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SKINNY CHOCOLATE CAKE RECIPE
I am normally not one for ‘skinny’ desserts but this skinny chocolate cake recipe changed that for me. If I want brownies or chocolate cake, then I am going to eat brownies or chocolate cake. Not smashed black bean brownies (anyone tried those?) or that chickpea healthy cookie dough I’ve seen floating around Pinterest lately.
Plus, I have never had a ‘skinny dessert’ that actually tasted good. Until this skinny chocolate cake! I am so in love with this chocolate cake. It quite literally tastes like heaven and you would never even guess that each serving is less than 200 calories.
HOW TO MAKE SKINNY CHOCOLATE CAKE
For the chocolate cake you will need a milk chocolate cake mix. Do not prepare the cake mix according to package directions. Instead, add a container of Greek yogurt + water.
For the frosting you will need lite Cool Whip, 1% milk, vanilla extract, and sugar-free chocolate instant pudding mix.
The frosting is so light & fluffy and really makes this skinny chocolate cake delicious! It’s my favorite part.
This skinny cake recipe is so adaptable because there are tons of cake mix flavors, instant pudding flavors, and Greek yogurt flavors! Just think of all the possibilities.
- funfetti cake mix + vanilla greek yogurt + vanilla or white chocolate pudding mix
- red velvet cake mix + chocolate greek yogurt + chocolate pudding mix
- white cake mix + vanilla or plain greek yogurt + white chocolate pudding mix
- yellow cake mix + banana greek yogurt + banana cream pudding mix
These are just a few I thought of but there are tons of different combinations. You can also change out the sprinkles for differebt Holidays too. Make a red velvet version with Valentine’s Day colored sprinkles, etc.
Skinny Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
chocolate cake
- 1 box (15.25 oz) milk chocolate cake mix do not prepare
- 2 containers (5.3 oz each) chocolate Greek yogurt
- 1 cup water
frosting
- 1 cup 1% milk
- 1 box (1.4 oz) sugar-free chocolate instant pudding mix
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tub (8 oz) lite Cool Whip thawed
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, combine dry cake mix, Greek yogurt, and water. Stir together using a wire whisk, wooden spoon, or spatula. Make sure to mix it until it's completely combined. About 1-2 minutes.
- Evenly spread the cake batter into the prepared baking dish and cook for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let cool completely.
- For the frosting: combine the milk, dry pudding mix, and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. Use a wire whisk, or handheld beaters, to whip together for about 1-2 minutes. It will thicken up after a couple of minutes.
- Add the Cool Whip and stir together until combined.
- Spread over cooled cake and top with sprinkles of choice, or leave plain.
- Serve right away or you can let it refrigerate before serving. I prefer this cake cold so I always refrigerate it for a few hours before serving. Leftovers will keep well for 1-2 days.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?
I'd love to see it! You can share it with me on @togetherasfamilyblog and follow on Pinterest @together-as-family-blog-recipes or Facebook @togetherasfamilyblog for more!
recipe idea adapted from Life in the Lofthouse
I love this idea! Can’t wait to make. Great recipes here!
Thank you Lynn ? Hope you enjoy!
Would you be able to make this as a layer cake?
I think the cake itself will be too light and thin to make a layered cake out of it. But then again, I could be wrong! I’ve never done it so I can’t say for sure how it would turn out.
How many servings does this makes to keep them around the 200 calories?
12 servings
How long would this keep in the fridge?
I would say that it keeps well in the fridge for several days. Like 4-5 days.
I think you could add 1 egg white beat into soft peak & fold it in. It will give the cake some volume without adding calories.
Made it with French Vanilla cake, f/f vanilla Greek yogurt, and the frosting with vanilla sugar free pudding, added 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut, Lite CooklWhip. Topped with some caramelized slivered almonds (1 T sugar) and toasted coconut shreds. Fabulous. Thank you!
Sounds Delish.
Per your recipe above, how much fat is in the recipe?
I am not sure, I just have the calorie count. I don’t think it’s a huge amount but I wouldn’t know without figuring it out. Maybe next time I make it, I will figure it out. I hope you enjoy it 🙂
If i wanted to do yellow cake and chocolate icing. What flavor Greek yogurt should I use?
I think vanilla Greek yogurt would work for that.
Any idea how many weight watchers freestyle points per serving?
I don’t know anything about ww freestyle points so I am not sure.
I figured it up with yellow cake mix (83), SF vanilla pudding (3), fat free lactaid (3), fat free cool whip (3), and triple zero vanilla Greek yogurt (6). That’s 113 total points. 12 servings = 9 points each
I also calculated it using Sugar Free cake mix instead of a regular cake mix (39) and using plain Greek yogurt (0) instead of the triple zero yogurt. That brings the total points to 63. 12 servings =5 points each.
How long should I let cool in the pan before I add the icing ?
Just until it’s cooled. Usually an hour will be fine.
Love this cake and so easy.
Is it possible to freeze it so the whipped cream hardens a bit.
