The new Food on Shine is coming soon! Learn more about what's new »

» Meet Hungry Girl

MOST RECENT BLOG POSTS

Quick Recipes from Y! Food

Simplify your life with these delicious,
no-sweat recipes.

what Yahoo! foodies are reading

4 Secrets to Guilt-Free Cupcakes

Posted Tue, Jul 14, 2009, 3:26 pm PDT

POST A COMMENT »

The cupcake is one of those irresistible little treats that can get WAY out of hand. Those crazy, designer, fancy, boutique-bakery cupcakes? YIKES. They can easily get up around the 600-calorie mark. Hungry Girl has the scoop on how to make the best low-calorie cupcakes around. The best part? No one will EVER suspect they're low in calories and fat...

Our Best Secret Ingredients
These help make our cupcakes guilt-free and delicious...

Canned Pure Pumpkin - This stuff makes an excellent substitute for eggs and oil in cupcake recipes. In fact, mixing up a 15-oz. can of pumpkin with nothing but a standard box of devil's food cake mix creates a yummy, brownie-like treat that works great when baked in muffin tins. No-sugar-added applesauce is also a good natural add-in.

Fat-Free Liquid Egg Substitute - What's the point of using real eggs in baking, as opposed to this fat-free stuff? You won't be able to tell the difference, and with real eggs, there'll be WAY more fat and cholesterol in your dish. Use 1/4 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute (like Egg Beaters Original) in place of each egg, and you'll slim down your batter. Save the whole eggs for making our Eggs Bene-chick. Mmmmm...

Diet Hot Cocoa Packets - We mix these into our recipes to boost the chocolatey-ness without adding crazy amounts of calories and fat. Look for packets with around 25 calories each, like the kind by Swiss Miss. Plus, they're great to have on hand for a sweet-drink fix.

Cool Whip Free - This is an INTEGRAL ingredient in several of our frostings, helping to keep them from getting too heavy. If you're feeling really lazy, just top your little cakes with this whipped cream swap -- but we usually like to mix it with a few extra goodies. Pudding is also a great cupcake topper.

Cupcakes You Can Make TODAY!
See! Not all our cupcake recipes are confined to the pages of a cookbook. Here are a few of the best ones we have online. They're AMAZING!!!

14-Carat Cupcakes

Death by Chocolate Cupcakes

Red Velvet Insanity Cupcakes

Crazy Crumbly Super Yummy Coffee Cakes

...AND TRY THESE BEACH EATS FOR A BEACH BODY

Warning: Incoming Shameless Plug

Not to toot our own horn, but the cupcakes in our brand-new cookbook, Hungry Girl 200 Under 200? They're off the HOOK! There's a whole chapter full of low-calorie cupcake recipes, from Chocolate Marshmallow Madness Cupcakes to Piña Colada Cupcakes to the zany little Death by Chocolate Cone Cakes. SO GOOOOD! Click here to order!

Hungry Girl 200 Under 200: 200 Recipes Under 200 Calories is packed with TWO HUNDRED easy and delicious recipes, each with less than 200 calories a serving! Check it out RIGHT NOW!!

For a daily dose of guilt-free tips, tricks, food finds, recipes and more, visit hungry-girl.com and sign up for free daily emails!

Email This Story IM This Story Print This Story

Back to Index | « Prev Post | Next Post »

Leave a comment | View All 36 Comments »

36 Comments

1. Posted by joni on Wed, Jul 15, 2009, 5:02 am PDT

Good swaps...heard them before though.
Report Abuse
2. Posted by isidra_snchz on Wed, Jul 15, 2009, 1:38 pm PDT

i love cupcakes.... you guys should go to belmont shore in long beach california and go to the cupcake store... they are sooooo deliciouse.... i'm getting one after work for sure.
Report Abuse
3. Posted by lolachic05 on Wed, Jul 15, 2009, 1:53 pm PDT

mmmmmmmmmmmmm
Report Abuse
4. Posted by selena_wings on Wed, Jul 15, 2009, 2:52 pm PDT

I love cupcakes. Really too hot to bake in Vegas right now though, and I so prefer home-made yummies!
Report Abuse
5. Posted by Jenni on Wed, Jul 15, 2009, 4:42 pm PDT

