May 2000

Secret Ingredient

Creativity in the kitchen is a requirement, especially when you’re trying to eliminate a lot of fat from baked goods. We can’t always predict how much oil can be omitted, what to use in its place, or how much of it to use. Each cake or quick bread is different from the others. We’ve used pureed fruit, baby food vegetables, chocolate syrup, and drained yogurt, to name a few. (See this month’s Ingredient Substitution)

Don't Spill the Beans!

Fiesta Cake uses mashed pinto beans to replace some of the fat! Don’t worry, unless you tell the family, they’ll never know because you can’t taste or see the beans. All they will know is that it’s a delicious spice cake with nuts, apples and raisins. You can play "uses the secret ingredient" with the family when you serve this one!

This is not our original recipe. We found it in a book called The New American Diet by Sonja and William Connor. After trying it, we wanted to include it in our first cookbook, Lifetime Warranty. The authors graciously gave us permission reprint it.

Preheat oven to 375º. Spray a 10-inch tube or bundt pan with vegetable oil spray. In food processor bowl or blender, mash beans with egg whites. In large mixing bowl, with electric mixer, cream sugar and margarine together; add bean mixture and mix thoroughly. Sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice; add to sugar mixture; stir. Add apples, raisins, nuts, and vanilla extract; stir to mix. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake at 375º for 45 minutes. Cool completely in pan before slicing.