Yeah, that’s okay to do. Just make sure to not leave it in there too long so the texture of the cake isn’t affected. Knowing myself I would forget about it 😆
Do you think i could use a sugar free cake mix too ?
Sure! I think that would be fine.
I made this last night using what I had on hand. I used a yellow cake mix with vanilla Triple Zero yogurt, lite cook whip, sugar free vanilla pudding mix, and fat free Lactaid. I was impatient waiting for it to cool all the way, so I decided to poke holes in the cake after about 20 minutes of cooling and spread the topping on. I crushed 2 graham crackers and sprinkled them on top of the cake then covered it and put it in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. It was AMAZING, and it was even better the next day after spending the night in the refrigerator!!! I am so excited to try different variations of this recipe. I’m excited to try some of your other recipes. Thank you for sharing!
This is a great recipe. I am wondering-do you have to refrigerate the cake if you don’t frost it?
No, you probably would not have to. I would store it covered on the counter.
So does this cake have to be refrigerated after you frost it? Trying to get my family to eat healthy but we all love cake.
It does, yes. Plus it tastes much better cold. Leftovers keep really well in the fridge for a few days as well.
The only reason I left a 4 star is the macros for this recipe aren’t spot on 200 calories unless you use sugar free cake. I calculated up the nutritional info for this recipe using sugar free cake, and the okios yogurt and put them below!
Macros per serving: (makes 12 servings)
194 calories, 40 carbs (37 net), 5.5 protein and 3 fiber!!
Thanks for the idea!
What size pan do you use?
a 9×13 baking dish
How many calories is just the icing itself?
I did my own math on the recipe as it minus the sprinkles and I also used a recipe calorie generator online and even changed the serving size to 10 instead of 12 and it made the calorie count come to less than 100 per slice based on 10 servings.
How many carbs does this recipe have? Will this work for people who are doing low carbs?
I made the skinny chocolate cake. I used toasted coconut Greek yogurt instead of chocolate Greek yogurt and topped with fresh raspberries… Delicious
I love that! I bet it would be amazing with the toasted coconut yogurt.
Any suggestions on a different kind of yogurt to use? Like maybe a sugar free regular yogurt? I absolutely despise Greek yogurt so I’m afraid to make this but it looks so good!!
I am not a huge fan of greek yogurt either and I love this. You can’t taste the greek yogurt at all if that helps. You can also try using regular yogurt instead of greek yogurt.
Thank you!! I can’t wait to try it
This was amazing!
I did the red velvet with chocolate yogurt and cheesecake pudding and it was phenomenal and so moist compared to making it the regular way and it cut calories. Can’t wait to try other versions.
Made this today and omg thank you! I love the texture of the cake, I may never make one any other way again.
So happy to hear this! I agree, the texture is amazing and surprising too! Like you would never expect it to be that good 🙂
There are no words for this cake Recipe, it looks really awesome.
You are so talented and amazing, this is what you were meant to do.
Could you use almond milk for the icing instead of 1%?
Yes, you could. The taste might be slightly different but if you’re used to almond milk then it shouldn’t be a problem at all. Hope that helps 🙂
I’ve done the funfetti cake last year for my daughter’s birthday and everyone loved it. This year my son asked for a chocolate cake so I picked this to make but I cant find anywhere that sales the chocolate greek yogurt. And I use the regular pudding mix because the aspartame in the “sugar free” makes me very sick. Could I use the vanilla greek yogurt and taste about the same? And I really need to know the total fat per serving please. My daughter has a medical condition where I have to watch her fat intake. She is only allowed 20 grams of fat a day. Thank you for the recipe!
Hi. I made the cake but it didn’t rise. Any suggests? I’m still going to eat it though. Lol
The cake is not designed to rise. It does not have any of those ingredients in it. Like the added oil and eggs. It’s supposed to be more of a flat cake instead of a puffy, tall cake. Hope that helps.
Can I use almond milk instead of 1% milk for the frosting ?
Yes that would work fine. It may change the taste slightly because of the almond.
I have tried almond milk with instant pudding, and it doesn’t thicken
properly. I wouldn’t use it.
Thank you for sharing that!
All I can say is WOW!! Made this for my adult kids and didn’t tell them until after they ate 2 helpings that it was low carb!!! Everyone, including me LOVED this recipe. I will be making it again!!! Thank you for such a yummy and easy recipe!!
The skinny cup chocolate cake recipe turned out amazingly rich and moist. I made cupcakes out of the recipe and frosted them with the pudding cool whip frosting. Everyone enjoyed them!
This is great! Thank I so much for the other possible combos. Can’t wait to finally curb those cravings and not ruin my hard work.
Hello! I really want to make this recipe but I cannot find any chocolate Greek yogurt. Any idea of where I can get this ingredient?
I find it at any grocery store I go to… sorry you’re having trouble finding it. You could try using vanilla greek yogurt or find some chocolate yogurt in a different brand.
I can’t find chocolate yogurt in my west mi stores either ?
