themorethanoccasionalbaker-ValueWalk: We Should Cocoa

I went to visit a friend of mine who has recently given birth to a gorgeous baby boy. I don't have any baby pictures to show you but I do have pictures of cake! My friend offered to cook dinner so naturally I said I'd make dessert. However, she wanted something low fat as she is still trying to loose her baby weight. So I went off in search of some healthy recipes, saving my full fat, triple layer cake for another day. I looked on my 'go-to recipe site' - BBC Good Food and found 2 options that looked reasonable - a light fruity sponge or a chocolate and mocha cake. I asked my friend to choose and she chose the latter which I was secretly pleased about as it fits into the theme for this month's We should Cocoa hosted by Chocolate Teapot which is to make a health conscious chocolate recipe.

I have to say I am a little disappointed with this recipe. I've not tried a bad recipe from BBC Good Food until now and there were certainly some unfavourable reviews on the website. The picture presented looks really good but sadly what I baked was nothing like the picture shown. Firstly, there was barely enough batter to fill 1 sandwich tin much less two and my sponge did not rise at all. Secondly, there was barely enough frosting to spread thinly much less oozing as shown. I followed the recipe exactly and actually debated about doubling it which would have defeated the purpose. I'll just have to use a much, much smaller tin next time.

Fortunately, it wasn't a complete disaster as the cake actually tasted reasonably good. It's nowhere near a lovely buttery, chocolatey sponge but it was a good alternative. The sponge was still light and moist and the icing was slightly sour due to the yoghurt and cream cheese but still palatable. I added some strawberries for extra 'health' factor and presentation.