Living in Vegas our warm weather clothes period is longer than most folks across the nation. For some reason when spring hits I start thinking about that cute skirt or shorts for summer. Then, I will remember that it is __  sizes smaller than what I am now {not filling in that blank}.


Spring is here and you know what that means… summer is around the corner!

One of my weaknesses – and probably yours too – is a yummy dessert. I will choose a restaurant based on their desserts! Did you know with a substitute here and maybe there you can still enjoy your favorite high-calorie desserts by making them into a low-calorie dessert?

We saw some amazing strawberries at grocery store while shopping so I decided to grab a few things to go with them. You know — bake a cake to go with my strawberries! I was able to grab a few containers for less than $2 each since I was able to price match them using another store’s weekly ad price. SCORE!

Below are 10 tips to make your desserts skinnier. NOTE: know your recipe and substitutions so you don’t end up with a dessert fail.

1. Make your cakes or bread moister by using applesauce for oil
2. Use a 1:1 ratio of applesauce to buttermilk as a substitute for oil
3. Use a diet soda such as one of the TEN products
4. Egg substitutes or egg whites instead of using whole eggs
5.  Don’t use the full amount suggested for sugar
6.  Prune puree for your butter or oil
7.  Instead of sour cream in your favorite cake recipe, try using low-fat yogurt or cottage cheese
8.  Skim milk instead of whole milk
9.  Chocolate chunks vs mini chips for the same flavor but fewer calories
10.  Marshmallow cream instead of butter or cream cheese when creating your cake icing

Below is my “skinny” cake recipe that I am easily creating into a low-calorie dessert by doing the following:

• 7UP TEN instead of oil
• Sugar-free packaged ingredients
• 2 egg whites instead of whole eggs
• Low-fat milk for my “icing” recipe
• Light whipped topping of full fat

Years ago I learned the tip of baking with a soda instead of using oil in cake recipes. {I also have a recipe to bake a cake in the microwave using soda too!}

By switching out my egg in my recipe with two egg whites, I “saved” almost 100 calories, reduced to ZERO grams of fat, and ZERO grams of cholesterol.

Using a sugar free flavored gelatin will also help cut the calories in your flavored desserts.

I thought about doing a few drink recipes using the TEN products to share with you various ways to enjoy the full flavor of a regular soda without the calories. Neh…. let’s eat a low calorie dessert like a strawberry cake! Experiment with your recipes using one of the Four TEN Calorie DPSG products such as:

1. 7up TEN
2. Sunkist TEN
3. A&W TEN
4. Canada Dry TEN

And now… let’s eat cake!

I chose to go with a round cake pan, you can use a rectangular, square, or even cupcakes to make your poke cake. Once your cake is baked and completely cool, poke holes in the cake with a large round object such as a chopstick.

Once you have prepared the flavored gelatin mixture, slowly pour it over the holes in the cake. I normally use a  cookie sheet to pour the gelatin over the cakes to catch anything that is soaked through the cake to the bottom. NOTE: Use a LARGE spatula to remove the cakes so you don’t “tear up” the bottoms when you remove from the cookie sheet.

Since I am doing a layered cake, I removed part of the top to level it out to stack my cakes. Look at the gelatin that soaked through my “pokes!”

Yield: 8

Low Calorie Strawberry Cake

Print

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes

Total Time 55 minutes

Ingredients

Cake

• 1 white cake mix, boxed
• 10 ounces (1 1/4 cup) of 7UP TEN lemon lime soda
• 2 egg whites

Filling

• 1 Strawberry flavored gelatin, sugar free - 0.3 ounce {makes 2 cups}
• 1 cup boiling water
• ½ cup cold water

Topping

• 1 instant vanilla pudding, sugar free - 1.0 ounce package
• 1 1/2 cups fat-free milk, cold
• Light whipped topping

Instructions

1. Combine pudding and 1 1/2 cups cold milk in a medium bowl
2. Beat until thickened
3. Fold in whipped topping
4. Spread over cake

References:

• http://www.bhg.com/recipes/healthy/cooking/easy-heart-healthy-recipe-substitutions/