I decided to rename this cake. The original blogger had called it a “poke” cake. Yes… that’s technically what it is, but it’s much more heavenly than that. As a result, it gets a new name.
One of my all-time favorite cakes is the classic Better than Sex cake. You know, the ooey, gooey chocolate and caramel concoction. This red velvet version is equally decadent and worthy of its new name.
Keep in mind, I have a blog called “No Thanks to Cake”… Most people read that as I must be anti-cake and I must say NO to cake all the time. On the contrary, I usually share that I grew severely overweight “no thanks to cake”. On most days, I can say “no thanks” to cake, but I am a TRUE believer that we have to reasonably indulge from time to time, which is exactly what I did on Sunday night.
I also think that it’s important to point out that I lightened up this cake significantly by preparing it a little bit different than the original recipe prescribed. Do you think anyone who ate the cake missed the extra fat and calories I extracted?
Doesn’t look like it to me….
Red Velvet Better than Sex Cake
Original Recipe by The Country Cook via Pinterest
Serves 18
INGREDIENTS
1 box Red Velvet Cake mix
1 can Diet Coke
2 pkg. Sugar-Free Fat Free Cheesecake pudding
4 cups skim milk
1 tub Cool-Whip (Lite or Fat Free), thawed
10 oreos or 2-3 packs of Oreo 100 Calorie Packs
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare your baking dish using cooking spray made for baking (I used Pam Baking.) Note: If you make the full recipe, use a 9 x 13 pan. If you make 1/2 of the recipe, proceed with a 9 x 9 pan.
2. Combine red velvet cake and diet coke using a mixer. Note(s): This cake is made very similarly to the Diet Cake I shared in January. Following the recipe will yield a larger quantity than pictured. I only made ½ of the recipe, to cut down on my inhaling leftovers. To make 1/2 the recipe, simply cut all of the ingredients listed above in half.
Measuring out half of the cake mix for my 1/2 a cake. Not necessary if you’re making the entire mix! If you go with 1/2 a cake, you’ll also need to use 1/2 of all the above ingredients as well!
Diet Coke magically creates a cake without eggs and oil
Only lick the beaters…. this batter will stain your fingers!
3. Cook the cake per the box instructions, testing it with a cake tester upon removing it from the oven. Remove the cake to a wire cooling rack for a few minutes.
Midway through the baking process
Test it out!
4. In a separate bowl, mix the pudding and milk with a whisk. Mix until it begins to thicken, but do not allow it to completely set. Note: This pudding adds that cream cheese frosting-esque taste that red velvet requires. It’s soooo good.
5. After removing the cake from the oven, find a wooden spoon to use to create holes in the cake. Note: It’s always a little sad to pulverize the cake… but it’s necessary so the pudding seeps into the cake and makes it crazy delicious.
A wooden spoon is about the right circumference
Poor cake
6. Pour the pudding mixture over the cake and fill in all the holes. Retire the cake to the refrigerator to cool completely and for the pudding to set. Allow it to cool at least 2 hours. Note: The original recipe advises to cover the cake if you have stinky things in your fridge. Regardless, cover your cake.
Pour the pudding on the cake and fill all those holes
Put this baby in the fridge to set.
7. Shortly before you are ready to serve the cake, remove it from the fridge and add the cool whip on top of the pudding mixture.
Some of the “red velvet” seeped into the pudding while cooling. You may see this too. It’s fine.
Add the Cool Whip…
8. Place the oreos into a plastic bag and crush the cookies. Sprinkle on top of the cake. Note: I opted for real Oreos only so I could buy a lunch-box sized container. You could also use Reduced Fat Oreos or 100 Calorie Packs. Either would work.
I did a coarse chop of the oreos so there would be some chunky pieces on top.
This is where it all came together…
9. Cover and return to the fridge until you are ready to serve the cake.
10. Cut into generous slices and serve to your friends. Sit back and watch the cake vanish…
First piece removed…
The prettiest piece I cut. Alecia got this one!
My piece looked like a hot mess. That’s how it works though, the baker always takes the worst looking one. Tasted AMAZING though!!
After eating dessert on the patio, not a morsel left. We were all sort of scraping our plates in a very ladylike way.
Now, let me share with you the stats on this cake. They’re going to shock you… but if you consider the fat-free, sugar-free substitutions I made, it makes sense.
Healthier Version: Including the MyFitnessPal breakout because it was astonishing!
