Recipe:  Very Vanilla Fluffcakes
Source:  Hungry Girl

Servings:  9
Serving size:  One cupcake

Ingredients:


For Frosting
1 1/4 cups Cool Whip Free, thawed
1 1/2 Tbsp. Jell-O Sugar Free Fat Free Vanilla Instant Pudding Mix

For Cupcakes
Half of an 18.25-oz. box (about 1 1/2 cups) moist-style yellow cake mix
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1 cup Sprite Zero (or another diet lemon-lime soda), room temperature
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup liquid egg whites or (about 4) raw egg whites

For Topping
3 tbsp. rainbow sprinkles

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. To make the frosting, combine Cool Whip with pudding mix in a bowl, and mix until smooth. Cover and refrigerate until cupcakes are ready to be frosted.
3. In a large bowl, combine cake mix with baking powder and stir until free of lumps. Add soda and vanilla extract, and stir or whisk until batter is smooth. Set aside.
4. In a separate bowl, whip egg whites with a handheld electric mixer set to medium speed until fluffy, about 1 - 2 minutes. Gently mix egg whites into the cake batter until thoroughly combined.
5. Line 9 cups of a 12-cup muffin pan with baking cups and/or spray with nonstick spray. Evenly distribute batter among the 9 cups. Cups will be VERY full -- this is okay!
6. Bake for 15 - 17 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out fairly clean. Set aside and allow to cool completely.
7. Once cupcakes have cooled, top each evenly with the frosting and 1 tsp. sprinkles.

Our Thoughts:

So, every year for Scott's birthday, he asks for yellow cake.  I think this is sort of lame, but whatever.  I make him a yellow cake.  This year, he actually asked for brownies (No Pudge! in the pink box--try them, they're awesome!), but I thought I'd continue our tradition and make him some "better for us" yellow-style cupcakes.  What a horrible idea! These were horrendous.  Scott (and our friend, Drew) said they were "okay", but I'm pretty sure they were just saying that to be nice.  I ate one bite and had to fight to swallow it and not spit it out.  However, I feel I should be slightly fair and point out that the horrible part of this recipe is the actual cake.  The frosting, on a better cake, would have been quite good, I think.  But the cake. OH the cake!  Oh yeah, and as Scott just reminded me, if you STILL want to make these after reading this review, keep this fun fact in mind:  these are a bake and eat (immediately) item.  The next day, we awoke to find that the cupcakes had slightly collapsed and the Sprite Zero had started to ooze out and pool in the sunken cake top.  Appetizing? No.  Will we ever make again?  Absolutely not.

Rating:  0.5 out of 5 stars (only for the frosting!)

Nutritional Information (per serving):

Calories:  164

Fat:  3g

Protein:  2.5g
Carbohydrates:  30g

Fiber:  0g
Cholesterol: unsure

Iron:  unsure
Sodium:  293mg
Calcium:  unsure