Two weeks ago when I texted a good friend to see if I could drop by her house with some homemade goodies, she responded that she was in the hospital and had just come out of surgery. Nothing too serious, thank goodness! Since her whole family had come to visit her in the hospital room and nobody was at their house, I immediately offered to drive over the following evening once she returned home.
Even though her husband and adult sons were fully capable of taking care of her every need, I still offered to bring her ginger ale for her slightly nauseous stomach (just a minor lingering effect of the anesthesia!). When I stopped by the grocery store to purchase some, I also walked over to the floral department to pick out a pretty bouquet for her.
Although I opted for a cheerful arrangement of California-grown flowers, the dozens of red, white, and pink roses set out for Valentine’s Day still caught my eye. Right after, I spotted all of the festive bakery treats, everything from chocolate-dipped strawberries and red velvet cookies to raspberry cheesecakes and mini vanilla cupcakes topped with fluffy pink frosting and a showering of red and white sprinkles.
Always on the lookout for inspiration, I quickly jotted down a few Valentine-themed recipe ideas that I wanted to try after glancing over the grocery bakery display. With the flowers and ginger ale in tow, I drove over to my friend’s house to deliver them, along with a batch of these homemade cookies. Even though I intended to leave after a few minutes to let my friend rest, she was feeling so much better than we ended up chatting for an hour and a half!
Don’t you just love sweet friends and visits like that?
In the following days, I started working on my hastily scribbled grocery store inspiration list, which included this Greek Yogurt Raspberry Chocolate Chip Pound Cake! With no refined flour or sugar, it’s much healthier than any of the cakes I spotted in the supermarket bakery, and since it has just 148 calories and lots of healthy protein from the Greek yogurt… It’s practically healthy enough for breakfast!
At least, that’s what I told myself yesterday morning! ?
Traditional pound cakes earned their name because they contained a pound of each of the following ingredients: flour, butter, eggs, and sugar. Yikes! My mind is spinning at the thought of how many calories are in each cake… So let’s talk about how you’ll make this healthier, guilt-free version instead!
To start, you’ll use white whole wheat flour instead of refined flour. That sounds like a paradox, doesn’t it? Normally white flour and whole wheat flour are two separate things! However, white whole wheat flour is made by finely grinding a special type of softer 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, which really lets this pound cake’s sweet flavor and tender texture shine through. Yet it still has the same health benefits as regular whole wheat flour!
Note: I included my favorite gluten-free flour option in the Notes section underneath the Instructions, if you prefer!
Rather than a pound of butter (that’s around 2 cups!) and eggs (about 9 of them!), you’ll use just 1 tablespoon of butter (or coconut oil!) and 3 large egg whites. Yes, that’s it! And a much more reasonable calories count… Therefore, this pound cake gets the majority of its tender texture from one of my favorite ingredients.
I’m sure you know what it is—Greek yogurt! It adds the same moisture as extra butter or oil for a fraction of the calories, and it gives your pound cake a big protein boost, too. Nearly 7g per slice!
Instead of a pound of granulated sugar, you’ll sweeten your 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 really concentrated. You just need 1 tablespoon to sweeten this entire cake! This is the kind I buy because I love its warm vanilla flavor and don’t notice any strange aftertastes like some other stevia products can have. You can find it at many health-oriented grocery stores, but I always buy mine online here because that’s the cheapest price I’ve found. (And you’ll use it in all of these recipes of mine, too!)
Finally, you’ll gently fold in a combination of fresh raspberries and mini chocolate chips. To ensure the batter bakes evenly, chop your raspberries to be about the same size as the mini chocolate chips. These are the mini chips that I love because they taste incredibly rich and melt really well!
Time for dessert! Or maybe even breakfast?… ? 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 I’ll see your picture! ?) I’d love to see your pound cake and feature it in my Sunday Spotlight series!
| Greek Yogurt Raspberry 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
- 1 cup (140g) fresh raspberries, diced
- 3 tbsp (42g) 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 the raspberries and 2 ½ tablespoons of miniature chocolate chips.
- Spread the batter into the prepared pan, and gently press the remaining miniature chocolate chips on top. Bake at 350°F for 55-65 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 1 ¼ cups (240g) granulated sugar and reduce the milk to ½ cup, but the cake will no longer be clean-eating friendly. You may substitute 1 ¼ cups (240g) coconut sugar and reduce the milk to ½ cup to keep the cake clean eating friendly, but it will be much darker in color. The baking time may vary with either of those substitutions as well.
Dice the raspberries to be the same size as the miniature chocolate chips to ensure the loaf bakes evenly.
Frozen and thawed raspberries that have been patted dry to remove any excess moisture may be substituted for the fresh.
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}
View Nutrition Information
You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♥ Greek Yogurt Blueberry Lemon Pound Cake
♥ Greek Yogurt Chocolate Chip Pound Cake
♥ Greek Yogurt Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pound Cake
♥ Greek Yogurt Cranberry Orange Pound Cake
♥ Greek Yogurt Lemon Pound Cake
♥ Raspberry Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
♥ Skinny Single-Serving Raspberry Chocolate Chip Mug Cake
♥ Dark Chocolate Raspberry Truffles
I have tried this twice and both times it has not fully cooked in the middle so I then over do the outside! HELP!?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Kelly! We’ll get this sorted out. 🙂 Did you make any modifications to the recipe, including those listed in the Notes section underneath the Instructions? Maybe using a different sweetener than the vanilla stevia, by chance? And you’re using a 9×5″ pan, rather than an 8×4″ pan, correct? (That’s one of the most common reason for underdone middles — using a different pan!) Once you let me know that information, we’ll come up with a solution to ensure your cake’s middle is fully cooked through without the outsides burning! 🙂