86 Calorie Cupcakes!

Gosh, I love sweets. It's one of life's greatest pleasures.  So diet or no diet, I'm going to need a dessert once in a while. The problem is, it's hard to find low calorie treats that aren't made with artificial sugar.  For example, you can mix a box of cake mix with a diet coke (or diet sprite) and omit the oil and egg, to make low calorie cake (or cupcakes). It works great, but diet soda isn't very healthy.  So I did some research and learned that you can mix pumpkin puree with the box of cake mix instead, and get a healthy sweet result.  I read that it makes a very moist cake, so I decided to try it with Devil's Food Cake so that it would be fudgey. It turned out perfect: incredibly moist and decadent, at only 86 calories! I plopped a tablespoon of light Cool Whip on top (10 more calories), and I was in dessert heaven for under 100 calories. 

86 CALORIE CUPCAKES

Ingredients

1 Box of Cake Mix*

15 oz Pumpkin Puree

1/3 c. water

Pinch of salt

*I used Devil's Food Cake, but you can make it with any cake mix. In the Fall I plan on using a box of Spice Cake, and adding in some nutmeg and cinnamon to make Pumpkin Spiced Cupcakes.

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a mini muffin pan with cooking spray.

2. In a large bowl, thoroughly mix together the box of cake mix with the pumpkin puree, water, and salt.

3. Fill the muffin tin evenly with the cupcake batter. The batter should be enough for 24 cupcakes; mine were definitely overflowing!

4. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until cooked all the way through.

5. Enjoy immediately, or freeze so you can defrost one at a time later on (and therefore not test your self-control by having 24 delicious cupcakes easily on hand!)

Nutritional Information

Serving Size: 1 Cupcake (Makes 24 Cupcakes Total)

Calories: 86 grams

Carbs: 16 grams

Fat: 2 grams

Protein: 1 gram