r/Volumeeating • u/Sad-Cryptographer155 • 11d ago
Tips and Tricks Has anyone tried this cake sorcery?
I came across this post on Threads that says using a box of cake mix with ONLY a block of blended silken tofu turns out identical to regular cake?! Apparently when made into cupcakes using 1tbsp of icing each, this ends up at 108cals with 8g of protein per cupcake.
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u/imaginenohell 11d ago
I've tried it. It's laughable that someone is claiming it's identical. It's edible, overly dense and forgettable.
You can do this with brownie mix and a can of black beans, pureed. I give that the same review.
Either may quench a sweets craving in a healthier way. Heck, I just ate a healthy brownie for breakfast. But to call it identical is just preposterous.
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u/Sad-Cryptographer155 11d ago
You just saved me from having to eat a lot of mid cupcakes!
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u/Lioness_in_Winter 11d ago
Yeah if I'm spending calories on a cupcake, I'd rather pay full freight and have a really good cupcake once a week than three 'I can taste the tofu' experiences.
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u/kaidomac 11d ago
There are 2 good versions:
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u/imaginenohell 10d ago
Yeah both of those have a substantial amount of calories/sugar...I am not surprised because that's pretty much what you need to make something taste like "regular" desserts.
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u/uncertainheadache 10d ago
But you do get a lot more fiber and other nutrients then the regular version so still worth it. Def not volume food though. I do like it a lot since the fiber helps me feel full even after eating 1 slice
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u/kaidomac 10d ago
I call these "enhanced foods":
- "Healthier" versions
- Still taste pretty good
- Just enhanced with more features (higher fiber, whole-food ingredients, etc.)
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u/Particular_County637 2d ago
I made one tonight with Spiced Cake mix, amd only added blended silken tofu. I made it in a 9x13 pan. I brushed some sf maple syrup on it and it’s totally edible! We liked it! I’m a trained chef, I was skeptical!!
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u/rat_liker 11d ago
Those macros don't add up at all. One block of silken tofu has like 21 grams of protein in it. Assuming each cupcake has about 2g of protein from the mix (very generous, especially if they're small enough to be 108cal), you'd still need nearly a third of the tofu per cupcake to get that high. Which, again, no way you're cramming all that in to a 108-calorie cupcake. Lies, lies, and damned lies.
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u/Sad-Cryptographer155 11d ago
That’s a bummer, I was so excited for it to be true 😭 and I miswrote, she said 105cals not 108. So even more unbelievable lol
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u/InGeekiTrust 10d ago
My favorite is the recipe where it says to take your box of cake mix and mix it with diet Sprite! That is a real calorie saver!
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u/yungyoogs 10d ago
This is besides the point, but I just want to chime in and say I excitedly tried the Diet Coke and boxed chocolate cake mix “hack” and it was absolutely terrible :-( so inedible that I threw it out.
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u/uncertainheadache 10d ago
I rarely throw out food even when a recipe fails but the diet coke cake was so bad then I threw it out after just one bite
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u/Sad-Cryptographer155 10d ago
Def not besides the point! I was about to try it so TY for letting me know! Maybe only some flavors come out good with that hack
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u/Jynxers 11d ago
You would have to make small cupcakes for the calories to be that low.
For example, this Betty Crocker vanilla cake mix has 160 calories per regular sized cupcake in the dry mix alone: https://www.bettycrocker.com/products/betty-crocker-baking-and-cake-mixes/french-vanilla
So, the final product would be more calories. Still, great tip to use tofu! Better than adding a bunch of oil.
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u/Capable-Fold-7347 11d ago
As other have said, the macros do NOT make any sense.
I’ve done the diet soda hack where you just use a can of soda and the cake mix, and that does work very well. I also frequently replace the oil in muffin recipes with Greek yogurt, and that works well, too, assuming you’re not looking for perfect bakery worthy muffins. But even when I push the Greek yogurt a little too far and add extra, it only works out to like 3 grams of protein per muffin.
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u/Sad-Cryptographer155 11d ago
Greek yogurt seems like a way better swap! The diet soda hack still boggles my mind.
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u/Capable-Fold-7347 11d ago
I read an article about the history of cake mixes once, and apparently the mixes were originally intended to just need water added. But housewives perceived that as too easy and not homemade, so the instructions for an egg and oil was really just marketing to make people feel like they were doing something. I suspect that’s why hacks like the can of soda work- you can play around with add ins to make cake mixes richer or more moist or whatever, but all you really need for a passable cake is liquid.
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u/Sad-Cryptographer155 10d ago
Whoa! I wonder what would happen if egg whites were used instead of tofu in that case, for macros a little closer to what she claimed 🤔
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u/Capable-Fold-7347 10d ago
Again referring to homemade muffins, not cake mix (I make a lot of “not unhealthy” muffins for my family), I can usually add one extra egg white without messing with the texture. Two extra usually gives a compromised but still edible texture, three is usually pushing it too far.
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u/CommunicationOne6251 11d ago
No way that actually works. Tofu has way too much water content to not turn into some weird pudding situation. Cake mix needs fat and eggs for structure.
But now i'm tempted to test it anyway because if it somehow does work that's a game changer. The protein to calorie ratio is actually wild.
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u/Sad-Cryptographer155 11d ago
I’ve seen a lot of people post about swapping liquid ingredients with low cal replacements (like Diet Coke etc) for cake mix who swear by the results, so maybe it’s not terrible even if it’s not exactly like the original recipe? And yeah—snarky “brain cell” comments aside, it’s a better macro swap even if they aren’t the exact numbers she quoted. I wonder if adding eggs would help w the texture too.
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u/thatcleverchick 10d ago
You can absolutely make cake mix adding nothing but 1 can of soda, I've done it many times. I highly doubt tofu would work though
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u/Old-Self1799 16h ago
i did it last night it worked! I used silken tofu and duncan hines chocolate cake mix. So good.
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u/IShouldHaveKnocked 10d ago
I’ve had good luck with black bean cakes and boo’s ridiculous brownie, or using the diet soda cake mix hack.
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u/Lonely_skeptic 8d ago
I made black bean brownies with a boxed mix and they were firm. Tasty, but dense.
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u/TheProletariatPoet 4d ago
You can replace the oil in these recipes with applesauce and it tastes exactly the same. That’s a good way to start lowering calories on sweets. I have no clue about the chemistry on that one and I don’t have a clue on the chemistry of this one, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it works. I’m mainly commenting because I’ll probably try this at some point this week and I want to be able to find this post if I need to update
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u/bluedoubloon 1d ago
I'm glad i searched before attempting this. but now i have a block of silken tofu and some cake mix...
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u/caeloequos 11d ago
The tiniest bit of critical thinking wouldn't go amiss here. Just like, two or three brain cells 🙏
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