This weekend, I felt inspired to BAKE!
You can’t have a blog called “No Thanks to Cake” and not have a tendency towards saying “Yes Please” to cake…
Truth be told: I love cake. I love cookies. And… I die for Red Velvet.
But, since I’ve started my healthy living journey, I’ve had to really think about when I want to say “Yes Please” and choose other moments when I say no.
One of the keys to having your cake and eating it too is to come up with healthier alternatives to your favorites, which is what I do best here at NTTC.
Today’s recipe is a twist on a Hungry Girl recipe I tried years ago… pumpkin + cake mix = amazing muffins! Now, considering that it’s Valentine’s week, I decided to make a beautiful red velvet version of this recipe. I hope you love it as much as I do.
Red Velvet Pumpkin Muffins
Adapted from Hungry Girl
Serves 12
INGREDIENTS
1 can pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
1 box Red Velvet cake mix
cooking spray
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Empty your can of pumpkin into a large bowl.
2. Add cake mix and combine with a hand mixer. Note: The batter will be EXTREMELY thick. You will be tempted to add water. DON’T! Just go with it… trust me!
3. Spray a muffin pan with cooking spray and add your batter to the muffin pan, splitting it evenly between the 12 compartments.
Remember, I said the batter would be thick…
4. OPTIONAL STEP: This batter cooks a little differently. Those peaks you see below won’t flatten out, instead they’ll just cook into that shape, like little mountains.
You can make your muffins prettier by smoothing out the tops of the muffins before you bake them. I do this with the back of a teaspoon. Run your teaspoon under hot water, and then use it to smooth down the tops of the muffin. You’ll have to run your spoon under hot water after every second muffins smoothing. In the end, your muffins “batter” will look like this.
5. Bake your muffins at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, and behold the beautiful muffins you will have created…
They’re SO pretty!!!!
And they taste JUST as delicious as they look. Because they’re made with pumpkin, the muffin is quite dense (they actually feel heavy!) and filling as a result. You’re not going to be disappointed, I promise! I’ve also used this same recipe with different cake mixes: Spice Cake and Devil’s Food Cake mixes also make rockin’ muffins… experiment with other flavors, too!
Per 1 muffin serving:
CAL 181; FAT 3.5g; CARB 37g; FIB 2g; PROT 2g; WW Points Plus: 5
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I made these muffins last weekend – they are wonderful!!
So great to hear others love them too! What flavor cake did you use? The recipe is really so versatile!
I used Red Velvet since it is my favorite, but I am looking forward to trying carrot cake, my second favorite.
The muffins!!!
My absolute favorite B&J flavor is their red velvet. So damn delicious.
I can’t even IMAGINE B&J Red Velvet… Yep, I’m probably never trying that. Sigh.
I am making these today, but now I can’t decide between the 3 cake flavors! Kelly, do you know if they are all the same WW pt values?
Just made the red velvet cupcakes in the mini version. I also added mini chocolate chips. VERY tasty! Thanks for sharing!
Oh wow… Mini chocolate chips sound AWESOME!!! So glad you like them!
Pretty sure they do. I always recommend checking your specific box to be sure…
I cannot wait to make these! Thanks for sharing, friend.
Let a girl know what you think… and hook the neighbors up QUICKLY!
Mmm… I’ve done the pumpkin/spice cake mix and the pumpkin/yellow cake mix AND the pumpkin/devil’s food cake mix. But red velvet?! Yum! I need to try this ASAP!
Honestly, I don’t even know why I had the cake mix… I’ve done the devil’s food and spice cake, and hoped for the best for the Red Velvet. Oh, I was wow’ed! How was the yellow cake… I think that will be the next one I try!
I love red velvet, but it’s not something I’ve had in ages. And I love the simplicity, although most box desserts contain ingredients I choose not to eat. I’ll have to keep my eyes open though, I’m guessing someone makes one!
Now please be honest, can you taste the pumpkin?
Truth: I don’t eat canned pumpkin and I don’t like pumpkin pie. I like these, and I don’t taste anything weird. Just really MOIST muffins. Trust me. Signed – The pickiest person EVER
Great!!!! Making these for the hubby then and hiding the empty can deep in the recycling cont.
GREAT idea!
And, I’ll never try the black bean version EVER….
ewww…me either!
Shannon,
I just made a batch of 24 of these red velvet muffins and couldn’t taste the pumpkin at all. They are so yummy! I think you will love them like I do!
I can’t believe you made them so quickly! So happy you like them!
It was so fast and easy especially with my kitchenmaid stand mixer that there was no reason not to make them. I look forward to sharing them as a Valentine’s breakfast treat at the hospital on Thursday!
Ohhhhh… I need a Kitchenaid mixer. And when I say NEED, I mean WANT…
I WILL be trying these this weekend!
Back in the DAY – I’m talking like 2000 or before – my aunts and I did this weight loss competition. Anyhow, that was when Weight Watchers still had Points, but you would use a slider to calculate them. Well, my aunt shared this recipe with me back then (except we just did pumpkin + spice cake mix) and holy mother – I used to make those in college ALL. THE. TIME. They were only 1 Point back then and I would often slightly under-bake them – making them a little gooey and even more delicious. Yummmmmm!
Thanks for drawing my attention to lease my fellow red velvet lover!
I think they are one of the BEST ways to make muffins. I have to be VERY careful not to eat them too quickly… they’re pretty addictive!
Found your blog looking for this EXACT combo! I’d also seen the Hungry Girl cake/pumpkin muffins and figured why not with Red Velvet?? I usually make red velvet from scratch…which is a whole lot of bad for you, haha! I may try adapting my scratch recipe to using the pumpkin as well…some day.
Anywho…I used Betty C. mix and Kr@ger brand pumpkin and the batter scrapings tasted pretty darn good! Can hardly wait 20 minutes to try them baked, lol.
Thanks again!
I’m hoping you loved them as much as I did! I want to try a pumpkin-yellow cake combo the next time around. They’re so moist and delicious though… I have to be careful I have other people around to eat them too.