The pumpkin seems to be a good idea, but I don't know about the egg substitute. My problem with most substitues is thinking of what is probably in them. Natural ingredients is always better. =-D
Report Abuse
6. Posted by liz_norcal on Sun, Jul 19, 2009, 11:17 pm PDT

Cool whip is made from hydrogenated oils- I would hardly consider that "guilt free"
Report Abuse
7. Posted by partiof05 on Sun, Jul 19, 2009, 11:19 pm PDT

what type of frosting would you use???
Report Abuse
8. Posted by corrinespence@bellsouth.net on Mon, Jul 20, 2009, 5:39 pm PDT

Sounds like a great life style change to me. I am definitely game to using the substitutes since, I don't want to have exercise three hours a day to burn off 600 to 700 calories from a delicious homemade cupcake. (slow metabolism :)
Report Abuse
9. Posted by joanhcomet50@sbcglobal.net on Mon, Jul 20, 2009, 7:59 pm PDT

Another goodie.... Use prunes and dried apricots to substitute for butter and/or oil in chocolate banana bread. They provide vitamins as well as a smooth texture for the banana bread.
Report Abuse
10. Posted by matt . on Wed, Jul 22, 2009, 7:36 pm PDT

I love how they make it seem like just because its "fat free" its good for you. You really think hydrogenated oils, preservatives, and chemicals are good for you? Just becuase something is low fat, does not make it it good for, which is why i laugh wen ever i see all of these. It says to use things low in fat but god knows what itz doing to your insides. Makes a real cupcake once in a while, and enjoy it, instead of eating this garbage.
Report Abuse
11. Posted by kmellor11 on Wed, Jul 22, 2009, 12:54 pm PDT

Another great swap is to mix one can of diet soda (coke or pepsi for chocolate, gingerale or sprite for yellow cake) with the box of cake batter. The cupcakes come out great, really moist!
Report Abuse
12. Posted by nettie1796 on Wed, Jul 22, 2009, 10:47 pm PDT

It all sounds so delious I can't wait to try it!!! It should help me real well with my Diabetes! It's so hard to find foods that you can't eat that's that good for your health an diabetes anywhere!!
Report Abuse
13. Posted by Alice W on Thu, Jul 23, 2009, 9:35 am PDT

Hey Sarah I never had a fear of carbs and always included in my meal until all this wheat flour only in carbs white flour turns to sugar when digested. I gave in and do not like the wheat flourespecially made in pasta. Just recently I said I am going back to any pasta and bread of choice i was much healthier Alice w. july 23,2009 11:36 A.M.
Report Abuse
14. Posted by katrinav027 on Thu, Jul 23, 2009, 10:43 am PDT

Adding baby food or puree (peaches, pears, etc.) is a great way to naturally sweeten cupcakes and give them nutritional value.
Report Abuse
15. Posted by carlover_2000 on Fri, Jul 24, 2009, 9:24 pm PDT

CupCakes are yummy for your tummy!
Report Abuse
16. Posted by nguyen_hillary on Fri, Jul 24, 2009, 9:28 pm PDT

I love cuppycakesx. I mean....ya.
Report Abuse
17. Posted by Sue on Sun, Jul 26, 2009, 11:12 am PDT

Cool whip is just a bunch of artificial ingreds. whether it is fat free or not. But guess a little dab of that is better than those horrible canned icings!
Report Abuse
18. Posted by Jim S. on Tue, Jul 28, 2009, 8:07 am PDT

Did Matt even read the article? He's talking about hydrogenated oils, which would be replaced by the pure pumpkin? He just seems like he wants to criticize and probably either didn't bother to read the article or didn't understand it.
Report Abuse
19. Posted by Jodi B on Wed, Jul 29, 2009, 12:02 pm PDT

Great Idea for naturally sweetening those cute little ol' cupcakes!
Report Abuse
20. Posted by ddrussell2004 on Wed, Jul 29, 2009, 12:06 pm PDT

