Healthy Vanilla Pound Cake

Have you ever asked the question “is pound cake healthy”? The answer is that traditional pound cake is typically high in calories, fat and sugar because it is loaded with butter, sugar, eggs and flour. But it is possible to make a healthier pound cake with some ingredient substitutions. We swapped light cream cheese for a lot of the butter and used some egg whites so there are fewer yolks, creating a low fat pound cake that is light, moist and fluffy. Adding a mix of flavored extracts gives this healthy pound cake plenty of mouth-watering taste so you won’t even miss the fat and sugar found in less healthy pound cake recipes.

Pound cake got its name because it was said to have a pound of butter in it – that’s a lot of fat! But you can still enjoy the same taste and texture of this comfort food with less fat. To make lower fat pound cake, swap out some of the fat-laden butter with lower fat cream cheese. You’ll still get the same creaminess and denseness you love from this dessert. Using fewer eggs by swapping out some for egg whites also lowers fat and cholesterol totals in this recipe.

One of the hallmarks of a heart healthy diet is that you aim to limit the amount of fat, sodium, sugar and calories you consume. While that means you should fill your plate as much as possible with fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean protein, it doesn’t mean you have to skip dessert or never enjoy a healthy treat. This heart healthy pound cake contains less than 200 calories per slice, with only 4g of fat and 104mg of sodium. It’s also a lower sugar pound cake and has just 36g of carbohydrates per slice, so you may even be able to fit it into a diabetic friendly diet. You may be surprised to find out that it even has 6g of protein per serving, which means you’ll get a lot more than just empty calories from this healthier pound cake recipe.