Diary of a Birthday Cake

Is it possible to make a Weight Watchers friendly birthday cake? Yes. Is it possible that said cake will be delicious? Not always. I fiddled with this recipe for what seemed like forever and finally came out with a final product that fooled the greatest critics, my two guys.

The recipe comes in at 6-7 Points per serving, but that's not what anyone will notice. What they will taste is rich, decadent, moist, chocolate cake with sinful peanut butter frosting. This is D's favorite combination. Regular birthday cake can top 20 Points per serving (most likely much more).

I figured anyone could call and order a cake. Homemade is so much better. And this one, I have to brag, was better than anything I could have ordered. Bonus that it fits in with our healthy eating!

Chocolate Fudge Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting

1 box cake mix, devil's food
2 cups canned pumpkin
2 egg white
1 cup peanut butter
2 cups powdered sugar
3-4 tbsp fat-free skim milk
8 TB margarine, Brummel and Brown
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix cake mix, pumpkin, and egg white on high in mixer for about 2 minutes. Batter should appear light and fluffy. Grease and flour your pans. You can make this in layer pans or in a 9x13 inch pan. Bake as directed on the cake mix box. Cool.

While cake is cooling, make chocolate curls. Melt 3 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips with 1 TB vegetable shortening. Spread chocolate on cookie sheet and freeze until chocolate no longer shows a fingerprint when pressed. Using a spatula (to make big curls) or a citrus zester (which is what I used), make curls or chocolate spaghetti (as Young One put it!) Simply push the chocolate with the spatula or quickly pull your zester through it. If it breaks, the chocolate is too cold. If it melts, it's too warm. Take in and out of the freezer at will! Place chocolate curls in the freezer until ready to use.

While chocolate is in the freezer, make the peanut butter frosting. Remember the recipe that's way up above, well, look at it again, OK? Using a mixer, mix the peanut butter, Brummel and Brown margarine, vanilla, powdered sugar, and 3 TB of milk. Mix until well combined. Add a little more milk if it's too stiff to spread. Dip finger in and appreciate your mastery.

Go ahead, lick the screen. You know you want to.

Spread on cake, decorate with chocolate curls. Add trick candles that relight every time they are blown out. Sing Happy Birthday. Eat. Hug. Love your family.