Any "diet" or sugar free foods are just a chemistry experiment. When methyl alchohal breaks down in your body it actually become formaldahyde. And not to mention any standard boxed cake mix contains partially hydronated oils AKA trans fat. Even if it is labled 0 trans fat all that means is that if you eat one serving that there is less than .5 g of trans fat. However, you are still consuming trans fat. When you force your body to try and break down all these diet chemicals it produces acid. Not the good kind from fruit. Your body in turn produces fat cells to combat the acid. So you don't lose any weight. All you are doing is eating tons of chemicals. The best idea is to eat the real homemade stuff but just portion control. One cupcake made with butter sugar and eggs is much better than some fake crap filled with awful chemicals. Also, asparatame has had more complaints filed with the FDA than ANY other food additive. This category includes anything with splenda, nutrasweet, or asparatame. Make your own whipped cream with cream and sugar! When you are eating real healthy food you don't need to count calories. You won't be hungry for junk because your body has everything it needs.
Report Abuse
21. Posted by dddrdddddddddd on Wed, Jul 29, 2009, 12:09 pm PDT

Any "diet" or sugar free foods are just a chemistry experiment. When methyl alchohal breaks down in your body it actually become formaldahyde. And not to mention any standard boxed cake mix contains partially hydronated oils AKA trans fat. Even if it is labled 0 trans fat all that means is that if you eat one serving that there is less than .5 g of trans fat. But you are still eating trans fat. This is terrible advice. Asparatame has had more FDA complaints than ANY other food additive. Pretty scary. Just make your own homemade cupcakes. Use raw sugar, evaporated cane juice etc instead of bleached sugar, use whole wheat flour instead of white. You will be much better off and actually get some nutrients.
Report Abuse
22. Posted by polyhymnia9 on Wed, Jul 29, 2009, 12:33 pm PDT

I always love a low-fat cupcake...but I have to question the choice of Cool Whip Free as a topping substitute. Here is the list of ingredients from kraftfoods.com WATER, CORN SYRUP, HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OIL* (COCONUT AND PALM KERNEL OILS), HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, LESS THAN 2% OF SODIUM CASEINATE (FROM MILK), NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, XANTHAN AND GUAR GUMS, POLYSORBATE 60, POLYSORBATE 65, SORBITAN MONOSTEARATE, SODIUM HYDROXIDE, BETA CAROTENE (COLOR). Do you really want to be putting all that in your body? I would rather consume a few extra calories from a real, homemade whipped cream with all the nutritious benefits of milk fat rather than high fructose corn syrup.
Report Abuse
23. Posted by JoliesDragon on Wed, Jul 29, 2009, 12:33 pm PDT

Another good substitute is jello chocolate & vanilla pudding packets & applesauce. Been using both for years to make healthier cupcakes. With these subs the cupcakes even come out more moist. I also don't get why so many are harping on someone for trying to help others eat well and a little better. We all enjoy tasty foods over bland ones. So why not at least try and make some of those "bad" foods a little heathier. Life is too short.
Report Abuse
24. Posted by Terry on Wed, Jul 29, 2009, 2:55 pm PDT

I agree with those who say "eat real food". Cool Whip is a disgusting conglomeration of chemicals with absolutely NO food value whatsoever. A dollop of real whipped cream is very low in calories with a negligible amount of fat, and is REAL FOOD, so why would anybody (except for those with milk allergy) even bother to substitute? Nobody's advocating eating the entire bowl of whipped cream. This generation of Americans is the first in HISTORY to have a lower life expectancy than their parents - because they eat JUNK instead of REAL FOOD. Get a clue, folks!
Report Abuse
25. Posted by ravenwolf_mn on Thu, Jul 30, 2009, 8:53 am PDT

I say eat what you want, and obey your body's cravings. If you have a craving for something it means that your body needs something from that food. If you crave banans your body may need the potassium, if you crave potato chips your body may need the salt. the body knows what it needs, and if you subsituting ingredients you may be removing what the body needs. So don't mess with the cupcakes.
Report Abuse
26. Posted by yidandeai0553 on Fri, Jul 31, 2009, 5:59 am PDT

jimmy choo shoes
Report Abuse
27. Posted by scottserve0 on Tue, Sep 22, 2009, 2:28 am PDT

hmmmmmmmmmm....
Report Abuse
28. Posted by aquabunnyfish on Sat, Sep 26, 2009, 6:46 am PDT

can you give me a wegie
Report Abuse
29. Posted by ness_kiki_93 on Tue, Oct 06, 2009, 12:54 pm PDT

im hungry now i tink ima go home n make me sum cupcakes so i can get fat
Report Abuse
30. Posted by huesitosbev on Sat, Oct 10, 2009, 5:59 pm PDT

se ve esquisito... yummy yummy
Report Abuse