The Great Cake Debate from Hungry Girl

I got this in a hungry girl email a few weeks ago. It's a bunch of different ways to make cakes with a mix that are healthier.

So most of us already knew about the pumpkin recipe. I actually like to add 1 can pumpkin and some egg substitute (equal to 1 egg). It comes out awesome that way. It's Logan's favorite cake!

I've done a chocolate cake with diet coke too. It comes out pretty good, but you can taste the aftertaste of the soda a little.

I tried the applesauce with a yellow cake mix a few weeks ago and it was good, but really moist and apple-y. The kids really liked it though. I served it with whipped cream and a little cinnamon on top! I think next time I would do 1/2 applesauce, 1/2 egg sub.

Today I'm making the chocolate cake with Greek yogurt. It mixed up pretty thick, but baked up nice and even. It's very fluffy and moist. Not as dense as with pumpkin. Delicious!! The kids like it too!
Here are all Hungry Girls Recipes:

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 -- POINTS® value 4*

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>

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 -- POINTS® value 4*

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 + Egg Substitute

PER SERVING (1 piece, 1/12th of cake): 181 calories, 3.25g fat, 337mg sodium, 34.5g carbs, <0.5g>

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>

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!