Tangerine Yogurt Cake Sweetened with Applesauce and Agave Nectar

I was in the mood for a citrus cake but didn’t have any citrus fruit in the house. Fortunately, we had plenty of tangerine juice (Kemal’s favorite) in the refrigerator so I used some of that to make this cake which is fairly healthy as far as cakes go. There’s no butter or oil, and since agave nectar is has a low-glycemic index, it makes this cake less apt to raise your blood glucose levels than most other cakes.

I’m not saying this cake is low-carb or good for diabetics. But for someone like me who’s not diabetic, using agave nectar in baking is a way to sweeten my cakes in such a way that’s better for my body. If I can eat a cake that’s less apt to make my blood glucose level spike up, then that’s definitely a better, healthier choice for me. Also, agave nectar is sweeter than sugar so you can use less of it than sugar in baking, which lowers calories.

Agave nectar tastes wonderfully…a lot like honey. This is the first time I’ve ever tried it, and from now on I plan to use it in my cakes instead of sugar. For more information about agave nectar, read about it at Diabetes Forecast: The Healthy Living Magazine.

I was really happy with how my cake turned out. It’s a dense cake but the texture seems a little less dense when it’s straight out of the oven.

It had a lovely citrus flavor and was mildly sweet, which is exactly what I wanted. It wasn’t at all heavy on my stomach. Kemal and I both very much enjoyed it, and I’m looking forward to adapting this recipe for my future cakes. For a chocolate cake, I could use cocoa powder instead of orange zest. For a cappuccino cake, I could add some coffee. There’s so many ways to change up this cake, and I certainly intend to try my hand at creating different flavored cakes by substituting the orange zest and tangerine juice with other ingredients to see what I can come up with. Hope you’ll give this one a try.

Tangerine Yogurt Cake Sweetened with Agave Nectar (Adapated from: www.smittenkitchen.com)