Friday, March 25, 2011

Boxed cake mix + alternate ingredients



Why make cake with eggs and oil when there are TONS of better options? Cake mix with diet soda? Just egg substitute? Only applesauce? We tried each of these methods and more (and had fun doing it)! Here's what we learned...   


Cake Mix + No-Sugar-Added Applesauce
PER SERVING (1 piece, 1/12th of cake): 179 calories, 3.25g fat, 299mg sodium, 36g carbs, 0.5g fiber, 21.5g sugars, 1.5g protein -- PointsPlus™ value 5*
Ingredients:
One 18.25-oz. box moist-style cake mix
1 cup no-sugar-added applesauce

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine ingredients in a large bowl and add 1 cup water. Whisk thoroughly and transfer to a baking pan sprayed with nonstick spray; bake in the oven until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. (Refer to cake-mix box for pan size and approximate bake time.)

MAKES 12 SERVINGS

Best Flavor: Yellow cake mix. It goes perfectly with the fruity taste of the sauce.

The Texture: VERY moist and fluffy. A+!

The Taste: AMAZING!!!! Sweet and slightly apple-y. Two YUMS up...


Cake Mix + Diet Soda
PER SERVING (1 piece, 1/12th of cake): 171 calories, 3.25g fat, 301mg sodium, 34g carbs, <0.5g fiber, 19g sugars, 1.5g protein -- PointsPlus™ value 5*
Ingredients:One 18.25-oz. box moist-style cake mix
One 12-oz. can diet soda

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk thoroughly and transfer to a baking pan sprayed with nonstick spray; bake in the oven until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. (Refer to cake-mix box for pan size and approximate bake time.)

MAKES 12 SERVINGS

Best Flavor Combo: Yellow cake mix + diet cream soda. Runners-up include lemon cake mix + diet lemon-lime soda and devil's food cake mix + diet cherry cola.

The Texture: Moist and light.

The Taste: Pretty darn impressive! However, if you're sensitive to the sweetener in diet soda, you may notice a slight aftertaste... especially if you use cola of any kind.


Cake Mix + Canned Pure Pumpkin
PER SERVING (1 piece, 1/12th of cake): 183 calories, 3.5g fat, 301mg sodium, 37g carbs, 1.25g fiber, 20.5g sugars, 2g protein -- PointsPlus™ value 5*

Ingredients:One 18.25-oz. box moist-style cake mix
One 15-oz. can pure pumpkin

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine ingredients in a large bowl. Mix thoroughly -- batter will be VERY thick -- and transfer to a baking pan sprayed with nonstick spray; bake in the oven until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. (Refer to cake-mix box for pan size and approximate bake time.)

MAKES 12 SERVINGS

Best Flavor: Devil's food cake mix is CLEARLY a classic choice. (Hello?!Yum Yum Brownie Muffins!) But spice cake mix... WOW. Yellow and white cake mixes, sadly, do not work as well.

The Texture: Thick and dense in the BEST possible way. Brownie-like, in the case of the devil's food; the spice cake reminded us of pumpkin bread!

The Taste: No one would ever guess this is guilt-free in any way. It's delicious!


Cake Mix + Fat-Free Liquid Egg Substitute
PER SERVING (1 piece, 1/12th of cake): 181 calories, 3.25g fat, 337mg sodium, 34.5g carbs, <0.5g fiber, 19.5g sugars, 3.5g protein -- PointsPlus™ value 5*

Ingredients:
One 18.25-oz. box moist-style cake mix
1 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute (like Egg Beaters Original)

Directions:Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine ingredients in a large bowl and add 1 cup water. Whisk thoroughly and transfer to a baking pan sprayed with nonstick spray; bake in the oven until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. (Refer to cake-mix box for pan size and approximate bake time.)

MAKES 12 SERVINGS

Best Flavor: Egg sub is like the little black dress of cake companions; it goes well with everything.

The Texture: The first time we made this, we used only 1/4 cup of water; it was a little dry and dense, but it reminded us of pound cake, which isn't a bad thing. With a full cup of water, it came out light and fluffy. It had a more substantial, cake-like consistency than the applesauce and soda versions, but it wasn't quite as moist.

The Taste: Good! But it's not our favorite. That one's up next...


Cake Mix + Fat-Free Greek Yogurt
PER SERVING (1 piece, 1/12th of cake): 180 calories, 3.25g fat, 306mg sodium, 34.5g carbs, <0.5g fiber, 20g sugars, 3.5g protein -- PointsPlus™ value 5*

Ingredients:One 18.25-oz. box moist-style cake mix
1 cup fat-free plain Greek yogurt (like Fage Total 0%)

Directions:Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine ingredients in a large bowl and add 1 cup water. Whisk thoroughly and transfer to a baking pan sprayed with nonstick spray; bake in the oven until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. (Refer to cake-mix box for pan size and approximate bake time.)

MAKES 12 SERVINGS

Best Flavor: Devil's food cake mix. Hands down.

The Texture: The word "velvety" comes to mind... Super moist and decadent! Kind of like a brownie-cake hybrid.

The Taste: YUMMY! Everyone who tried this loved it. There wasn't any yogurt taste at all... just pure cake-tastic deliciousness!
Resource: HungryGirl.com

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