Dukan Chocolate Cake

This cake is an easy, tasty and quick to make, Dukan-friendly treat.

What You'll Need:

• Round cake pan, or two small ramekins (as shown in the above picture)
• Two medium-sized mixing bowls
• 8 Tbsp of oatbran
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup sugar substitute, like Ideal - a xylitol-based sweetener
• 3 Tbsp of sugar-free chocolate powder (I use the Ghirardelli kind you can get in the Netherlands)
• 1 cup of non-fat Greek yogurt (you can also sub in non-fat quark, or vanilla-flavoured non-fat yogurt. I use non-fat Greek yogurt as it is usually thicker and makes the cake more moist...yes, I hate that word, too ;)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 4 eggs 

What You'll Do:

• Pre-heat your oven to 180C (or 350F)
• Get two medium-sized bowls ready
• In one bowl, mix together your dry ingredients until fully combined - oatbran, baking powder, sweetener, chocolate powder
• In the other bowl, mix in your yogurt/quark, vanilla then your 4 eggs (I will usually crack them one by one in a separate little container, like the measuring cup I just used, to ensure each egg is good before I add them into the larger mixture)
• Mix the liquid mixture thoroughly until it is a consistent colour and texture
• Add the liquid mix into the dry mix and stir until smooth 
• Pour the combined mix into the chosen containers, filling to about 3/4 full
• Let bake for 12-18 minutes, or until cooked through - my oven runs hot, so 15 minutes works for me, but start checking in on them at the 12 minute mark
• I think these taste the nicest hot - as the middle is still a little gooey...yum!

You can serve these with a dollop of fat-free cream cheese on top, or a fat free vanilla yogurt. Delicious!

The STEWART SCORE:
Appearance: 2
Taste: 2
Ease: 2

Vegan Chocolate Cake

I ran out of butter and am making my husband his birthday cake.
I remembered making a Vegan chocolate cake once for a colleague's birthday (who was Vegan) and I dug out an old and trusty recipe I thought I would share with you all for days you want cake and have no butter.

What You'll Need:

• 1 cake pan - you can make this a square or round cake, or even cupcakes if you fancy - I chose a medium-sized round pan
• 1 large bowl, 1 small bowl
• 1/5 cups of all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder (I use the extra dark kind that is virtually sugar-free)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp vinegar (plain, not cider or rice, etc)
• 1 cup room temperature water

What You'll Do:

• Pre-heat your oven
• Lightly grease your baking pan
• In your large bowl sift your flour, sugars, cocoa, baking soda and salt together until fully combined
• In your small bowl pour in your oil, vanilla, vinegar then water
• Quickly whisk up until combined and bubbly
• Pour into your flour mixture and stir until smooth
• Pour into your baking pan
• Depending on the depth of your pan, or if you decided to make cupcakes, cooking times varies. For me it took around 25 minutes. I could tell it was done when the centre was no longer wiggly when moved about and when I could stick in a toothpick and it came out 'clean' (not gooey)
• Let cool and serve with your favourite ice cream or fruit topping - here is a link to a super simple cherry topping that is really easy to make and adds a nice zing

The STEWART SCORE
Appearance: 1.5
Taste: 2
Ease: 2