Mastering the Art of Butterless French Cooking + a Giveaway!
Armed not with a stick of butter, but a tub of Stonyfield Oikos Greek yogurt, Simply Savor was up for the challenge of mastering the art of French cooking… the healthy way 
Thanks to all of you awesome readers for voting! It was a close one, but in the end the winner was… Reine de Saba! (Chocolate Almond Cake).
My version: Reine de (Simply) Saba
A chocolate cake with a creamy, undercooked center covered in a chocolate buttercream frosting and draped in a coat almonds.
Julia Child must be turning in her grave after reading the title of this post. No butter???
I believe everything can be eaten in moderation, which is why I chose to remove the butter from the cake, but still use it in the chocolate buttercream frosting (with a few minor adjustments.)
Ingredients:
Cake:
4 oz Ghirardelli semisweet chocolate + 2 Tbsp coffee
2 tsp canola oil and 1/2 c plain nonfat Greek yogurt** (original recipe: 1 stick butter)
3/4 cup brown sugar ** (original recipe: 2/3 c white—I only had brown on hand)
2 egg yolks** (original recipe; 3 egg yolks)
4 egg whites** (original recipe: 3 egg whites)
Dash of salt
1 Tbsp brown sugar
2/3 cup crushed almonds
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/4 c whole wheat flour, 1/4 c all purpose flour ** (original: 1/2 cup cake flour)
Icing:
2 oz. semisweet baking chocolate + 2 Tbsp coffee
3 Tbsp Smart Balance butter spread** (original recipe: 6 Tbsp butter)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F
Step1: In large pot, simmer water on stovetop. In smaller pot, combine chocolate and coffee, cover and place in larger pot. Wait for mixture to melt.
Step 2: In bowl, mix the yogurt, oil and brown sugar together. Then beat in the egg yolks.
Step 3: In separate bowl, beat the egg whites and salt until foamy peaks form (about 3 minutes). Then add 1Tbsp brown sugar and continue to mix for 15 more seconds until peaks become firm (whewww this was a workout!)
Step 4: In the bowl with the egg, yogurt, oil and sugar mixture, add the melted chocolate, almonds and almond extract. Quickly mix in a splash of the egg whites. Then carefully alternate between folding in a portion of egg whites, followed by a portion of flour. Continue to do this until all ingredients are added.
Step 5: Pour batter into 9” round cake pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Center of cake will be moist
Step 6: Allow cake to cool at least 1 hour before icing
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Step 1: Same as before, combine chocolate and coffee in small pot and place in larger pot of hot water.
Step 2: When chocolate has completely melted, mix in butter 1 Tbsp at a time.
Step 3: Refrigerate to harden
Step 4: Spread over cake and sprinkle with almonds
Bon appetit!
“You know what I love about cooking? I love that after a day where nothing is sure … you can come home and absolutely know that if you add egg yolks to chocolate and sugar and milk, it will get thick. It’s such a comfort.” (Julie Powell, Julie&Julia movie)
I couldn’t have said it any better myself 
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Review Alert!
Julie&Julia (the book) vs. Julie&Julia (the movie)
The Book: When I first began reading Julie&Julia, I was a little put off by author Julie Powell’s uncomfortably candid, borderline-vulgar writing tone, but by the end, I was surprised to find that it was her witty, honest, and refreshing voice that made me absolutely love this book. You don’t hear a lot about Julia Child’s life, but that’s okay because Powell’s blogworthy emotional rollercoaster and dramatic kitchen escapades captured my attention to the very end. It was one of those books where I had to force myself to read only a few pages at a time because I never wanted it to end—it was that good! A++
The Movie: The first half of this movie I had a smile on my face the entire time. Meryl Streep, as usual, brought the character of Julia Child to life—making the audience laugh and fall in love with this culinary icon all over again. You get a more intimate look into the life of Julia Child, which I appreciated since Julie Powell only told her side of the story in the book. However, I felt a lot of my favorite moments from the book didn’t translate as well on film, and Julie Powell’s character came across as somewhat whiny. The movie was also 2.5 hours long, and could easily have been condensed without losing anything. All in all, it was an enjoyable movie that I would see again. B+/A-
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Giveaway Alert!
Would you guys like to win my copy of the book, Julie&Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell???
