I'll Have Some Soda…In My Cupcake?

Interesting, right? More on that in a second!

So to recap my day earlier, (like I promised!) I ended up eating my leftover pizza (SO GOOD) and veggies & hummus around 12:30.  Then around 4:00, I decided I wanted to little something, so I ended up having my yogurt and strawberries (it hit the spot).  After work, I had to make a quick trip to the store, where I stumbled across this yummy stuff!

Ever since I saw Julie’s strawberry banana smoothie the other day, I have had a serious craving for one!  Perhaps breakfast tomorrow morning?

I was on my own for dinner tonight, since Jay is out bowling in a tournament, so I decided to keep things simple.  As simple as it was, everything on this plate tasted DEEEELISH!

The salad looks a little sad, thanks to the wrinkled leftover roasted squash, but I swear they tasted even better than before!  Underneath the “wrinklies” is romaine, shredded carrots, and tomatoes, topped with a little balsamic vinegar.  My sandwich was definitely the all-star here though!

From top layer to bottom: whole-grain bread, a slather of honey mustard, tomato, spinach, sliced chicken breast, and (the star of the sandwich) a smear of The Laughing Cow light Swiss cheese!  I’ve never tried this on a sandwich before, and WOW have I been missing out!  It tasted amazing!   I did, however, get a little bored with the crusts as you can see…

After dinner, I decided that since I had the living room to myself for the evening, I would squeeze in my favorite pilates DVD.  It was a nice 30 minute workout, and all the stretching and core work felt great.  I wish I thought to do some pilates more often!

After gettin’ my “stretch” on, it was back to work in the kitchen (which I had already been working on before dinner!

So I was talking to some of my co-workers last week at lunch, and the subject of various cakes came up.  When I mentioned “soda cake”, they all looked at me like I had 5 heads.  So I started thinking, hmmm, I wonder if this is a baking phenomenon that not many people know about?!?  Well, if that’s the case, then I’m here to spread the word!

Ok, so first things first…let’s go over the ingredients for a soda cake:

Yes, that is correct!  All you need to make a soda cake is a box of your favorite cake mix and a 12oz. can of any flavored diet soda! (I didn’t have any cans, so I just measured out 12oz.)  This is one of the EASIEST cake recipes I know!  And although it’s hard to call cake or soda “healthy”, it’s definitely a better option than the full eggs & oil recipe!

Soda Cake

Directions:

1. Pour cake mix into large mixing bowl.
2. Dump 12oz. can of diet soda in with cake mix.
3. *Optional: Add 1-2 egg whites (I added one, for a little extra “fluff”)
4. Mix together with an electric mixer.
5. Bake according to directions on the box!

These bad boys went into a 325 degree oven for about 17 minutes, and came out looking puffy and lovely!

This was my first time attempting the orange soda + french vanilla cake mix combo.  Normally, my favorite combo is a devil’s food cake mix + wild cherry diet pepsi!  But really, the possibilities are ENDLESS!

angel or yellow cake + diet orange soda
banana cake mix + diet root beer
cherry chip cake + A& W diet Cream soda
chocolate cake or devils food + diet pepsi
chocolate cake + diet vanilla coke
chocolate cake + diet root beer
lemon cake mix + diet 7-up
lemon cake + diet ginger ale
lemon + diet lemon
marble cake + diet cream soda
red velvet + diet cherry vanilla Dr Pepper
spice cake + diet lemon-lime
spice cake + diet orange
white cake + diet ginger ale
white cake + diet orange
white cake + diet sprite
yellow cake + diet orange

So to go along with what I like to call my “Creamsicle Cupcakes”, I decided to make some of my own vanilla buttercream frosting.  There is definitely no way around the fact that this frosting is NOT healthy…but it’s out of this world!

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

- 1/2 cup butter, softened

- 3 cups confectioners sugar

- 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

- 1-3 tbsp milk

Cream together butter and sugar.  Add vanilla and 1 tbsp. milk.  Continue to add milk until desired consistency is achieved. (I ended up using almost 3 tbsp).  And then I ended up with THESE!

I was really hoping I had orange sprinkles somewhere to go along with my “orange” cupcakes, but no such luck.  Oh well!  At least they match the liners!

I broke out the pastry bag tonight to do some “fancy frosting”!

One of the best parts about soda cakes is that they’re SO MOIST!  Look at how soft and spongy these are!

I’ve already had one, and I think I may end up eating one more before the night is over

Have you ever tried or heard of Soda Cakes?  What flavor combo would you most like to try??

Tagged as: cupcakes, dinner, soda cake, strawberry whey protein, the laughing cow light swiss cheese, vanilla buttercream frosting