Yellow cake with Cream Cheese Brownie Frosting

pbServes 6 or makes 6 cupcakes/b/p
h2Chef’s Note/h2
pOne of my favorite clients in NYC was Zaro’s Bread Basket. They produced the most amazing cream cheese brownies. I could hardly keep my hands off of them. I use the frosting here to get close to that memory. I like to use an 8-8 ½ inch springform pan (well greased) or cupcake tin lined with paper cups./p
h2Ingredients/h2
pbDry mixture/b/p
ol
li2/3 cup flour (you can replace up to 1/4 the amount with whole wheat flour)/li
li½ cup toasted almonds OR 1/3 cup almond flour/li
li1 tsp. cinnamon/li
li* 1/8 tsp. ground cardamom/li
li1 tsp. baking powder/li
li1 tsp, baking soda (1/2 into dry mix, ½ into wet mix)/li
lipinch of salt/li
/ol
pb*NOTE/bbr /
Cardamom is sometimes hard to find sometimes. If you can find it, it adds a nuance to the cake. I keep my ground cardamom frozen./p
pbWet mixture/b/p
ol
li1/2 – stick (4 ounces) of butter at room temperature/li
li¼ cup neutral flavored oil/li
li1 cup or equivalent GRANULATED SUGAR SUBSTITUTE/li
li3 large eggs at room temperature/li
li2 tsp. pure vanilla extract/li
li2 tbsp. sour cream (Low fat is ok BUT NOT fat free)/li
li½ tsp. cider vinegar/li
/ol
pbFrosting/b/p
ol
li8 ounces cream cheese (can use low fat but NOT Fat free)/li
li½ cup GRANULATED SUGAR SUBSTITUTE/li
li2 Tsp. vanilla extract/li
li2 TBSP. strong coffee/li
li2 TBSP. Hershey’s Special Dark un sweetened cocoa powder/li
li1 TBSP. sour cream or vanilla “Greek” style yogurt/li
liChopped walnuts or pecans (optional) for decoration and crunch/li
/ol
h2Preparation/h2
ol
liPre heat oven to 350°./li
/ol
pbDry Mixture/bbr /
In a food processor:/p
ol
liCombine nuts, salt, and 1/3 cup flour./li
liPulse until the nuts are totally pulverized./li
liAdd the remaining 1/3 cup flour, and spices./li
liPulse until combined./li
liAdd baking soda and baking powder and pulse until combined (I often do this a day ahead)./li
/ol
pbWet Mixture/bbr /
(Easiest if you have a stand mixer)/p
ol
liCream butter and GRANULATED SUGAR SUBSTITUTE until light and fluffy./li
liAdd the oil and beat until well combined./li
liScrape down the sides of the bowl and add vanilla extract./li
liCombine the sour cream and vinegar./li
liAdd remaining ½ tsp. of baking soda to sour cream and stir./li
liAlternately add the dry ingredients and the eggs and sour cream mixture./li
/ol
pbNote/bbr /
Start with the dry. MIX ONLY UNTIL JUST INCORPORATED otherwise you wind up with bread./p
ol
liSpoon the batter into baking pan and bake for 26-28 minutes (17-22 minutes for cupcakes) or until tester comes out dry from the center./li
liAllow to cool and remove from baking pan before frosting/li
/ol
h2Preparing the Frosting/h2
ol
liBring the cream cheese to room temperature (either by leaving out overnight or by removing the cheese from the package and microwaving it for 12 seconds, then turning it a quarter turn and microwave it another 12 seconds, repeating until the cream cheese has softened)./li
liBeat all ingredients EXCEPT the nuts until smooth./li
liFrost cake when it is still slightly warm./li
liSprinkle nuts or a chocolate drizzle over the top./li
/ol
pTo keep the serving plate clean, turn cake out on to two pieces of parchment or waxed paper each big enough to cover ½ of the cake. Frost and remove paper before chilling./p
h2Nutrition Information/h2
pCake: Net carbohydrates 13g.br /
Frosting: Net carbohydrates 16 per cake or 2.5 per slice/p
piSource: a href="http://www.thedecadentdiabetic.com/"Ward Alper, The Decadent Diabetic/a/i/p