Healthy New Twist on Cake Mix Recipe

I read about this recipe before, and finally had the chance to try it today! Take a regular box of cake mix, and instead of the oil, eggs, and water, just add a can (15 oz) of pumpkin, mix well, and bake as directed. Still have some of those cans leftover from the holidays? This is a great way to use them up.

Here I have pictured one regular-sized muffin (about 100 calories and no fat) and a few mini-muffins (with probably less than 50 calories a piece!) that I just took out of the oven.

The resulting recipe saves you about 100 calories a serving if you're making a regular cake, and reduces the calories of a regular sized muffin or mini-sized muffin as well. PLUS, it provides you with 50-75% of your daily value for vitamin A in the form of beta carotene from the pumpkin, plus an extra gram or two of fiber per serving.

You can make some tasty combinations when you add pumpkin to a spice cake (which I chose today), a white cake, a yellow cake, a pineapple cake, or an orange cake. I'm not sure how it would taste with chocolate or some of the other flavors, but do let us know if you try one and add your comment below!

The other alternative to substituting pumpkin is using a can of diet soda in place of the water, egg and oil, which makes the final product even lower in calories--but adds no vitamins or fiber.