While in Arizona visiting my grandparents a couple of weekends ago, my mom reminded us that our aunt’s birthday fell on that Saturday. Mom dashed out to Target for cards and a gift, while my brother and his best friend borrowed Grandma’s car to drive to the store for dessert.
Since they had sat next to my aunt on the flight, they tried to remember what treats she had mentioned enjoying. Chocolate? Flan? Tres leches cake? After debating, they ended up calling Mom and me from the supermarket to get our input…
And Mom replied to get all of them!
I definitely know where my sweet tooth came from…
So after lunch, we gathered around the assortment of desserts to sing happy birthday and give my aunt the first choice of treats. Out of the flan, regular tres leches cake slice, chocolate tres leches cake slice, and the miniature two layer chocolate cake, she opted for the flan.
Mom and I secretly cheered. More chocolate cake for us!
Yet as I slid the first bite into my mouth, I felt a tinge of disappointment. The cake tasted really sweet… But not very chocolaty at all. It had a very muted chocolate flavor, borderline bland, and I actually scraped off the frosting. Pretty disappointing.
So when I arrived back home, I baked this Ultimate Healthy Chocolate Bundt Cake to get my chocolate cake fix! It’s the exact opposite of that grocery store chocolate cake: supremely rich, incredibly decadent, and extremely chocolaty. It tastes a little fudgy too, as if you combined chocolate cake and brownies together into one dessert!
And also unlike that grocery store version… This ultimate healthy chocolate bundt cake contains no artificial ingredients, refined flour or sugar and only 96 calories in a slice!
I definitely went back for seconds of this homemade chocolate cake! 😉
HOW TO MAKE THE BEST CHOCOLATE BUNDT CAKE
Let’s go over how to make this ultimate healthy chocolate bundt cake!
You’ll start with a combination of unsweetened cocoa powder and whole wheat pastry flour. You just need the regular kind of unsweetened cocoa powder. Dutched cocoa powder and “special dark” cocoa powder have a different acidity level, which can affect both the taste and texture of your cake. (I’ve also found that Dutched and “special dark” cocoa powder don’t taste as strong in this particular cake and result in a more bland and muted chocolate flavor.) To ensure this ultimate healthy chocolate bundt cake tastes really rich and decadent, you’ll actually use more cocoa powder than flour!
Whole wheat pastry flour is the flour I used for this cake, and it’s made by finely grinding a special type of soft wheat. It has the same health benefits as regular whole wheat flour (like extra fiber!), but it has a taste and texture closer to all-purpose flour. That difference is what allows the moist and fudgy texture, along with the incredibly rich flavor, of your ultimate healthy chocolate bundt cake to truly shine!
Just remember, it’s extremely important to measure the cocoa powder and flour correctly, using this method or a kitchen scale. (← That’s the one I own and love!) Too much of either ingredient will dry out your cake batter, and too much cocoa powder will make your cake taste bitter, instead of rich and decadent. I promise it’s worth the extra time to measure properly!
Whereas many traditional chocolate cake recipes call for lots of melted butter or oil to keep them moist (I’ve seen anywhere from ½ to 1 full cup!), you just need 1 tablespoon for this one. That shaves off anywhere from 712 to 1,527 calories — and that really helps keep this ultimate healthy chocolate bundt cake low fat and low calorie!
The majority of your cake’s tender texture actually comes from one of my favorite ingredients. If you’ve browsed through my recipes before, I’m sure you know what it is…
Greek yogurt! Greek yogurt adds the same moisture to your cake batter as extra butter or oil but for a fraction of the calories. It also gives your ultimate healthy chocolate bundt cake a protein boost!
Protein-packed healthy chocolate bundt cake… Does that make it breakfast food? 😉
One more thing contributes to the texture! You’ll actually add both baking powder and baking soda to your cake batter. This is really important! Because you’ll also mix in…
Distilled white vinegar! It may sound like a strange ingredient for chocolate cake, but it’s actually the secret ingredient in this one. The vinegar (an acid) reacts with the baking soda (a base) to create air bubbles. Those air bubbles make your cake rise, and they also give this ultimate healthy chocolate bundt cake a deliciously moist and fudgy texture.
