You know the old cartoons where somebody like Daffy Duck would be thinking about his next move, and he’d have a little devil on one shoulder and a little angel on the other shoulder, each telling him what to do? I have those too, but not a devil and an angel.  My life is a constant struggle between my two little caricatures.  On my right shoulder, we have the girl who loves to eat good food.  Butter, pie, cheese.  On my left shoulder, we have the girl who wants to fit into her favorite jeans.

The girl on my right is always reminding me about the night “we” ate almost an entire strawberry rhubarb pie in one night, and how it went down in history as one of the greatest nights ever.  The girl on my left reminds me about the time I had to go shopping for a pair of jeans 5 sizes larger than I wore before I had my daughter, almost a year after she was born.  I am happy to report that I eventually lost all of the 65+ pounds I gained with each of my kids, but boy, you should have seen the cat fights between those two as I struggled to do it.  To be honest, I don’t even know who is the devil and who is the angel.

The words “healthy” and “pound cake” to describe the same recipe sound like a bit of an oxymoron, and with my own personal love of butter, you can imagine my dismay when I saw the photo of this beautiful pound cake on Pinterest, and then clicked on the recipe and found out that it contained no butter.  Yeah, you read that correctly.  NO BUTTER.

At that point, I filed the recipe away, thinking I’d probably never make it.  I mean, come on, who wants a pound cake without butter in it?

The photo of this pound cake just kept calling to me though.  I kept seeing it on my pinterest board and finally I decided I should give it a try.  Afterall, my thighs could do without all the butter.  If this is just as good as a butter pound cake, why shouldn’t I eat it? The girl on my left shoulder kept screeching at me.  “Make that pound cake!”  “Equal rights for all pound cakes!”  She was picketing.  And you know, I strive to be an equal opportunity baker.

So, obviously, being me, even while making it, the girl on my right shoulder and I were quite skeptical. She insisted I modify the recipe just a bit,  from Something Swanky, and make it a little more naughty than she did.  We used full fat sour cream instead of non-fat vanilla yogurt, and I used two whole eggs instead of 3 egg whites.  We are rebels, the girl on my right, and I.

Even after tasting the batter, (and finding it to be delicious,) I was still not convinced.  As my house filled up with pumpkin-y goodness aromas, I remained unsure.  I admit, I have a bad attitude about healthy baking recipes.

I’m here to tell you, I was wrong.  This is a delicious, moist, wonderful cake, with only a half a cup of sour cream to give us the full “fat” content for the entire recipe.  I am impressed. It is like the dream compromise for the two girls on my shoulders. 😉

Hope you enjoy.

Recipe adapted from Something Swanky

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin puree

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 tablespoons milk or cream
Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°. Spray a loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray and line with a parchment paper sling.

In a mixing bowl, combine the sour cream, sugar, and eggs until smooth.  Add in pumpkin puree and vanilla, mix again.

Add dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Be careful not to over mix.

Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake for 40-60 minutes.  After 40 minutes check it every so often.  When a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, it’s done.

Remove loaf from pan and place on a baking sheet to cool.  Mix glaze ingredients and pour over cooled cake.

Enjoy.