During my sophomore year of high school, I discovered the cookbook section of our local library. Although I almost exclusively browsed through the young adult fiction section before then, my stack of books to check out immediately grew twice as tall as I slipped cookbook after cookbook off of those tan metal shelves.
I selected a baking cookbook as my first choice to crack open (no surprises there!), and I pored over each page with a pen in my hand, scribbling down each recipe I wanted to try on a separate note pad. After filling up two full sheets, I scanned my list and circled “chocolate chunk yellow cake,” then flipped back to that page and traced my finger down the list of ingredients.
Because I inherited my chocoholism from my mom (and wrote my Healthier Chocolate Treats cookbook as a result!), our pantry always housed at least seven different varieties of dark chocolate. I picked out the humongous pound-plus bar from Trader Joe’s (← to this day, that’s still one of our all-time favorites!), broke off multiple blocks, and started chopping it into small pieces with a paring knife. The big chef’s knife intimidated me back then!
After I worked on chopping the chocolate for nearly 20 minutes (yes, I’m a bit of a perfectionist…), my grandfather walked into the kitchen and chuckled at my knife choice. He reached for the middle-sized knife, not quite as heavy as the chef’s knife and therefore more manageable for me, and demonstrated how to quickly chop the chocolate blocks into small bits by resting my other hand’s fingers on the top of the blade and rocking the knife back and forth.
While the pieces didn’t look nearly as even and perfect as my meticulous cut-by-cut method, that certainly sped up the process… And meant we got to eat cake that much sooner!
But after baking that cake, I made a mental note to substitute chocolate chips in recipes that called for freshly chopped chocolate chunks as often as I could. No cutting board or big knife to wash and eating dessert 20+ minutes sooner sounded much better to me!
I’ve kept that trick in mind over all of these years, including when I baked this Greek Yogurt Chocolate Chip Pound Cake! It’s perfectly tender with a warm vanilla flavor, and my chocoholic sweet tooth loved how many rich melty chips hid inside. Even better, it’s just 150 calories and contains no refined flour or sugar!
So… That basically makes it healthy enough for breakfast, right?
Traditional pound cakes earned their name because they included a pound each of flour, butter, eggs, and sugar. I don’t know about you, but… That sounds like a ton of unhealthy and unnecessary calories to me. There aren’t enough hours in the day for me to burn off all of those, so let’s talk about how we’re going to make this recipe much healthier!
You’ll start with white whole wheat flour. White whole wheat flour is made by finely grinding a special type of white wheat, whereas regular whole wheat flour comes from a heartier variety of red wheat. This gives white whole wheat flour a lighter taste and texture, similar to that of all-purpose flour, making it perfect for this tender cake! Even better, it still has the same health benefits (like extra fiber) as regular whole wheat flour.
Note: Whole wheat pastry flour would be a great substitute, and I’ve included my preferred gluten-free blend in the Notes section as well.
Rather than a pound of butter (that’s about 2 cups!) and whole eggs (about 9 of them!), you’ll only use 1 tablespoon of butter (or coconut oil!) and 3 egg whites. Yes, that’s it! To give your healthy pound cake its extra tender texture, you’ll use one of my favorite ingredients instead…
Greek yogurt! (Although I’m sure you already guessed that from the recipe title…) Greek yogurt adds the same moisture as extra butter or oil to your baked goods for a fraction of the calories. Because it contains about 21g of protein per cup, as opposed to regular yogurt with around 10g, it also gives your treats a big protein boost!
You’ll skip the pound of granulated sugar too and sweeten this pound cake with another one of my favorite ingredients: vanilla crème stevia. Stevia is a plant-based, no-calorie sweetener that’s clean eating friendly, and it’s highly concentrated. A little goes a long way! You’ll need 3 teaspoons for this recipe, which is the equivalent of about 2 ½ cups of sugar. This is the vanilla crème stevia that I buy because I love its warm flavor and don’t notice any aftertastes like with some other stevia products. You can find it at many health-oriented grocery stores, as well as online. (And you’ll use it in all of these recipes of mine, too!)
And now for the best part… The chocolate! I highly recommend mini chocolate chips because their smaller size ensures that every bite of cake contains at least one morsel of chocolate. I love Ghirardelli’s because they have a phenomenal rich flavor and melt really well. Who can resist those ooey gooey pockets of melty chocolate??
Definitely not me! ? And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees that I’ll see the notification from you! ?) I’d love to see your pound cake and feature it in my Sunday Spotlight series!
| Greek Yogurt Chocolate Chip Pound Cake | | Print |
- 2 ¾ cups (330g) white whole wheat flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp (14g) unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
- 3 large egg whites, room temperature
- 5 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp (15mL) vanilla crème stevia
- ¾ cup (180g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 1 cup + 2 tbsp (270mL) nonfat milk
- ¼ cup (56g) miniature chocolate chips, divided
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and line a 9x5” loaf pan with foil. Lightly coat the foil with nonstick cooking spray.
