You guys know that I’m not really into baking. The desserts category of my Recipes page is by far the shortest section, and most of them are frozen yogurts made up of various fruit combinations. But listen up friends. I am pleased to announce today that I baked a cake. Well, a sort of cake. I’m not a big sweets person, so don’t expect a big fluffy chocolate cake oozing with more chocolate. It’s a breakfast cake – or perhaps a loaf if you decide to make it in a loaf tin. And even though it’s not an iced cake/loaf, it’s still a pretty exciting one to wake up to in the morning.

You see, I’ve been getting a little bored of my usual cereal + yogurt + apple breakfast mix, and I was looking for a way to spice things up. Pumpkin spice things up, to be precise. Since this has been the only thing on my mind these days…

….naturally, I wanted to incorporate pumpkin in some capacity. I began building a recipe in my head based on the ingredients in my fridge. My goals included the following:

  • Must have a strong pumpkin/pumpkin pie spice taste
  • Must contain whole grains
  • Must provide protein because I plan to eat it after my hard morning workouts
  • Mustn’t be dry and cardboard-y
  • Mustn’t be high in sugar
  • Must be low in oil/butter if possible
  • Must look like an actual cake, not like something my co-workers would give me odd looks for

My first trial went well, except it failed on 2 criteria. It was super dry and flaky, especially in the middle. I also had a very time getting it out of my round cake tin, even though I prepped it with oil beforehand.

Still… I had no trouble eating it. Really, aesthetics aside, it was pretty tasty!

The evening of my first trial, I went to bed thinking about my little baking project. Success was so close, I could almost taste it. Actually, I’d already tasted about 5 slices of it – but just slivers of course. ;) I woke up in the morning with a solution that came to me in my sleep.

Enter the springform pan. And yogurt. And unsweetened Almond Breeze. The pan for the sticking problem, and the yogurt and almond milk to remedy the lack of moisture. I was so excited about this that I drove to Wal Mart at 9am on Sunday morning to buy my pan. Thank you, Kaiser, for this wonderful invention.

I quickly drove home and got straight to work. A few other swaps were made – regular stevia instead of Krisda baking blend, a little more baking powder, and a bit more pumpkin pie spice, just because. The result was a thing of beauty.

Pumpkin Spiced High-Protein Breakfast Cake

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup egg whites
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 9 packets stevia
  • 1/3 cup fat-free plain or vanilla yogurt
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened Almond Breeze
  • 2 cups pumpkin puree
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
  • 1 cup rolled oats
  • 6 scoops/about 1 1/2 cups vanilla whey protein, appx. 23g protein per scoop (Note: I haven’t tried this recipe with other types of protein, so I’m not sure how well they will work or if the cake would have the same consistency as it does with whey.)
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the first 6 ingredients together in one bowl, and all remaining dry ingredients in another. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients, and stir until an even mixture forms. At this point, it’s crucial to do a taste test, because it will get you really excited for the end result. The batter is delicious, so take a good lick of the spoon.

Once you return from your sweet pumpkin-filled daydream, mist a springform pan with oil or spread a light coating of Earth Balance inside to prevent sticking. Empty the batter into the bowl and spread it around in an even layer.

Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Serves 12 (1 slice each).

Nutrition per serving: 118 calories, 2g fat (1g saturated), 35mg cholesterol, 168mg sodium, 11g carbs, 2g fiber, 2g sugar 16g protein.

Take a look at those stats!!! I kid you not, there are a whopping 16g of protein in each slice of this gorgeous gateau. Perfect for helping to repair your tired hard-working muscles post-workout.

This cake ticks all the boxes if you ask me – not too sweet, oil-free, strong pumpkin flavour, and moist inside. It also smells absolutely divine.

So what are you waiting for?

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