Low Fat Molasses Cake

I have been meaning to try this recipe for a while now mainly for its simple ingredients. Unbelievably, I have procrastinated this long to bake the low fat molasses cake. I supppose when you have competing recipes say chocolate muffins and cheese cakes, it’s little wonder that low fat molasses cake will easily fall off the radar. Moreover, when food wears labels like low fat, fat free, fat reduced… it starts to lose its appeal to me. Don’t get me wrong, I do try my “hardest” to eat healthily (*wink*) but honestly, some bad experiences with low fat mayo and beverages (to name a few) are enough to scar me for life.

That said, when I need to bake something simple in order to test drive my brand new 20cm ceramic coated round cake pan, I’ve somehow rediscovered the appeal of the molasses cake recipe. To kill two birds with one stone, I have the perfect excuse to use up the unpalatable stale bread that was taking up room in my overly cluttered fridge.

The recipe calls for mashing the bread in milk and water and you can imagine it does not result to a pretty sight. As I was making the cake batter, the little Tweek (from South Park) in me could not help but think that it was a disaster in the making. When we bake chocolate cakes, even the batter looks yummy so I started to freak out a little on how the cake would be like once done. Like not knowing the answers to an exam question, I just keep on adding and mixing in hope it will turn out ok.

45 minutes amd multiple fingers crossed actions later, I was so relieved that the cake rises to the occasion and actually looks scrumptious.

Not a fan of dry surface cake, I drizzled some honey and dotted some walnuts on the cake. And the verdict? It tastes a wee bit similar to Chinese Fortune cup cakes (Fa Gao), very fluffy and moist, definitely like it enough to bake it again.

Low Fat Molasses Cake

(adapted from Romancing with Cakes by Connie Leaw)

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

100g wholemeal bread (about 4 slices of bread)

250 ml milk 130g molasses (I substitute with brown sugar)

190 ml boiling hot water 190g flour (I used self-raising flour instead)

12g baking powder (If self-raising flour is used, omit the baking powder)

10g baking soda

3 eggs

Methods:

1. Preheat oven at 180degrees celsius.

2. Mix molasses with 190 ml hot water and stir till dissolve (becomes molasses syrup). Set aside.

3. In a mixing bowl, add bread, milk and molasses syrup and mash until creamy.

4. Then add the sifted flour, baking soda and baking powder into the mashed mixture and stir to combine.

5. Add eggs into the batter and whisk until smoothy & creamy.

6. Pour the batter into 20cm cake mould and bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes or till fully cooked.

7. The recommended toppings for the cake are walnuts or black sesame seeds.