Oh darn! Try using a vanilla yogurt if you can’t find the chocolate.
Aysha, I can’t find any either. I’m going to try adding some cocoa powder to plain greek yogurt and see how that works.
I want to try this recipe but I need to be gluten free. Has anyone tried this with a gluten free cake mix?
Great recipe! Made this for my mom’s birthday who’s watching her calories a bit and it was amazing! Couldn’t find plain chocolate greek yogurt so we used chocolate hazelnut greek yogurt! Also, glad I was watching the cake because it only needed 20 mins to cook for us! 🙂
I made this recipe with a sugar free chocolate cake and sugar free cool whip and it was AMAZING!
One of the best cakes I have eaten. The topping makes the cake. I am going to try it with lemon cake, lemon pudding, etc. Has anyone tried this?
Lemon would be so good! I know I have seen lemon greek yogurt so I think it would be delicious.
I used lemon cake mix with blueberry yogurt. Delicious! So moist, I skipped the icing to save calories. It was gone in two days!
Made this today using lemon cake mix, sugar free lemon pudding mix, oikos triple zero lemon creme yogurt, fat free milk and lemon extract instead of vanilla. It is EXCELLENT!!!!! Going to try it as a layer cake and take to easter dinner with the family. Thank you so much, it’s wonderful!
I cannot locate any chocolate Greek yogurt. Do you know where I can get it I’m in NJ
I have found the chocolate yogurt at Walmart. Maybe try another grocery store if you can? If not you can try subbing a different greek yogurt like vanilla or cheesecake.
Can you make this with a ‘just add water’ cake mix? I think the chocolate cake you used usually calls for oil and maybe egg. I know you don’t make boxed mix according to recipe, but wasn’t sure if this impacted outcome. Planning to make with zero fat angel food cake which requires you to only add water.
I have not tried making this cake with an angel food cake mix so I really can’t say for sure. If you’re wanting to make the angel food cake then I would just add the water like it calls for and top it with the whipped frosting. I just don’t know how the greek yogurt would do in it.
So glad I found this recipe. I must say that I was all excited about trying this recipe but when I begin to read the instructions I got a little worried. LOL. I sat and read almost every person’s comments and just decided to take what I read & try it. 100% hit with the family. Only thing that was missing was chocolate yogurt so I had to substitute flavors. I used vanilla flavor instead. I wanted to make it a layered cake, so I whipped an egg white just a bit and added to the cake mixture. Made 2 8” rounds. Both came out perfect. These were the only changes made to the recipe. Thank You & will be trying it again but with different flavors. P.S… I let the cake sit in the fridge for a few hours before slicing.
Absolutely Loved This!!
Made Mine With Pillsbury Sugar-Free Yellow Cake, Chobani Zero Sugar Toasted Coconut Yogurt, Had To Bake It 35 Minutes, Then For Frosting I Switch To The Jell-O Sugar-Free White Chocolate Pudding Mix Instead Of Chocolate!!! Loved This!! So Easy & Delicious!!
I love this recipe, so easy, and oh my goodness delicious! I’ve not made another cake since finding this one on Pinterest. The only change I make is using strawberry greek yogurt and it really pops with the chocolate!!!! So good! I’ve always preferred cold cake and this one is light and fluffy which is an added bonus.
Do you think that once the cake is done and frosted and you’ve ate a piece a day for 5 days, could the remaining pieces be frozen and thawed individually?? Just asking as a single person.
Oh my goodness, I have the same issue when it comes to eating desserts! 🤭 I think the cake would do fine in the freezer. My only concern is with the frosting but since it’s made with cool whip it might hold up okay. Let me know how it goes!
I can’t find chocolate Greek yogurt anywhere. Help! What would be a good substitute? Thanks!
I’m sorry! In the blog post I share some different variations of the recipe that don’t require chocolate Greek yogurt, but if you want to keep the chocolate cake I would suggest using a vanilla Greek yogurt instead. You won’t have as much chocolate flavor but your texture will still be on point.
What size is a serving?
When made in a 9”x13” pan the serving size is about a 3”x4” piece.
This recipe is SO delicious!! I used a German chocolate cake mix with dark chocolate/coconut yogurt. I made the frosting as you suggested. My family was super impressed at the ingredients I substituted or omitted. They ate it up! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for sharing what worked for you! So glad you and your family liked it!
My husband wanted a low calorie cake for his 50th birthday. I found this recipe and thought I would give it a try… OMG!!! This cake is so moist and delicious! It was a huge hit ❤️. Definitely will be making this again 😊
So glad it worked for what you needed! Thanks for commenting!
Great easy recipe! I’ve used the bones of it to make a lemon blueberry cake with lemon pudding topping and a strawberry cake with white chocolate pudding. Both delicious! I added fresh fruit in the cakes before baking at on top of the icing afterwards. Beautiful and fresh for summer!
Sounds incredible! Thank you for sharing your tips and how you make the recipe your own 🤗