Ingredients

Vegetable oil spray, as needed
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
15 egg whites
1 1/3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

Lightly spray a 10-inch tube or springform cake pan with vegetable oil, dust with 1 tablespoon of the flour, and line with baking paper.

Combine the remaining flour, cocoa and baking powder. Sift twice. Whip egg whites until thick and foamy. Gradually incorporate sugar and cream of tartar and continue beating to medium-stiff peaks (egg whites will stick to whisk or beaters). Gently fold the flour mixture into beaten egg whites. Gently fold in butter and vanilla.

Pour batter into prepared cake pan. Bake in a 325 F oven until cake begins to pull away from the sides of pan, about 30 minutes. Cool completely before removing from pan by inverting and peel away the baking paper.

Serving suggestion: Slices of cake can be warmed, or grilled briefly, and served with fresh berries and nonfat whipped topping or sprinkled with powdered sugar. Makes one 10-inch cake, with 16 servings.

Nutritional information per serving: 150 cal., 5 g pro., 29 g carbo., 2.5 g fat, 5 mg chol., 115 mg sodium. Recipe adapted from "The Professional Chef's Techniques of Healthy Cooking," Wiley, 2000, second edition.