need less than 2 cups. Freshly ground may require the full 2 cups.)

Scoop cookie dough onto baking sheet leaving about 2 inches in between. Bake in a 350° oven for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are golden brown.

Low Sugar Oatmeal Cookies

These are great dipped in milk, and of course, I’ll be having a cup of coffee with my half of the cookies. Not that I’ll eat the entire half-batch at once. That would be a bit counter-productive, wouldn’t you say?

Are you a plain oatmeal cookie fan – or do you prefer them with raisins or chocolate chips?

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Low Sugar Super Moist Chocolate Cake (That Doesn’t Taste Low Sugar)

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There’s a chocolate cake recipe our family has been making for years. It’s one of our favorite of all cakes – mostly because it’s not dry like many homemade cakes can be.

Low Sugar Chocolate Cake

But – you know how my body won’t let me eat much sugar anymore? I mostly don’t even want it – but sometimes I just get a hankering for something chocolaty. That’s what inspired the invention of Chocolate Whipped Cream, Coconut Fudge Bars – and now this – a Low Sugar Chocolate Cake. I decided to try making our favorite chocolate Texas Sheet Cake recipe with less sugar to see how it would turn out.

You guys!!!!!! Why in the name of a diabetic coma do recipes (including many of mine) call for so much sugar???!?! Originally, this recipe includes 6 cups of sugar. SIX. That’s 2 cups in the cake and 4 cups in the frosting and none of us can possibly imagine that cutting out so much of the sugar would still produce a cake that actually tastes good.

Well neener, neener to all of us. I just recreated this cake to include a grand total of 1/2 cup of sugar. Yes, that is one-half cup. Total. Neener. 

I love this cake like nobody’s business. But what do I know? I’m the one who can no longer tolerate much sugar, so even the barely sweet stuff tastes quite sweet to me. The true test was serving this to my children. They still love their sugar (what kid doesn’t?) and they are used the “the regular way” we’ve always made the Texas Sheet Cake. Would they feel like the cake wasn’t sweet enough? I mean, going from 6 cups to just 1/2 cup of sugar – that’s a big drop.

Two things:

  1. Yes, they could tell.
  2. No, they didn’t care.

They ate the cake, they liked the cake, they had seconds on the cake (which was only allowed because of the low sugar content). This makes me think that we could likely drastically cut the sugar in most cake and cookie recipes and everyone would still enjoy the treats. Why yes I will be testing this theory. And I will share my results with you – one recipe at a time.

One thing to note: The brand of stevia you use in the frosting really does make a difference. Some stevia has a stronger, more bitter taste than others. My family prefers NuNaturals Alcohol-Free Stevia. It’s much less bitter. But no matter what brand you use – if you overdo it, the taste goes from sweet to bitter. A little goes a long way – don’t forget! (More info on stevia here.)

Low Sugar Super Moist Chocolate CakeYum

5.0 from 2 reviews
Low Sugar Super Moist Chocolate Cake (That Doesn't Taste Low Sugar)
 
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Serves: 15
Ingredients
  • 1 cup melted coconut oil
  • 1 cup water
  • 4 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
  • ½ cup sucanat
  • dash of sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ cup sour cream
  • 2 eggs
Instructions
  1. In a large mixing bowl, stir together flour, sucanat, salt, and baking soda.
  2. Set aside. In a saucepan, bring oil, water, and cocoa to a boil.
  3. Pour liquid mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredient mixture.
  4. Stir well.
  5. Add sour cream and eggs, mixing well.
  6. Pour batter into a 9x13 inch baking pan.
  7. Bake in a 350° oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow cake to cool completely before frosting.

Stevia-Sweetened Cream Cheese Frosting

2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 Tablespoons softened butter
8 ounces softened cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Liquid stevia to taste (I use about 20 drops)

In a large bowl, whip cream until soft peaks form. Add softened butter, cream cheese, vanilla, and stevia – whipping until well combined and smooth. Spread over cooled cake. Store in refrigerator. Makes about 20 servings.

Low Sugar Super Moist Chocolate Cake

Part of what makes this cake so moist is the use of sour cream. It doesn’t hurt that we use an entire cup of coconut oil. Bring on the healthy fat! You can use regular whole wheat flour if you like, but whole wheat pastry flour (ground from soft white wheat berries) really helps make this cake less dense.

