Cardamom Scented Whole-Wheat Tofu Pound Cake - with sugar

This recipe is my modification of a recipe that appeared in "The Vegetarian Times" in early 2007. The original used white flour, regular tofu and wasn’t flavored with cardamom. As soon as I saw the original recipe I knew I could make it healthier and immediately made changes. I can’t tell you how the texture of this compares to the original because I have never made it with white flour. Tofu pound cake became my go to recipe when we were having guests and needed a dessert.

Last weekend my omnivore father requested that I make pound cake. Of course, he is getting this healthier version. Then my husband said he wanted pound cake too. Houston we have a problem!

I don’t mind making special treats for my husband but I really don’t want him eating too much sugar or flour. I decided to try to make a version of this pound cake with agave. Stay tuned for the results of that test shortly; the agave version of the pound cake is in the oven now.

Cardamom Scented Whole-Wheat Tofu Pound Cake - with sugar
Serves 6

Ingredients:

5 ounces of low fat silken tofu (approximately 5 big tablespoons)
2/3 cup granulated sugar
¼ cup canola oil
¼ cup water
2 teaspoons almond extract
1 ½ cups whole-wheat pastry flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cardamom, ground

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat a loaf pan with canola oil, or pan spray and set aside.

Combine the tofu, sugar, oil, water and extract in your food processor or blender and puree until completely smooth.

In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cardamom and whisk to evenly distribute the leavening ingredients.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir gently to incorporate. The batter should be the consistency of cake batter (pourable). If you keep your whole-wheat flour in the freezer you will probably need to add a little water (a few tablespoons at a time) until the batter has the correct consistency.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cake for 5 minutes in the pan then move to a rack and cool completely or serve the cake a little warm.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 281.68
Calories From Fat (31%) - 86.75

Total Fat - 9.84g
Saturated Fat - 0.8g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 510.35mg
Potassium - 140.16mg
Total Carbohydrates - 44.81g
Fiber - 3.69g
Sugar - 22.62g
Protein - 5.61g

Comments:

This is my standard pound cake. We have been eating it so long it has become our new normal. Even though it is 100% whole-wheat I don’t find it to be dense. You can add a sugar glaze if you like but I find it to almost too sweet as it is. If you have mostly given up sugar like we have don’t add a glaze it will be too much.

I would serve this with some fresh fruit and a little vegan ice cream. The coconut banana ice cream would be great with this cake.