3. Solving the Cream Conundrum

Deb preferred sacrificing sat fat–heavy whipping cream–if it meant she could keep as much chocolate as possible. But cutting the cream also affected the creamy texture.

Tweak: More radical thinking from Deb. “What would happen if I baked Cool Whip?” This idea approached the surreal: Wouldn’t the oil-and-milk suspension (which hearkens back to 1967) deflate into a pool? We had never heard of baking it before. A few examples pop up on Google, but nothing like this. Deb folded in 1-1⁄2 cups (replacing a like amount of whipped heavy cream), crossed her fingers, and pushed the springform pan in the oven. It baked beautifully. There was almost no visual—or textural—difference from the cream version. But there was a nutrition difference, a savings of 6.7 grams of total fat and more than 4 grams of saturated fat per serving (which would eat up about 20% of your daily sat fat limit).

Result: Creamy, dense texture and rich mouthfeel.

In the End: It's a fantastic cake, and that's where we left it.