RECIPE DOCTOR
Trim calories, fat from delectable dessert

By Elaine Magee
Knight Ridder News Service

Q. I love this standard chocolate fudge cake mix recipe and seem to make it at least a couple of times each month. Can you cut this back so that it is lower in calories and fat?

A. Chocolate cake mix, chocolate pudding, chocolate chips — what's not to like? How about the 1/2 cup of vegetable oil and 4 large eggs, not to mention the 6 tablespoons of butter in the glaze?

But since cake mixes already contain about 4 grams of fat per serving, we can eliminate the oil as long as we add something else moist to compensate for it. Because the recipe calls for a cup of sour cream, we can easily switch to fat-free sour cream and use a little more to make up for the oil. I was able to get by with less chocolate chips and egg yolks called for in the cake batter because a little goes a long way with these two ingredients.

For the glaze, we can gladly get by with half the amount, which cuts the fat in half. And instead of using butter, I use canola oil.

The original recipe contains 633 calories, 34.5 g fat, 14 g saturated fat, and 98 mg cholesterol per serving.

Chocolate Fudge Cake

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix
• 1 (3.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
• 1 1/2 cup fat-free or light sour cream
• 1 cup low-fat milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup egg substitute
• 3/4 cup mini, semisweet chocolate chips

Glaze:

• 1/2 cup mini, semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoon canola oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 10-inch bundt cake pan with canola cooking spray and dust lightly with flour.

In a large bowl, combine cake mix, pudding mix, fat-free sour cream, low-fat milk, water, eggs and egg substitute. Beat for 4 minutes, and then mix in 3/4 cup of chocolate chips.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for about 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

To make the glaze: Melt the 1/2 cup chocolate chips and canola oil in a double boiler or add them to a 1 cup glass measure and heat on LOW in a microwave oven until melted. Stir until smooth and drizzle over the top of the cake.

Makes 1 (10-inch) bundt cake; 12 servings.

Per serving: 320 calories, 5.5 g protein, 54 g carbohydrate, 9 g fat (4.5 g saturated fat, 3.8 g monounsaturated fat, .6 g polyunsaturated fat), 36 mg cholesterol, 1 g fiber, 412 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 25 percent. Omega-3 fatty acids: .1 g. Omega-6 fatty acids: .5 g. Weight Watchers: 7 points.

Elaine Magee is author of "The Recipe Doctor Cookbook" and "The Flax Cookbook." Reach her through www.recipedoctor.com. Sorry, no personal responses.