The original pound cake got its name from the fact that it contained a pound of each of its basic ingredients: butter, sugar, flour and eggs. The average pound cake these days tends to be a bit more refined, using some sort of leavening agent in addition to eggs and often incorporating additional ingredients, such as vanilla, sour cream, heavy cream or even chocolate.

Pound cake, needless to say, is not a low fat food. It is dense, tender, buttery and something that is best eaten in small portions if you are watching what you eat. Of course, pound cake tastes so good that it can be hard to stop with just one slice. This recipe produces a lightened pound cake that is almost entirely fat free, so you don't have to stop with a mere sliver.

Inspired by the pumpkin pound cake from Starbucks, which generally appears in stores in October, the author of Fast Food Fix decided that she would take on the challenge of making over the recipe. Her method replaced butter with yogurt and used an increased amount of sugar to maintain the loaf's tenderness and to keep it moist. The cake is surprisingly good - moist, flavorful and tender. It is not as dense as a traditional pound cake, but it is still a bit heavier than the average cake.

The one really substantial change that I made to Devin's recipe was to use one whole egg and one egg white instead of three egg whites. While this substitution can be made and the cake turns out well, I found that the addition of just this small amount of fat keeps the cake from getting that rubbery texture that can often plague fruit-based (or pumpkin-based) fat free baked goods. And even with the 5 grams of fat the yolk adds to the cake, it is still very light. Assuming that you cut your cake into 10 slices, each piece will have approx. 200 cal and .5 g fat.

Pumpkin Pound Cake
(adapted from Fast Food Fix)
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp cinnamon*
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg (freshly grated, if possible)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1 large egg white
1/2 cup plain, nonfat yogurt
1 cup pumpkin puree (canned)
1 tsp vanilla extract
optional: 1/2 tsp butter flavoring**

Preheat the oven to 350F and lightly coat a 8x4-in. loaf pan with cooking spray.
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, spices, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
In a large bowl, beat together sugar, brown sugar, egg and egg white until combined. Beat in the yogurt, pumpkin and vanilla extract (and the butter flavor, if using). Slowly whisk in the flour mixture, stirring only until no streaks of flour remain. Do not overmix. Scrape batter into prepared pan and bake for 55-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the top springs back when lightly pressed.
Cool on a wire rack for about 30 minutes, then gently turn the cake out of the pan and let cool completely on the rack before slicing.
Serves 10.

*Note about spices: You can use 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice in place of the spice combo (cinnamon, allspice, cloves, nutmeg) given above.
**Note about butter flavoring: This is optional but, while some bakers may frown on the use of the flavoring, consider that a pound cake is supposed to taste buttery. If you want your (nearly) fat free cake to have a little extra push towards the flavor of a "real" pound cake, the flavoring will help. A few drops also make a lighter, but tasty, addition to oatmeal in the morning.