Has anyone ever heard of the “Diet Coke Cake”? I don’t know who invented it, but this recipe is all over healthy cooking message boards on the Internet. The premise is that if you buy a box of cake mix and add a can of Diet Coke to it (instead of eggs, oil, etc) and bake it according to the directions on the box, it will rise and be fabulous and have way less fat and calories. Many people have tried variations on this with different cake flavors and different diet sodas.
I first tried this a while back and, while I was amazed that it actually produced a cake, the diet soda added a sweetness that I did not care for. I started to experiment and found that – voila! – seltzer/club soda/bubbly water does the trick. You can literally bake a cake that tastes delicious with the amount of fat and calories per serving that the box attributes to the ‘mix’ but not to the ‘prepared’ result.
I even started doing this with muffin mix. I buy a small bag of blueberry or banana nut for under $1 which yields 6 muffins, add 1/2 can of seltzer and enjoy. I have served these light muffins to friends who do not consider themselves healthy eaters, without telling them, and they complimented me on how delicious they were.
Tags: Baking Tips, baking with seltzer
Wow….I have never heard of this! Any idea how much seltzer you would add for a standard 2-layer cake mix? Thanks April!
A standard box of cake mix will use 1 can. I only use less (1/2 can) when I buy the small packets of mix for about 6 muffins.