I love nerdy baking chemistry like that!
To sweeten your ultimate healthy chocolate bundt cake, you’ll actually use two ingredients: liquid stevia and erythritol. Both of these ingredients are plant-based, no-calorie sweeteners that contain nothing refined or artificial (aka they’re clean-eating friendly!). I actually buy both online (here for the liquid stevia and here for the erythritol!) because that’s where I’ve found the best prices.
Tip: You’ll use liquid stevia in all of these recipes of mine and erythritol in all of these recipes of mine too!
I normally try to stick with just one sweetener to make life easier for you. I know it isn’t fun to try to track down even more ingredients! However, I found that the cake tasted bland and not sweet enough when I just used one or the other, but when I combined the two…
Pure chocolate cake magic!
So I promise it’s worth buying and using both!
Your cake batter is almost done! At this point, it’s time to stir the cocoa + flour mixture into the Greek yogurt mixture. However, instead of dumping one bowl into the other, you’ll actually use a method called alternating additions. This simply means that you’ll alternate between adding a little cocoa mixture, gently stirring it in, adding a little milk, stirring it in, going back to the cocoa mixture, gently stirring it in… And continue until you run out of cocoa mixture and milk!
Alternating additions are key because they prevent overmixing. Overmixing the batter results in a tough or gummy texture, instead of the perfectly moist and fudgy texture you want in your ultimate healthy chocolate bundt cake.
Hint: This is why I highly recommend against using an electric or stand mixer! They tend to overmix healthy batters like this one. Use a whisk where instructed and a fork for everything else for the best texture!
Now your cake batter is ready to bake! Before pouring it into your cake pan, make sure you generously coat your bundt pan with cooking spray. Bundt pans have a lot more nooks and crannies compared to the smooth sides of round, rectangular, or loaf pans. If you don’t coat all of those nooks and crannies with cooking spray, your cake won’t slide out onto the cooling rack when it’s done baking.
So be generous!
And if that chocolaty cake goodness just isn’t enough… Then you can add a dark chocolate drizzle on top!
It’s super simple to make. Just stir together a little more cocoa powder, some pure maple syrup, and a touch of milk. Transfer that to a zip-topped bag, cut off a tiny piece of one corner, and drizzle it all over your cooled ultimate healthy chocolate bundt cake.
Then if you can figure out how to stop after just one slice… Tell me your secret. Because I definitely can’t! 😉 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 ultimate healthy chocolate bundt cake!
The Ultimate Healthy Chocolate Bundt Cake
Ingredients
FOR THE CAKE
- 2 cups (160g) unsweetened cocoa powder (measured like this)
- 1 ¾ cups (210g) whole wheat pastry flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp (14g) unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
- 4 large egg whites, room temperature
- 1 tbsp (15mL) vanilla extract
- 5 ½ tsp liquid stevia (see Notes!)
- 6 tbsp (90g) confectioners’ style erythritol (see Notes!)
- ¾ cup (180g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- ¼ cup (60mL) distilled white vinegar
- 1 ¾ cups (420mL) nonfat milk, divided
FOR THE DRIZZLE
- 3 tbsp (15g) unsweetened cocoa powder (measured like this)
- 2 tsp pure maple syrup
- 2 ½ - 3 tsp nonfat milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and generously coat a 12-cup bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray or nonstick cooking spray with flour.
- To prepare the cake, whisk together the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, egg whites, vanilla extract, and liquid stevia. Stir in the erythritol. Add in the Greek yogurt, stirring until no large lumps remain. Stir in the vinegar and 1 cup 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 4 equal parts.)
- Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 350°F for 65-75 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 transferring the cake to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Once the cake has completely cooled to room temperature and just before serving, prepare the drizzle. Stir together the cocoa powder, maple syrup, and milk in a small bowl. Transfer the mixture to a zip-topped plastic bag, cut off a tiny piece of one corner, and drizzle over the cooled cake.
