Easy Chocolate Protein Cake

This chocolate protein cake is so simple to whip up. It’s made using a boxed cake mix, chocolate protein powder, and plain Greek yogurt, then topped with a fluffy whipped chocolate frosting! Cake may never be considered a “health food” but with each serving clocking in around 200 calories (INCLUDING the frosting), you can enjoy your protein powder cake guilt-free!

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I struggle to get all my daily protein in. So I’m always looking for ways to add in pops of protein throughout the day, with one little caveat. It HAS to taste good. I could probably eat dry chicken breast, scrambled egg whites, and chug protein shakes to hit my protein goals, but where is the joy in that?

And let me be clear – there’s absolutely nothing wrong with indulging in regular old chocolate cake. Cake is DELICIOUS and it definitely has a place in my life. But with our favorite restaurant chocolate cake clocking in at 970 calories (that’s 970 calories each, because my husband and I always split a slice) it’s something I prefer to save for special occasions.

What I love about this chocolate protein powder cake is that not only is it easy to bake, it also TASTES delicious. Does it rival fancy local bakeries who specialize in creating tortes and cakes for weddings? No. But can you tell that I swapped out the eggs and oil with low-fat Greek yogurt and added in our favorite chocolate protein powder? Also no.

What I’m saying is that if you enjoy making and eating regular old boxed cake mix, you’ll enjoy this recipe for protein cake.

Why You’ll Love My Chocolate Protein Cake

• Easy Recipe. There’s nothing easier than using a boxed cake mix to bake a cake. My protein cake recipe doesn’t even require you to crack any eggs!
• Healthier Recipe. Look, I’m not saying my protein cake is a health food. But it IS lower in calories and higher in protein than normal cake, while still tasting absolutely delicious. Will I still order fancy cakes from a bakery for a special occasion. Yes. But will I be whipping up this cake on a random Wednesday when I just need a little treat? Absolutely, yes!
• Thick, Fluffy Chocolate Icing. I’m a frosting girl. But I hate overly sweet cake icing. I love whipped frosting or pudding frosting or whatever heavenly thing they frost Asian cakes with. This protein powder cake frosting is light and fluffy, not too sweet, and deliciously chocolaty. You’ll love it!

Chocolate Protein Powder Cake Ingredients

Cake Mix

I used a store brand devil’s food cake mix. Any chocolate flavor mix will work.

Greek Yogurt

We’ll be replacing the eggs and oil with a low fat Greek yogurt. I used plain yogurt, but you could also use a vanilla flavor. I would avoid other flavors of Greek yogurt.

Protein Powder

I used our favorite chocolate protein powder but you can use any whey protein powder in this recipe. I have not tested it with vegan protein or other whey/casein mixes so I’m not sure how that might affect the texture.

Chocolate Frosting

To make the frosting, you’ll mix together sugar free chocolate yellow mix with milk, and then fold it into a tub of sugar free cool whip.

Substitutions

This protein powder cake is endlessly customizable. To make a vanilla protein powder cake, sub vanilla Greek yogurt, yellow cake mix, and vanilla protein powder.

Try it with red velvet cake mix and chocolate protein powder.

Or how about coffee flavored protein mix and chocolate cake mix.

You can also switch up the frosting flavors by substituting vanilla or cheesecake jello mixes.

The possibilities are endless.

How to Make Protein Powder Cake – Step by Step

Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees and spraying a 9×13 baking pan with nonstick spray.

In a large bowl, add your cake mix, greek yogurt, and protein powder, along with a cup of water. Using a blender, beat well for about 2 minutes or well blended.

Pour batter into your prepared baking dish and bake 30-35 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cake completely cool.

While cake is cooling, we can make the frosting. Add jello mix + milk to a bowl and stir until combined.

Add the jello pudding to thawed cool whip, and gently fold to combine.

Frost the cool cake.

Garnish with a sprinkle of cocoa powder or mini chocolate chips if desired. You can eat this cake right away or chill in the fridge before eating.

Recipe Notes

I recommend using a whey protein powder. Different types of protein behave differently, and this recipe was tested using whey protein. I struggle with the taste of many protein powders, but a brand that I consistently love is Ghost. They have some seriously delicious flavors, including Chips Ahoy, Oreo, and Fruity Cereal Milk. For this recipe I used their milk chocolate flavor.

You can serve this cake immediately after frosting, but I’ve found that it tastes even better after it’s been in the fridge for awhile.

I recommend storing this chocolate protein powder cake in the fridge due to the yogurt, cool whip and milk in the ingredients.

I cut my cake into 12 slices. To me, this is a large, generous slice of cake. According to the internet, a 9×13 cake pan should have 24 (?!) wedding cake size servings, or 15 regular-size servings. All that to say, that if you want to cut your cake in smaller pieces, you can save some calories. But if you want a large slice of cake like I do, it’s still only around 200 calories!

Also, check out my guilt-free protein pudding recipe as well, it’s a family favorite!