The Angel and the Devil

The Angel: No sugar added, flourless, low-carb chocolate-orange cake with chocolate ganache

You know the drill. Pretty much every chocolate cake I make these days is a spin on the black bean chocolate cake. This is that recipe with the zest of two oranges mixed in. I had to go to the regular supermarket instead of Whole Foods this week, so the ganache is made with Hershey's sugar-free chocolates (usually I'd prefer CarbRite or one of the Belgian versions. But with such a thin layer, it's nice this way too.)

The Devil: Full sugar almond sour cream pound cake with plum-balsamic glaze and almond brown sugar crunch topping

The pound cake base is a twist on Paula Deen's Almond Sour Cream Pound Cake recipe. It's a little too sweet for my liking, but the plum-balsamic glaze (just plums, both granulated and powdered sugar, water, and balsamic vinegar) does a lot to counteract that. I would never make this cake without an acidic component.

Fortunately, I'm not really a sour cream pound cake fan, so the Devil is not so tempting. The Angel looks kinda devilish, with the whole black and orange motif, while the Devil looks pure, sprinkled with white sliced almonds. Yeah. And it's Halloween. That's where that title came from . . .