So here’s to this amazing Low Sugar Chocolate Cake. Now we can have our cake and eat it too and not even have a sugar crash afterward. Of course, we will also still be eating our veggies with this lovely side of chocolate. Amen and amen.

Have you tried cutting back on sugar in your diet? Have you found recipes to turn out successfully when you cut the sugar? 

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Low Sugar Peanut Butter Cake with Peanut Butter Cream Frosting

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Hallelujah, this peanut butter cake has less sugar than most breakfast muffins! This isn’t difficult, of course, because who decided it was a good idea to stir a bunch of sugar, corn syrup, and white flour together and call it “breakfast?” My apologies to all the donuts, poptarts, and poofy-puffs out there who just got their feelings hurt. It’s really not your fault.

Peanut Butter Cake

Indeed, not only do I serve this for desserts or snacks, I have been known to serve it for breakfast.

Now I know what you’re thinking. “This girl makes cake for breakfast all the time!” Okay fine. You caught me. (Other breakfast cake recipes: My Original Breakfast Cake and Pumpkin Breakfast Cake)

We do quite a few breakfast cakes around here, and I keep inventing more ideas. This is because breakfast cakes are easy and filling. My current favorite way to make breakfast is to bake a cake the night before, frost it with stevia sweetened frosting, then wake up to a ready-made meal. Pull out applesauce and fresh berries, and breakfast is served.

Here’s a little known secret about muffin and quick bread recipes: The batter can usually be spread into a 9×13 inch pan and baked into a cake. If you sub out white flour with whole wheat, replace the large amount of white sugar for a smaller amount of sucanat or honey, you have yourself a delicious and fun breakfast.

Serve meat or eggs with your cake if you need additional protein to start your day. Always serve fruit with your breakfast. (Sometimes I’m bossy.)

Low Sugar Peanut Butter CakeYum

5.0 from 1 reviews
Low Sugar Peanut Butter Cake with Peanut Butter Cream Frosting
 
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Ingredients
  • ¼ cup butter
  • ¼ cup peanut butter
  • ½ cup sucanat
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1½ cups whole wheat flour
Instructions
  1. In a small saucepan, melt together the butter and peanut butter.
  2. Stir melted mixture into the sucanat.
  3. Add eggs, buttermilk, baking soda, baking powder, and vanilla.
  4. Mix well, then stir in flour and mix until smooth.
  5. Pour batter into a 9x13 inch baking dish.
  6. Bake in a 350° oven for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
  7. Allow cake to cool before frosting.

Peanut Butter Cream Frosting

1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup natural peanut butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Liquid stevia

Whip together all ingredients until thick and smooth, sweetening with stevia to taste. Spread over cooled cake.

Low Sugar Peanut Butter Cake with Peanut Butter Cream Frosting

Before anyone else can say it, I’m going to. “Did you see how much fat is in that frosting?!?!”

Mm-hmm. If it isn’t obvious to you by now by reading posts from this butter and coconut oil loving girl, it should be very clear to you how important I believe it is to eat plenty of healthy, real fats. Our brains need fat to thrive! (Why yes I have researched this for hours and hours.) It just so happens I’m nourishing my brain by eating this cake with a thick layer of frosting.

The low amount of sugar in this cake (which I cut into 24 pieces, by the way) combined with whole grains and healthy fats makes for a very nourishing treat. In case you’re wondering, the reason I use cream cheese and cream in my stevia sweetened frosting recipes is because when whipped together, those cream products provide bulk (taking the place of three cups of powdered sugar). Also – it’s cream cheese and cream! Does life get any yummier?

So there you go. If you haven’t served cake for breakfast yet, do this. Tell your kids I said, “You’re welcome.”

What’s your breakfast cake status? Tried it yet?

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Low Sugar No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake

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One day when I was nibbling on a little piece of lightly sweetened and buttery Shortbread, it occurred to me: This would make a fantastic cheesecake crust. Then one day when I was baking a pumpkin, it occurred to me:  I should use that pumpkin to make pumpkin cheesecake. These were both very, very good ideas, if I do say so myself.