Here’s how:
Simply leave a comment on this post letting me know if you’ve seen the movie and what you thought of it!
For extra entries:
1. If you have a blog, link back to this contest (make sure to let me know in your comments section)
2. Tweet about the contest on Twitter! (include @simplysavor so I can record it)
and/or
3. Subscribe to my RSS Feed (top right) to guarantee you’ll be alerted when the winner is announced!
The winner will be selected at random and announced this Thursday August 27th!
Good luck!
Hi Kristen,
I don’t think Julia Child would be turning in her grave. In fact, I think she would be quite impressed! That cake looks absolutely incredible! I love the fact that you made healthier substitutions. Great job!
Thanks Nicole!
Oh my gosh this looks amazing!!!!
Glad to see you enjoyed the Oikos
Best,
Kristina
Stonyfield Farm
I’m loving it so far, thanks Kristina!
I have not seen the movie, but am looking forward to doing so! Thank you!
I’m so excited that you made the chocolate almond cake…it looks so good! And I am loving even more that you used greek yogurt instead of butter!!! Awesome. I am actually reading Julie & Julia right now. I started 2 nights ago. I feel the same way you do about Julie’s vulgar language, but I am just loving the book so far!!! Happy Tuesday, love
The book only gets better I promise
Enjoy!
i would love to read that!
I haven’t read the book yet but I heard it’s REALLY good.
I never thought making chocolate cake w/o butter could come out looking that good. If it looks, smells and tastes good, no one has to know about the little substitution
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Ugh…I’ve been wanting to see the movie for the longest time now but I can’t find anyone to go with me and being a guy and all it’s kinda hard for me to go by myself and watch it haha!
Yeah, I think it takes a real foodie to want to go see that movie! There’s always Netflix
I loved the movie! I thought it was so cute. And I really want to read Julia Child’s book – My Life in France.
I’d love to read Julie’s book too
so you officially rocked the chocolate cake challenge, girl! It looks DIVINE!!
I am dying to see Julie and Julia but unfortunately I can’t convince anyone to go see it with me. I may have to fly solo!
Haha you might go have to see it with Sean (comment above)!
Beautiful butterless cake!!! You’re braver than I am
I loved the movie. I thought Meryl did a FAB job of Julia and was hilarious as usual. The Julie plot was just OK for me, surprisingly, but still loved it!
I haven’t seen Julie and Julia either
However, I may just go this weekend!
Thank you for visiting my blog! I hope you become a regular
I can’t wait to read your blog!
Oooh I wanna win!!! I did see the movie and I thought it was pretty darn cute. It was a little bit long, but overall I really enjoyed it.
I loved the movie! It inspired me to go home and create all kinds of goodness in the kitchen!
I was the same way, all I wanted to do was cook up really intricate French meals for the next week
i LOVED the movie, and i was so going to try a sub with this cake–thanks for doing it for me
fabulous!
this is beautiful. thank you for all the work you put into posting this, and all your other recipes.
The cake looks delicious!! That’s fantastic about the substitution you made.
I saw “Julie & Julia” and have the book on my shelf already, and plan to read it as soon as I can. I have to agree with being disappointed in the Julie Powell aspect of the movie. I was expecting something MORE about how her self-assigned project changed her life. The movie didn’t do a good job showing how it changed her life and gave her a new perspective. All she did in the movie was cook! The character didn’t seem any happier or any more enlightened by the end.
By the way, any plans to read “My Life in France”? I also bought that and can’t wait to read it…I’m so intrigued by Julia Child after the movie!!
Thanks Pam, you’re going to love the Julie&Julia book! I haven’t read “My Life in France” but definitely am interested in reading more about Julia Child so thanks for letting me know about this one
I didn’t know this was a book! That’s so exciting! I haven’t seen the movie yet but maybe I should read the book first since books are always better! Though I AM dying to see it!!
oh, that cake looks so good right now!!
The cake looks amazing!! I’m dying to know– how did it taste??
I have yet to see the movie or read the book! But I would really like to, which is why I just tweeted about this contest!
It tasted really good! The almond flavor came out really strong (in a good way) and the inner part of the cake was really moist and rich
I haven’t seen the movie yet, but I really want to! I’m a huge bookworm though, so I would lovelovelove to get my hands on the book.
I twittered and linked back from my blog!