- To prepare the cake, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, egg whites, vanilla extract, and stevia. Stir in the Greek yogurt, mixing until no large lumps remain. Stir in 2 tablespoons of milk. Alternate between adding the flour mixture and remaining milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, and stirring just until incorporated. (For best results, add the flour mixture in 3 equal parts.) Gently fold in 3 ½ tablespoons of chocolate chips.
- Spread the batter into the prepared pan, and gently press the remaining chocolate chips on top. Bake at 350°F for 40-50 minutes or until the top feels firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before lifting out the cake by the foil and transferring it to a wire rack to cool completely.
Whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour may be substituted in place of the white whole wheat flour. Regular whole wheat flour may be substituted in a pinch, although the cake will be less tender and have a distinct wheat-y flavor.
The cake requires 3 full egg whites. The whites contain the majority of the protein in eggs, and that protein is required to ensure the cake maintains its shape and texture while cooling. Without all 3 egg whites, the cake will collapse while cooling and turn out much denser.
I do not recommend substituting for the vanilla crème stevia, if at all possible. (It’s one of my favorite ingredients, and you’ll use it in all of these recipes of mine, too!) However, if you really prefer to omit the vanilla crème stevia from the cake, substitute 1¼ cup (300mL) of honey or agave. Omit the milk if using this substitution. The baking time may vary slightly. I do not recommend substituting pure maple syrup; it will overpower the lemon flavor. In place of the vanilla crème stevia, you may also substitute 1¼ cup (240g) granulated sugar and decrease the milk to 6 tablespoons, but the cake will no longer be clean-eating friendly. The baking time may vary with this substitution as well.
Any milk may be substituted in place of the nonfat milk.
Do not use an electric mixer to mix up the batter. This will result in a dense or tough cake. Use a whisk where instructed, and use a fork for everything else.
{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat, low calorie, lower sugar}
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You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♥ Greek Yogurt Lemon Pound Cake
♥ Coffee Loaf Cake with Dark Chocolate Drizzle
♥ Simple Strawberry Lemon Cake
♥ Simple Cinnamon Apple Cake
♥ Simple Orange Poppy Seed Cake
♥ Simple Raspberry Lemon Cake
♥ Banana Cake with Fudgy Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting
I can’t resist Ghiradelli chips either!! That’s why we’re the same person! 😉 LOVE this recipe and cannot wait to bake it after I get home! 🙂
Basically twins separated at birth! 😉 I can’t wait to hear how your performance goes this weekend Marina!
I don’t know if it’s me or the recipe but I don’t like at all the cake. The taste is really salty or like the quantity of baking power/soda is to hight.
It’s a shame!
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Léa! Let’s figure out what happened. 🙂 You used teaspoons to measure the baking powder and baking soda and salt, correct? Not tablespoons? And are you on a low-sodium diet?
Hi Amy,
Would this work as a a good healthy vanilla birthday cake? I love a lovely dense cake and vanilla (healthy/GF) is hard to find!!!
Thanks!
Yes! This should work just fine as a plain vanilla cake. I’m so honored that you’d consider making it for such a special occasion! 🙂 I can’t wait to hear how it turns out Vanessa!
I mixed this recipe with your orange cranberry pound cake and replaced the cranberries with chocolate chips and I’m in love. I’m so glad I found this site.
I’m so glad you loved the pound cake Christy! Thank you so much for your sweet words about my site — that means the world to me! 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what recipe of mine you try next!
Hi dear Amy
I made this cake with honey but it doesnt grow. It turns sticky and thin. ?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe, Ayda! Let’s figure out what happened. 🙂 When you used honey, did you omit the milk? Did you make any other substitutions, and how long did you bake the pound cake? Was the inside still raw and underdone when you sliced into it?
So yummy and healthy . I followed all the instructions and my cake look fluffy exactly like the picture, thank you!
I’m so glad you loved this cake Noelia! Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know! 🙂
Hi! We made this recipe with a few replacements. We are very thankful for this recipe, and would like to share our modifications with you and the community, in case this is useful for anyone:
– Used coconut oil (14g), heated in the microwave oven, medium power.
– Replaced vanilla crème stevia with allulose (120g), added to the wet mix.
– Used less milk… instead of 240ml+2 tbsp, we used 112ml+2 tbsp.
40 minutes at 180 degrees. Maybe we would recommend a few more minutes.
Cake tastes great and looks quite similar to the one in the picture.
Thanks for the recipe!
I’m so glad you enjoyed this cake, Pablo! Thank you for taking the time to let me know! 🙂 I really appreciate you including your recipe modifications too; I always love hearing what tweaks work!