Why a shortbread crust? I’m not sure why, but making a graham cracker crust for cheesecakes always seems like too much work to me. Probably because that was always my job when I was growing up, so now I have deep-seated graham cracker crust baggage from my past. That, and I never have graham crackers on hand and I don’t want to make a batch of homemade Graham Crackers only to crush them for a crust. Seriously, who knew a graham cracker crust could be such cause for discussion that it would take up an entire paragraph when I could just be sharing this great recipe with you?

So Shortbread Crust. I highly recommend it. Stir the three ingredients together, press them onto the bottom of a dish, and bake. You can’t go wrong, especially because this recipe includes lots of butter. That, of course, makes it amazing.

No-Bake Pumpkin CheesecakeYum

Shortbread Crust:

3 cups whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground hard white wheat for this)
1/2 cup sucanat (or brown sugar if you prefer)
1 1/2 cups melted butter

Stir flour and sucanat together in a bowl. Add melted butter, combining well. Press mixture into a 9×13 inch baking pan. Bake in a 350° oven for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Filling:

2 8-ounce packages softened cream cheese
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 cups pureed pumpkin
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
Real maple syrup or liquid stevia to taste (I used 4 droppers full of stevia)

Blend all ingredients together until smooth. Pour over prepared shortbread crust. Spread until smooth. Chill in refrigerator for at least two hours before serving.

No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake

My system doesn’t handle much sugar any more (which seriously limits my cheesecake eating opportunities, woe is me). Making this simple cheesecake with stevia (a natural sweetener, not a sugar or an artificial sweetener) is a fantastic option. This treat is not super sweet, although you can make it as sweet as you like by simply adding more stevia, maple syrup, or even sugar if you like. Now that I know that stevia makes a cheesecake and shortbread makes a great crust, my cheesecake lovin’ self is happy and my graham cracker crust anxt is minimized.

What is your relationship with the graham cracker crust? You should join me in loving a shortbread crust. Easy, delicious, and full o’ buttah!

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Coconut Fudge Bars

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Whether it’s because I’m getting older or getting healthier, my body no longer handles sugar well. This is a great problem to have, obviously. I’m really quite grateful, as I used to eat wayyyyyyyy too much sugar. But what is a chocolate lover to do when she has a chocolate craving? Suck on a bar of unsweetened chocolate? Mmmm, no.

Chocolate Whipped Cream on Strawberries to the rescue. Also, last week I played with my Chewy Granola Bars recipe. I used to make them with chocolate chips – but that obviously adds extra sugar. This time, I came up with a dark chocolate variety that is only lightly sweet, super coconuty, and oh so chocolaty rich.

Coconut Fudge BarsYum

5.0 from 2 reviews
Coconut Fudge Bars
 
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Serves: 8-10
Ingredients
  • ½ cup peanut butter or sunbutter
  • ¼ cup honey
  • ¼ cup coconut oil (or another oil of your choice)
  • ½ cup cocoa powder
  • 1½ cup rolled oats
  • 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
Instructions
  1. In a medium sized saucepan, melt together peanut butter, honey, coconut oil, and cocoa.
  2. Remove from heat and stir in oats and coconut flakes.
  3. Spread mixture into a 9x9 inch pan.
  4. Chill for 2 hours before serving.
  5. Makes 8-16 bars, depending on how big/small you cut them.

Coconut Fudge Bars

These store best in the fridge, otherwise they are melty and will get chocolate all over your hands and face. If this is not a problem for you, by all means, store them on the countertop. If you want to pack these in a lunch, I recommend wrapping them individually, freezing them, and sending a spoon or fork along to make them less messy for the consumer. If having chocolate all over your child’s hands and face at school is not a problem for you, by all means, send them without a utensil.

These are super rich and only barely sweet. Feel free to add more honey if you prefer.

So tell me:  Are you a dark chocolate fan?

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10 Cold Treats That Are Good For You

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10 Cold Treats That Are Good For You

I’ve shared several fun new summer treat recipes the past few weeks. I thought it would be fun to post them all here to make them easier to find. In addition, I wanted to remind you of a few other great cold treat ideas you can find here that you may have forgotten.

Do you have any other healthy, cold treat recipe ideas to share?

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