Sweet satisfaction: Low fat pumkin cake recipe

My Thanksgiving goal to stay focused on my healthy lifestyle wasn't too bad. I worked out consistently, ate moderately and avoided sweets, which really aren't my "thing". However after being surrounded by decadent desserts the days following Thanksgiving went something like this: avoids desserts in lieu of real food; offered helpings of my two prized desserts (sweet potato cheesecake and deep dish peach cobbler) only allowing myself to sample the sweetness that lingered on my knife or serving spoon; opened the fridge and eyed cheesecake; began finding it hard to resist cheesecake; decided to enjoy a slice of cheesecake only to get home on Monday evening, make a beeline to the fridge and discover, no cheesecake.  Turning a disappointed face to my husband I ask "did you put the cheesecake in a smaller container"? To which he replied "sorry babe I just demolished it". Oh I could taste the agony, literally!

After my turkey day dessert let down I made the decision not to make another cheesecake, knowing full well that with the children and family gone that was too much temptation for me to bear. I wanted sweets, I wanted the "feel" of Thanksgiving but I didn't want all the calories. Well I found sweet satisfaction in this easy little dessert. Here's what you'll need to whip up this tasty treat:

Cake

1 (15 ounce can pumpkin puree
2/3 cup low fat Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 egg whites
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup white sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
Cooking spray

Icing

5 ounces light cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 chopped almonds

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 8x8 inch cake pan with cooking spray.
2. Mix pumpkin, yogurt, vanilla, egg whites and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add in dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and pumpkin pie spice.
3. Bake for 30 minutes, or until cake comes out dry when inserted with fork (my cake cooked 40 minutes).
4. For the frosting: Mix cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla. After the cake has cooled, frost and garnish with toasted almonds.

I sat down to enjoy a piece and while it's not the cheesecake I've been dreaming about it definitely cured my sweet tooth, the icing was especially delicious. It's pretty dense so a little piece goes a long way. The real test came after my husband got home. I took the picture for the blog post and proceeded upstairs to get ready for our date night, leaving the cake on the kitchen table. Soon after he joined me and added "a little elf dug into your cake". He liked it, that's a bonus because he really enjoys his desserts. Am I still eating "junk food", you bet, but when I compare it to my cheesecake I'm getting pumpkin wasted minus 600 plus calories per serving.

The calorie breakdown for my sweet treat is: 16 servings; Calories 183, Fat 2.2 grams, Cholesterol 6.1mg, Carbs 36.1, Protein 5.2, Dietary fiber 2.5 and Sodium 251.