Help me lighten up this cupcake recipe

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Crunchytxmama
Crunchytxmama Posts: 169 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I LOVE this cupcake recipe, but one cupcake is 351 calories! (the recipe made 16 when I made it). I know there has to be a way to lighten it up a little bit. You would think with these being applesauce cupcakes that they would be lower calorie, so I was a bit shocked at how high they were when I plugged it into my recipe analyzer.

Applesauce Cupcakes

preheat oven to 375, prepare muffin tins

1/2c vegetable oil
2 eggs
1/3c molasses
1c applesauce
2c flour
1c sugar
1t salt
1 1/2t baking powder
3/4t baking soda
1t cinnamon
1/2t nutmeg

Beat together oil, eggs, molasses and applesauce until smooth. Add flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Beat until smooth. Fill muffin tins 3/4 full. This makes about 20 cupcakes, rather than 24. Bake 15m or until they test done.

Caramel Frosting

1c brown sugar
1/2c butter
1/4c milk
powdered sugar as desired ( I use 2 c)

Cook sugar and butter 2m Stir in milk. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat. Allow to cool, then beat in powdered sugar to desired consistency.

Replies

  • SarahJayRigdon
    SarahJayRigdon Posts: 113 Member
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    in most recipes applesauce will replace the oil used, so it's strange that this one calls for both. I would try to omit the oil and add a little extra apple sauce.
  • vanimami
    vanimami Posts: 433 Member
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    Maybe use 1 egg and 2 egg whites, splenda versues reg. sugar, whole wheat flour or at least part instead of white flour. And as stated before, I was gonna mention the apple sauce thing instead of oil, but it already calls for apples sauce, so maybe add more applesauce and less oil...Hope this helps, sounds yummy!
  • courtney_love2001
    courtney_love2001 Posts: 1,468 Member
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    I agree about the oil and applesauce replacement. And honestly, I think what's getting you is the icing. Maybe you could make a smaller amount of it and just do a "drizzle." At least that's what I would do...and I would sneak myself one that was drenched in the icing when no one was looking :bigsmile:
  • mromnek
    mromnek Posts: 325
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    Remove everything but the applesauce. :wink:
  • michelle42676
    michelle42676 Posts: 7 Member
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    I think all of the sugar is what's causing the biggest problem. I've tried to use stuff like splenda in the past, but I've always had issues with it not comming out as good. I'm not the best with experimentation, but perhaps you could experiment on cutting the sugar and maybe adding a bit of Stevia to help bump up the sweetness??
  • Crunchytxmama
    Crunchytxmama Posts: 169 Member
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    Courtney, You're right I think it is the icing--it's SO good I could eat it with a spoon (and did yesterday :embarassed: ). It does call for a lot of oil though at 1/2 c. I could probably cut that down. And I could probably nix the molasses and not notice.
  • jmdolan
    jmdolan Posts: 128
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    I agree about the oil and applesauce replacement. And honestly, I think what's getting you is the icing. Maybe you could make a smaller amount of it and just do a "drizzle." At least that's what I would do...and I would sneak myself one that was drenched in the icing when no one was looking :bigsmile:

    i agree with the icing comment. I do however think 1/2cup of oil is also a killer. So maybe replace at least some of the oil with a little more applesauce. Maybe replace some of the whole eggs with egg whites. And LIGHTEN up on the frosting...
  • Crunchytxmama
    Crunchytxmama Posts: 169 Member
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    Just playing around with the numbers....if I nix the molasses, and 1/2 the recipe for the frosting, now they are 262 calories each. I don't think I want to just make a glaze for them, because I just love the flavor of the frosting so much--it's the best part!
  • Crunchytxmama
    Crunchytxmama Posts: 169 Member
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    Okay I think I got it. One thing I'm going to do is dole out the batter enough to make 20 cupcakes, rather than 16. The girl who gave me the recipe said it made about 20 anyway. That way I can still have 1 and probably not notice that it's smaller.

    I think I've got it so that the recipe will still mostly taste the same and have the same texture.

    Here's my revised recipe:
    6 tbsp. vegetable oil
    2 medium eggs (thought about cutting down to 1 egg, but the amount of calories the egg adds is negligible and I think it would affect the texture)
    1 c. no sugar added applesauce
    2 c. flour
    3/4 c. sugar
    1 t. salt
    1 1/2 t. baking powder
    3/4 t. baking soda
    1 t. cinnamon
    1/2 t. nutmeg

    Frosting:
    1/2 c. brown sugar
    1/4 c. butter
    1/8 c. milk
    1 c. powdered sugar

    Calories (per 1 cupcake--makes 20) : 187.8, Fat 7.1 g., Carbs 30 g., Sugars 14.4 g.

    So down from 351 to 187 :smile:
  • mromnek
    mromnek Posts: 325
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    That is an awesome result!!! They really sound good.
  • pkgirrl
    pkgirrl Posts: 587
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    Mm you can also substitute the remaining oil for fat free vanilla or plain yogurt. It's a little weid because most people use the apple sauce for this, but I always use yogurt in my cookies and they turn out great and fluffy! =D

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