I know what you’re thinking – “Oh! It’s marbled. How pretty!” Yes, it’s pretty, but it was not supposed to be marbled. The marbling means I didn’t mix the batter well enough. So if you make this, don’t go for a marbled look.
The title of this cake is very long, but there are so many special details I need to emphasize – It’s no bake! It’s low calorie! It’s low fat! And it’s black cherry flavored.
I got the idea to bake this cake after watching this YouTube video.
I liked how easy and simple the ingredients were. So I decided to replicate the recipe with a few small tweaks.
Here’s my mise en place. You’ll see I chose black cherry JELL-O for the flavoring.
The original recipe called for 1/3 of a cup of graham cracker crumbs. I didn’t think that was quite enough crust for my liking, so I increased the crumbs to 1/2 cup. (The original recipe can be found in the description of the YouTube video).
The first step was to sprinkle to graham cracker crumbs on the bottom of a foil-lined and sprayed pan. I opted for a springform pan as opposed to a 9×13 pan as used in the above video.
Next I dissolved the packet of black cherry JELL-O in 2/3 cup boiling water and let it cool for a few minutes. Then I placed the cottage cheese and cream cheese into my food processor and processed the mixture until it was smooth. As indicated in the above video, using the food processor is important because it will pulverize the cottage cheese bits resulting in a smooth batter.
Next I poured in the cooled JELL-O mixture. Pink! Yay!
Once it was blended, I transferred the mixture to a mixing bowl.
The final step was to fold in the Cool Whip. This is where I got a little lazy and didn’t fully blend the mixture, which resulted in a marbled cake. I didn’t want to mix the batter too much for fear the Cool Whip would collapse.
I poured the batter in the springform pan, covered it with foil, and let it set in the fridge overnight.
This tiny sliver of cake probably has… I don’t know… 60 calories? 50? It’s so little, it’s probably calorie free!
For a super low calorie cake, it tasted pretty good. It wasn’t terribly sweet, but was enough to satisfy a sweet tooth. But I’m a dessert spurge kind of gal, though you wouldn’t believe it by how many times I’ve tried to make low calorie cakes. I’ll be leaving this recipe on the shelf.
If you’re looking for a REALLY tasty low calorie cake, try a diet soda cake. They’re crazy easy and delicious.