Notes
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♡ The Ultimate Healthy Dark Chocolate Cupcakes
♡ The Ultimate Healthy Vanilla Bean Pound Cake
♡ The Ultimate Healthy Carrot Cake
♡ The Ultimate Healthy Blueberry Pound Cake
♡ The Ultimate Healthy Red Velvet Cupcakes
♡ …and the rest of Amy’s healthy chocolate recipes!
Hi! I’m a huge fan of all of your recipes I’ve tried– every! single! one! has been a hit so far! I’m baking for a friend’s birthday later this week, and was hoping to made a large chocolate cake. I was comparing this recipe with this one: https://amyshealthybaking.com/blog/2016/05/30/the-ultimate-healthy-dark-chocolate-cupcakes/
to see if it would be possible to alter either one of them into a cake using 2 or 3 9″ rounds. Which would you recommend for this purpose? I really like the nutrition on this bundt cake recipe, but I guess nutrition isn’t as important during birthdays! Still– would simply putting this batter into multiple rounds do the trick, or would the crumb be too dense for a birthday-cake style recipe, and I should use the cupcake recipe instead?
Would using Dutch-process cocoa change the stability of the cake, as well? I know it’s been alkalised, but it’s the Oreo-like chocolate flavour that my friend really enjoys.
Also, as a side note, would adding extra wheat-bran make this too dense? I know bran cuts up possible gluten development, but I’m uncertain of the other possible effects of adding it.
Thank you so much, and sorry for so many questions!!
Hi Arthur! Thank you for such kind words about our recipes! It really makes our day and I know Amy is going to feel so happy to see your comment! 🙂
This bundt cake won’t work very well as a layer cake. Bundt cakes bake differently than any other cake pan (they’re exposed to air around the outsides and inside of the pan, whereas other cake pans are only exposed on the outsides). When you “remove” that circle of air from the center of the pan for this particular recipe (like if you tried using a traditional round cake pan!), the middle of this chocolate cake would collapse while cooling and turn out rather dense.
The dark chocolate cupcakes would do better as a layer cake! They’re on the fudgier side (not light and airy like a vanilla cake or angel food cake), but the batter will yield a much better texture when baked in a regular cake pan. For a three-layer cake, we’d recommend doubling the recipe and dividing it between three 9″-round cake pans (for thinner cake layers) -OR- tripling the recipe (for much thicker layers!). Bake it at the same temperature, and it’d probably be a good idea to start checking on it after 15-18 minutes. It may need more time than that, but it’ll be done when the center feels firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with dry crumbs attached.
As for the cocoa, Amy actually left a note specifically about the Dutched cocoa powder in the Notes section of the dark chocolate cupcake recipe. I know it can be easy to miss!
We don’t recommend adding wheat bran. It’ll change the ratio of wet and dry ingredients, so the cake will turn out much drier. Cocoa powder also disrupts gluten formation, and with such a high ratio of cocoa powder to flour in our recipe, there’s no need to introduce another ingredient to do the same thing! 😉
I hope it turns out great for your friend’s birthday! They are lucky to have you plan with such care and attention! We’d love to hear what you think! 🙂
I’m finally making this one (I’ve made other bundts from you before) and want to incorporate stevia chocolate chips. Do you think I could add them on top after the glaze and they would stick? Or can I mix it into the batter before baking? I’d prefer to add them on top after baking somehow so they are noticeable and looks pretty, but not sure how!
It means a lot that you’ve already made some of our other bundt cakes, Ashley! I love the idea of incorporating chocolate chips to the top of our cake. We’d recommend sprinkling them on right after you add the glaze. It takes a few minutes for the glaze to fully set, so they should stick! I know Amy would agree with me in saying it’s also a great idea to add it to the batter before baking, too! We’re always team chocolate over here! 😉 We’d love to hear how your bundt cake turns out!