Per slice (1/18th of the cake):
CAL 177; CARB 33g; FAT 4g; PROT 3g; FIB 0; SOD 364mg
This cake will only cost you 177 calories per slice!!! Unbelievable, right? Notice how high the calories were on the Oreos. If you went with 100 calorie packs, that could drop the calories for the recipe significantly. You could also go down to Cool Whip Free, as a lighter alternative. Just to compare, I also ran the stats on how the cake would turn out if I went with the original recipe:
Original Recipe:
It came in a full 100 calories and 11 fat grams higher per serving. NO THANKS!
Now, I definitely ate my 177 calories of cake yesterday and that’s all I consumed! I left my cake behind for my friend Deb and her husband Matt to enjoy. This is definitely part of my strategy for staying on track. Had I made the full recipe, it would have been WAY too much for the 4 of us and bringing the cake home would have meant I would have snacked on it all day.
Just the one serving was plenty for me… I could definitely say YES to cake in this scenario.
Overall, this cake was AMAZING. Now that I’ve calculated the stats, I love it even more! I definitely recommend taking the healthier version to your next family event, cookout, or get-together. People will be drooling over it… guaranteed!
Do you love Red Velvet Cake as much as I do? Have you ever tried to lighten it up like this?
It was certiainly delicious. Although it looked at me every time I opened the refrigerator, I only had one piece after dinner with Matt. Still delightful the second day.
And, I’m still thinking about it TWO days later! So glad you guys were willing to take care of the leftovers! It would have been shameful to let it hit the trash. I couldn’t have done it…
I pretty much love that you called this cake “better than sex”. Haha! Definitely going to be trying it out.
It’s crazy good, Erin! Let me know what you think of it once you make your own.
Thank you for making such a beautiful, delicious cake, Kelly! Unless you had posted all of the baking photos, I never would have guessed the cake went through such an ugly-duckling phase.
Poor cake got pulverized!!!! And… I’ve been thinking about your gazpacho. If you’re willing to share the recipe, I know some folks that might like to see a posting about it!
Hmmm… I’m hoping the name is a bit tongue-in-cheek… Else that is one hell of a cake, or.. well… yeah… Can’t seem to keep the rest of this comment all that SFW so I’ll just stop…
Of course the name is tongue in cheek. There are a bunch of cakes out there that are called that… and claim it’s a fair assessment. I mention below that my former employee called it “better than a paid day off” cake… and that’s closer to the correct name.
Taking this to a girls getaway this weekend. Thanks for making it skinny for us Kelly! I’m not telling anyone it’s the healthy version.
Yay… those ladies are going to LOVE it! Definitely FB me or swing back here and let me know how it went! xoxo
Is the milk counted in your calorie count?
It does! MyFitnessPal included the FF/SF pudding as prepared and in quantity of 2 cups… that includes the skim milk!
Great question!
4 empty cake plates! What a coincidence. My serving size for cake requires exactly 4 plates of cake. ((winks))
That’s awesome… but there were four of us. And, one of the plates clearly had a portion of their serving left behind! So not my plate!!!
If sex wasn’t in the title, I could totally get you featured on the JELLO facebook page lol.
I have a former employee who used to call it “better than a paid day off” cake… when I used to make the chocolate-y version. Is Jello that straight-laced? LOL
My hubby would LOVE this!
Holy. Mother.
Seriously, my sweet-toothed friend… you will LOVE this one. Bake it with caution.
Kelly! I made it and blogged about it and added a link to your website! It came out awesome!! Thank you – everyone loved it!! Only differences were I used diet pepsi instead of coke, and sugar free cool whip!
http://martialartsnchocolate.blogspot.com/2012/09/recipe-red-velvet-better-than-sex-cake.html
I am thinking of making this for desert for tonight, but I have a quick question. You said, and showed, that you cut your cake mix in half. Did you also cut everything else in half (coke, pudding, cool whip)? I would assume so, but wanted to check!
Hi Holli! The recipe you see above is for the entire full cake. If you choose to make half of it, cut the entire recipe in half. Hope this helps!!
I am thinking if making this for desert tonight, but I have a question. You showed that you cut the cake mix in half, did you also cut everything else in half (coke, pudding, cool whip, etc)? I would assume so, but I wanted to check.
I did! I halved the recipe entirely… It made an 8 x 8 pan very easily!
Sorry! This reply was not on my screen when I asked you the same question. You don’t need to answer twice.
I am inquiring about the measurements as well. Did you half everything or just the mix? If I want to make the entire cake do I need to double the ingredients or use as suggested? Sorry, that part confused me a bit.
Hi Tracy – The recipe as written is for the full cake. To make 1/2, I cut the ingredients in half, of course. Hope this helps!!!
