My wife loves the Pistachio cake from the local Italian Deli and I can't just watch her enjoy it any more without wanting to indulge as well, so I came up with this WLS friendly version that has no sugar and no flour - and it's a SIMPLE 6 step process:
1. Preheat oven.
2. Get out blender/food processor
3. Blend cake batter.
4. Bake. Get on exercise bike and ride like crazy for 20 minutes, determined to avoid the distracting fragrance of cake baking in the kitchen.
6. Remove cake from oven and take an oh-so-necessary 15 minute protein dessert break!
The best part of about this cake, aside from being dead simple to make, is the nutrient content. In place of white flour, I used ground almonds, oat flour, and whey protein powder to make it high in protein. It's a truly magical combination of ingredients, as this cake batter yields a lovely texture even after heavy blending, and stays moist for days!
Pistachio Pudding CakeNutrition FactsMakes 16 cupcakes, 1 9X13 cake, 1 bundt, 2 8X8 or 2 9" round layers
Amount Per Serving
Calories 227
Total Fat 16.3g
Saturated Fat 5.2g
Trans Fat 0.0g
Cholesterol 70mg
Sodium 347mg
Total Carbohydrates 12.4g
Dietary Fiber 2.6g
Sugars 2.3g
Protein 9.4g
1/2 cup regular salted butter, softened
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 Tablespoons half and half OR 4 Tablespoons lite coconut milk
2 Tablespoons water
2 cups almond flour, packed and leveled, OR 2 1/4 cups (about 8 oz) sliced almonds
1 cup oat flour, spooned into cup and shaken (or approx 1 1/4 cups old fashioned oats, finely ground)
1/2 cup vanilla whey protein powder
1 cup Splenda Granular
1/4 cup nonfat dry milk
2 cups non-fat milk (cow, soy, almond, etc...)
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 1oz packages Sugar Free Pistachio Pudding mix
1/4 cup chopped pistachios (optional)
7 drops green food coloring (optional)
Preheat oven to 375 F.
Grease cake pans or 16 cupcake liners with vegetable oil cooking spray or melted butter.
Sift a little oat flour on the inside of the cake pan(s) to ensure that the cake comes out easily.
Add softened butter to blender/food processor in pieces and pulse a few times until creamy.
Add Splenda Granular, salt, eggs, and vanilla and pulse until creamy.
Add milk to blender and combine.
Add almond flour (or sliced almonds), oat flour, whey protein, sugar free pudding mix and baking powder.
Scrape down the sides to be sure everything is fully blended.
Add optional food coloring.
Process until batter is VERY SMOOTH.
Scrape batter into prepared cake pans.
Scatter chopped pistachios over the top of batter.
Insert cake pans into middle rack of oven, then turn oven down to 325 degrees.
Bake 25 to 30 minutes, depending on oven, until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. (longer for bundt)
Remove pans from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.
Allow Cake(s) to cool for at least 5 minutes.
Cut around edges of cakes and invert to remove from pan to finish cooling.
Dust with powdered Splenda for garnish.
Cook's Notes: I pick up whatever oat flour is available from the grocery store (usually Bob's Red Mill brand). Alternatively, if you have a Ninja, Vitamix, Blentec or other high power blender, you can make your own oat flour from old fashioned oats - or do small batches in your spice grinder!
Any vanilla whey protein powder low in carbohydrates should work well in this recipe.
Since this cake has no sugar to act as a preservative, any leftovers should be refrigerated - not that I expect there will BE any leftovers!
Special Note: My resolve to make this cake was so strong, since none of my local groceries carry the sugar free pistachio pudding, I ordered an entire CASE from Amazon so I could work out this recipe! It was SO WORTH IT!!
Nods to Lauren at
Healthy Indulgences for the basic cake recipe, even though I can't abide her choice of sweeteners, she does amazing work.
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