Cake Mixes - Regular vs. Low Fat Recipe

Have you seen the "Lower Fat Recipe" on the back of your boxed cake mixes? Have you ever wondered if they'll still taste good? If the changes are really worth it?

I have! So today, I decided to try one out.



I used a Duncan Hines Red Velvet cake mix and followed the directions on the box for the Lower Fat Recipe. I also had to do the noted adjustments for High Altitude since I live here in Utah.

But will it be worth it?



I know this isn't a great picture, but I found the statistics pretty interesting...

Each serving is listed as 1/12 of a cake. For cupcakes, I just multiplied their numbers by 12 (12 servings total or 1/12 twelve times). When I had the total for the whole cake, I divided it by the number of cupcakes I made. Since I was doing the high altitude adjustments, I got 30 cupcakes from this mix.

The Lower Fat Recipe calls for 1/3 cup plain applesauce instead of vegetable oil, 1 cup of water instead of the usual 1 1/2 cups, and the eggs (3) stayed the same.




This is the applesauce I used. My son was recently diagnosed Type 1 diabetic so we have loads of No Sugar Added products on-hand, like this Mott's Applesauce.

The total calories went down from 250 to 200 when using the Lower Fat Recipe.

The total fat went down from 12g to 6g (saturated fat from 3g to 2g, polyunsaturated fat from 5g to 1g, and monounsaturated fat from 3g to 1.5g)

Cholesterol, Sodium, & Protein stayed the same.

Total Carbohydrates (this is what we need to know for my son's diabetes) actually went UP! From 33g to 34g - not much, but still surprising. The total sugars went up from 19g to 20g.


So for us, specifically my diabetic son, the regular recipe is actually better for his carb counts. But in view of total health, I think the cut in calories & fat is absolutely worth making the small changes and using the Lower Fat Recipe.




BUT - how did it taste? How did it look? That's what we really want to know, right?





Here's the finished cupcake with buttercream frosting & some red sprinkles. Beautiful!





And, for the sake of research (of course!), I took a bite so you could see the inside of the cupcake. It was moist & the flavor was perfect. I had expected to find a hint of applesauce-y flavor, but there was none. I also thought there would be a texture difference - nope!

My final verdict: Totally worth it for overall health (lower fat, lower calories). Not worth it if you're only concerned about carb counts.

But either way - super-duper yummy cupcake!