I’ll add some more notes to make sure that it’s clear. Thanks for letting me know!
Made this tonight & it’s amazing! My husband & I both lovvvvveeeddd it! Thanks so much for posting the recipe – I found your recipe on Pinterest & defiantly re pinned!
Oh yay!!! I love hearing feedback on what people think… that cake is pretty much my new all-time fave. Glad you guys enjoyed!!!
I have made this recipe twice now & everyone LOVED it!!!! Thanks so much for sharing.
Imjust made his for my hubby’s bday and I’m not sure what I did wrong, but the cake didn’t rise and it kept sticking to the spoon when I poked the holes through. I followed the recipe and everything! It’s cooling with the pudding poured over for now…here’s hoping it still tastes good!
Hi Tara! My cake was a little sticky on the spoon, but it definitely rose and was fluffy. Wondering how it came out in the end… I’m hoping that the pudding and whatnot made it fabulous! Let me know.
Just got done making this for a party tomorrow…I thought you used vanilla pudding, but then noticed tonight it was cheesecake pudding. I didn’t have time to go to the store, so I used French Vanilla. Hopefully it will still turn out good..next time I’ll use the French Vanilla. I made a small cupcake so I could see what the cake part tastes like with the diet coke and I was quite amazed! Very yummy…I can’t wait to see what the whole thing tastes like tomorrow:) Thanks for the recipe!
I’m certainly willing to try this cake, and I’m sure it’s good. I have been making a cake for the last 13 years called a better than sex cake that’s almost like this. Only a little less conventional. I bake a chocolate devils food cake, and then cut into big squares. In a large round rubbermaid container I place enough squares to cover the bottom of the container. I then put a layer of chocolate pudding over top of the cake, then a layer of strawberry gelatin pie filling ( 2 1/2 quarts fresh strawberries 1 cup white sugar, 2 tablespoons cornstarch, 1 cup boiling water, 1 (3 ounce) package strawberry flavored Jell-o, In a saucepan, mix together the sugar and corn starch; make sure to blend corn starch in completely. Add boiling water, and cook over medium heat until mixture thickens. Remove from heat. Add gelatin mix, and stir until smooth. Let mixture cool to room temperature. Place strawberries in a bowl, pour cooled gel mixture over strawberries. Refrigerate until set.)
Then a layer of cool whip topping. Swirl caramel ice cream topping and chocolate syrup over top of the cool whip. Sprinkle with crushed heath toffee chips. Re-peat a second layer of everything and then I also garnish the very top with fresh strawberries! Enjoy! Everyone loves my better than sex cake! Try it! You’ll see!
WOW, Angel… that sounds amazing! Thanks for sharing!!!
i love this cake. i tried the one that wasnt the diet one. lol and thought it was just to rich. but i really love this cake…sounds so good. i havent made it yet but i know that its going to be simliar to the one i have had in the past. cant wait to bake this one. thinking of baking it for christmas..
I was thinking I might make it for Christmas too! That beautiful red color… should be enjoyed around the holidays!
Can I use regular coke?And do I jus use coke and cake mix?
I can’t see why not. If you really want to, you can just make the cake per the box’s directions. It will just make it a little extra decadent! Enjoy!
Love this recipe. Turned out great! Moist and delicious. Was hard trying to find cheesecake pudding from jello, so I used the non bake cheesecake mix, and it still turned out great.
So glad to hear that you enjoyed it! Fun to know that you can use the cheesecake mix as an alternative!
18 servings…is that 18 servings for the 9×9 you made? That seems like quite a few servings for a small square dish. Just checking
GREAT QUESTION: My 9 x 9 would have made just 9 servings. I cut the recipe in half, because I went to a party with just a few of us.
The cake was delicious ! I made it for my family and they loved it! Especially the health factors involved. Taste awesome after everything being fridged for a few hours then indulge ! Thanks so much!!1 Just made it again for my trx class!
Thanks, Dear! So glad your family enjoyed it!
This is the best cake I have ever eaten!I have been eating healthier but I still love dessert.I have been eyeing this dessert for awhile but I finally made it tonight.It is so freaking good!I posted before and after pics on facebook and I posted the recipe.I can’t wait to make it again!
I am so glad to hear you loved it! I’d love to see your version… post it up on the No Thanks to Cake facebook page (www.facebook.com/nothankstocake).
I am so excited to try this cake. The diet coke is used instead of the eggs and oil. Did you still beat the water in following the box’s instructions. Or does the diet coke replace the water as well?
You should be just fine with the diet coke. You don’t need the eggs or oil or anything else on the box. Enjoy!!