Lower-calorie baking recipes? Does anyone have a favorite?

I just sub some items. I use egg whites for the whole eggs.

I use pumpkin or apple puree for most of the oil.

I use a lesser amount of brown sugar for white sugar.

Depending on the cake flavor, I use unsweetened fruit juice or brewed coffee instead of water. I punch up the flavor with spices, dried fruit, or nuts.

If I'm using a box mix, I will add about 1/2 teaspoon of fresh baking powder, as it can get stale in the box.

All of these substitutions will change the texture, but it's not so bad and really saves on calories and fat!

Thank you, lacey, for reminding me of a couple of things I should have remembered. I've never added coffee. Which flavors of cakes would this complement?

I posted this on another thread but in case you don't see it, this is the easiest cake ever - totally fat-free, but does have sugar calories:

Mix a box of angelfood cake mix with a 20 oz. can of crushed pineapple IN JUICE with a spoon until blended. Pour into a 9x13" pan (ungreased of course) and bake at 350 for about 1/2 hour until it springs back when touched. It is surprisingly tasty - has a bit of a coconut texture on top although there is no coconut in it.

On 4/8/2014 house cat said:

Thank you, lacey, for reminding me of a couple of things I should have remembered. I've never added coffee. Which flavors of cakes would this complement?

I use coffee in chocolate cakes, brownies and icing. I've been known to add Southern Comfort, too!

I just want to say - I don't have any lower-calorie recipes for baked goods, but do have a "special diet" - I use full fat butter, cream, sugar, etc. and feed it to my friends and acquaintances regularly to fatten them up...that way I look thinner when I stand next to them!

Hi House Cat....

These are some of my favorite muffins. Low fat and low calorie.

Makes (6)

Light Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cake flour
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup plain low-fat Greek yogurt
1/2 cup miniature semi-sweet chocolate

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Grease a standard (6) sized muffin pan and set the baking pan aside. Note: I just use the center two rows of a standard 12 cup muffin pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the ap flour, cake flour, baking power, baking soda and salt. Set the dry ingredients aside. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract. Beat in 1/3 of the dry ingredients and half of the yogurt. Then beat in another 1/3 of the dry ingredients and so on (3 times) until fully incorporated. Do not over mix.

Set aside 1 tablespoon of the mini chocolate chips and mix the remainder into the batter. Evenly scoop the batter into 6 muffin tins and sprinkle with remainder of the chips. Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Let them cool on a wire rack to finish cooling.

On 4/8/2014 FunkyHulaGirl said:

I just want to say - I don't have any lower-calorie recipes for baked goods, but do have a "special diet" - I use full fat butter, cream, sugar, etc. and feed it to my friends and acquaintances regularly to fatten them up...that way I look thinner when I stand next to them!

Hula Girl, Great idea! Just get fat friends!

The most famous one I remember is a box of cake mix combined with one can of diet soda (any flavor combination). Google ""Diet Soda Cake"".

You folks are the best! I can't wait to start trying some of these. The pineapple will be first because I actually have both ingredients in my pantry!

Thanks, everyone!