Whether it’s a birthday party or a weekend family dinner, nothing makes an occasion more festive than a beautifully presented cake.

And while most cake recipes are less than healthy, the following recipes are so low in calories and fat that you can make your cake and eat it too.

Prepare the Orange Frosted Cake with skim milk and low-fat cream cheese for a health-conscious twist on a traditional recipe. The Apple Coffee Cake gets its moistness from the apples and raisins, so it requires little oil.

LEGEND:
VERY LOW FAT: Recipes with 10 gm of fat or less per serving.	LOW CHOLESTEROL: Recipes with 30 mg of cholesterol or less per serving.		LOW SODIUM: Recipes with 240 mg of sodium or less per serving.

Apple Coffee Cake

5 cups tart apples, cored, peeled, finely chopped
1 cup sugar
1 cup dark, plump raisins
½ cup pecans, chopped
¼ cup vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla
1 egg, beaten
2½ cups sifted, all-purpose flour
1½ tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a 13-by-9-by-2-inch pan. In a large mixing bowl, combine apples with sugar, raisins, and pecans; mix well. Let stand 30 minutes. Stir in oil, vanilla, and egg. Sift together flour, soda, and cinnamon. Stir into apple mixture about one-third at a time. Turn mixture into pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Cool cake slightly before serving. Makes 20 3½-by-2½-inch servings.

Per Serving
Calories	241
Fat	5 g
Calories from fat	19%
Cholesterol	57 mg
Sodium	273 mg
Carbohydrates	45 g

Frosted Orange Cake

For Cake
2¼ cups cake flour
2¼ tsp. baking powder
4 tbsp. margarine
1¼ cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tbsp. grated orange peel
¾ cup skim milk

For Icing
3 oz. low-fat cream cheese
2 tbsp. skim milk
6 tbsp. cocoa
2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
½ tsp. vanilla extract

To prepare cake, preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease 10-inch round pan (at least 2½ inches high) with nonstick cooking oil spray. Powder pan with flour. Tap out excess flour. Sift together flour and baking powder. In separate bowl, beat together margarine and sugar until soft and creamy. Beat in eggs, vanilla, and orange peel. Gradually add flour mixture, alternating with milk, beginning and ending with flour. Pour mixture into pan. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until done. Let cake cool for five to 10 minutes before removing from pan. Let cool completely before icing. To prepare icing, combine cream cheese and milk until smooth. Add cocoa. Blend well. Slowly add sugar until icing is smooth. Mix in vanilla. Smooth icing over top and sides of cooled cake. Serves 16.

Per Serving
Calories	188
Fat	5 g
Calories from fat	24%
Cholesterol	11 mg
Sodium	68 mg
Carbohydrates	58 g

Source: NHLBI: Keep the Beat Heart Healthy Recipes, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; National Institutes of Health

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