Sunday, October 24, 2010

Slimmed Down Red Velvet Cupcakes with Homemade Cream Cheese Frosting

I love having an actual purpose when I’m in the kitchen. Yesterday, it was Mission: Birthday Cupcakes, Kelly O-Style. What did that mean? Well, I wasn’t sure when I started, but I knew I wanted to create a pint-sized sweet treat that we could enjoy with little guilt. What did that mean? It was Operation Healthy Baking.

Because I’m kind of lazy, and my pantry is not nearly as well-stocked as one might assume, I chose to start with a boxed cake mix. Simple changes to the added ingredients helped shave off quite a bit of fat grams while still offering up a moist, flavorful cake for my lovely lady friend!

Though you will see that I used cupcake liners, I would advise against doing so, as these mini cakes are very low fat, so they have a tendency to really stick to the paper baking cups. As much as it is a pain to clean my cupcake tin, I would prefer an easier time unwrapping this sweet cake!

You’ll also see that I made my own, somewhat eclectic cream cheese frosting fabricated from my randomly stocked pantry and finds at the 7-11 down the street. The result was well received; it’s not too sweet and clearly not as thick as the typical, butter-containing frosting, but it pairs well with the sweet cupcakes because it doesn’t make you feel like you’re going into sugar-overload. Of course, you could substitute vanilla extract for the coconut, and the creamer could be replaced by some half-and-half, mile, or completely omitted.
Red Velvet Cake... The Edibles:
  • 1 box red velvet cake mix
  • 1 c. Coke Zero (or Diet Coke)
  • 1/4 c. water
  • 4 egg whites
  • 1 egg
Red Velvet Cake... The Making:
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare your baking pan of choice by spraying with non-stick cooking spray and flouring lightly.
  2. In a large mixing bowl gently blend all of the ingredients until moistened (about 30 seconds). Beat at medium speed for 2 minutes.
  3. Pour batter in pans and bake immediately according to the time instructions on the cake box.
  4. Allow to cool completely before frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting, The Edibles:
  • 8 oz. light cream cheese
  • 1/4 c. plain yogurt
  • 3/4 c. powdered sugar
  • dash of cinnamon
  • 1 tsp. coconut extract
  • 2 T. vanilla-flavored coffee creamer
Cream Cheese Frosting, The Making:
  1. In a medium bowl, blend together the cream cheese, yogurt and creamer until smooth. (Note: I used my food processor, which worked wonderfully.)
  2. Mix in the coconut extract then gradually stir in the powdered sugar and cinnamon.
  3. Store in the refrigerator in a air-tight container after use.

No comments:

Post a Comment