Healthified Strawberry Shortcake

One of my favorite summer desserts is strawberry shortcake. I personally love the kind with pound cake and strawberry sauce, but no whipped cream for me. I know, I'm like the only person in the world who doesn't like their dessert topped with whipped cream. I can eat it mixed in things, just not on top. But trust me when I say that my husband well makes up for my missing whipped cream. He loves the stuff.

Back to the shortcake. I love the flavor of the dense cake with the sweet strawberry topping, but don't allow myself to indulge on it very often. Then I came across this recipe on Eat Better America and I was super excited to find a healthier way to have my shortcake. This cake was moist, delicious and it hit my shortcake spot. A definite winner for any Fourth of July cookout. I opted to blend the strawberries and make it more of a sauce, but you can definitely leave them sliced, you will just need to add an additional container of strawberries. Oh, and you could certainly use a sugar substitute like splenda or stevia instead of the sugar to make it even better for you.

Healthified Strawberry Shortcake

Source: Eat Better America

Ingredients:

For Cake:
3 cups Bisquick Heart Smart® mix
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup fat-free (skim) milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 whole egg
1 egg white

Topping
1 container fresh strawberries, hulled & quartered
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 container (8 oz) fat-free whipped topping

Directions:
Heat oven to 350°F. Spray bottom and sides of 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray.

In large bowl, beat cake ingredients with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan.
Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

In a blender, combine strawberries, 3 tablespoons sugar, the water and lemon juice until pureed. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
To serve, cut cake into squares; place on individual dessert plates. Top each serving with strawberry sauce and whipped topping.