Did you know today is National Chocolate Cake Day?  I never miss a national chocolate anything day.  I wanted to create a chocolate cake that has a nutritious punch to it, but I was short on time this week.  I used a little helper and an old favorite… boxed cake mix, and a trifle bowl.

Ingredients:

• 2 mashed bananas
• 1/2 c. wheat germ
• Dark chocolate cake mix
• 1/2 c. applesauce
• 2 eggs
• 1 pint heavy whipping cream
• 1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/3 c. sugar
• Strawberries

Combine mashed bananas and wheat germ first.  Add chocolate cake mix, applesauce, and eggs.  Mix on low speed just until combined then mix on med-high speed for 2 minutes.  Cake batter will be thick, but start to lighten in color.  Pour batter in pan sprayed with vegetable cooking spray.  It really doesn’t matter what type of pan you use because you’ll be breaking the cake up for the trifle.  Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 30 min.  Refer to the back of the cake mix box for your actual baking times depending on the size pan you use.

Once cake is completely cool, make the whipped cream.  On high speed mix heavy whipping cream, cocoa powder and sugar until still peaks form.  Layer cake, sliced strawberries, and chocolate whipped cream in large pretty bowl for a beautiful presentation. 

You’ve seen this before. Get used to it. We will be visiting wheat germ often.

Healthy chocolate cake?  Well, it’s not HEALTH food, but I like to find ways to add a little healthfulness to my desserts.  My family and I are all “sweets” people.  Not a day goes by without a dessert of some type, so my mission is to be able to make them a little better for us.  By adding fresh fruit and wheat germ, I’ve given myself important vitamins and minerals that my diet would have been missing if I didn’t eat cake.  (Like how I swing that?)  Wheat germ has so many important properties and has many uses.  For more info on wheat germ click here.  I’ve used wheat germ before in recipes such as Rossi Oatmeal.  If you’ve never tried to cook with it, go right now and buy some.  Experiment with it.

Let us eat cake!  Enjoy!