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Moderating Mama
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Woodland, CA
Posts: 11,712
S/C/G: 295/200/175
Height: 5' 8"
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Sure! Fair warning, though, my palate has been altered from not eating a ton of very sweet things, so some people might not find these as sweet and "cake like" as they would expect. They are fairly dense, but flavorful, and I find them quite good. They do have that "whole wheat flour" taste, but I figure, hey, they're made from whole wheat flour, so that makes sense.
I don't bake these in a standard muffin tin, I make them in 10 oz ramekins. It makes a perfect portion size for my dessert. You could make them in muffin tins, it'd be a shorter bake time.
One more note on the recipe - I use the same basic formula to make apple spice cakes...just replace the pumpkin with applesauce.
The below makes 4 cakes in the 10 oz ramekin, I'd guess it'd make about 7-8 muffins but I don't know for sure, so its all experimental.
1 cup whole wheat flour (I use King Arthur "White Whole Wheat" flour...its made from a different wheat varietal so its a little less heavy than a traditional whole wheat flour)
1 cup pure pumpkin
1/4 cup splenda
1/4 cup sugar (note - I have made these all Splenda. They don't brown as well but are pretty good, and its an easy place to cut calories. The best compromise, I've found, between calories and taste/browning is the half sugar/half splenda)
1.5 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract
Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, splenda, sugar, and spices in a small bowl. Add the pumpkin and vanilla and stir to combine. Note that this is a lot thicker than a traditional cake batter, but that is OK. If you find that the batter really isn't coming together (ie, there is dry flour in the bowl that can't be absorbed), add a bit more pumpkin. Spray muffin tins or ramekins with cooking spray, and divide batter equally between all of them.
Bake in a 375 degree oven. If baking in ramekins (the recipe makes 4 ramekins), it takes about 20 minutes. I'd guess a muffin tin would take 10-15, but since I haven't done it that way, keep an eye on it...they are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out cleanly.
Now, if you want to give this a slightly decadent twist, may I recommend a drizzle of brown sugar caramel? The ingredients on this are kind of scary looking for the average person watching their weight (butter? sugar?) but you only need a drizzle over the top.
1/4 cup, unpacked, brown sugar
1.5 tbsp butter (i cut calories in this by using a light margarine. It works just as well.
1 tbsp honey or molasses.
Melt the butter in a very small saucepan. Stir in the honey and brown sugar. Whisk constantly over medium low heat. The brown sugar will melt, and the caramel will start bubbling. Maintain at a bubble, whisking constantly, until the mixture starts to be visibly thicker. CAREFUL - this stuff is boiling sugar and it is HOT. Cook about 30 seconds after you notice the caramel is really thickening and clinging together, then pull from the heat. Drizzle over the baked cakes/muffins immediately.
Nutritionals obviously depend on with/without caramel and on how many servings you get from the recipe.
In ramekins, this is about 175 calories (and actually pretty nutritious) without the caramel drizzle.
In cupcake tins, you'd be talking (assuming you got 8 cakes) 87 calories per, again, without drizzle.
The drizzle (with real butter, not the light margarine) adds 44 calories per mini cake or 88 calories per ramekin. The way I make this (light margarine, it is transfat free but a little "frankenfood" for some people, which I respect), the calories are trimmed to 68 cals for the ramekins, or 34 per cupcake.
By the way, on the cakes, if you use all splenda instead of the splenda/sugar mixture, you'll save 20 calories per cupcake/muffin or 40 calories per ramekin.
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