Monday's Meal - Boston Cream Cupcakes

I love sweets. They make me smile - and they taste oh-so-good. Boston Cream Pie has always been one of my favorite desserts, but I rarely indulge. And since the doctor has put the kibosh on my fat, sugar, & starch intake, I haven't had many sweets at all. Sigh.

I found this yummy-looking recipe for Boston Cream Cupcakes on the Hungry Girl website - and since they're fairly low in fat, sugars, & carbs, I thought I'd give them a try.

Hungry Girl's Boston Cream Cupcakes

(click here for a printable copy of the original recipe)

Ingredients:
Half of an 18.25-oz. box (about 1 3/4 cups) moist-style yellow cake mix
1/2 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute (like Egg Beaters Original)
3 tbsp. chocolate frosting, room temperature
2 tbsp. light chocolate syrup
One 60-calorie sugar-free Jello vanilla pudding snack 

1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1 no-calorie sweetener packet (like Splenda or Truvia)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with baking cups and/or spray with nonstick spray; set aside.

In a large bowl, combine cake mix, egg substitute, and 1/2 cup water. Whisk thoroughly. Evenly distribute mixture among the cups of the muffin pan.

Bake in the oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 20 - 22 minutes.

Allow cupcakes to completely cool. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine chocolate frosting with chocolate syrup and mix well. Cover and refrigerate.

Once cupcakes have cooled, use a knife or narrow spoon handle to create a small centered hole through the top of each cupcake, stopping about midway through the cupcakes. Set aside.

Open pudding cup and stir in vanilla extract and sweetener. Place pudding in one of the bottom corners of a sealable plastic bag. Remove air and seal. Snip off a small part of that corner with scissors.

Gently squeeze the bag and evenly pipe pudding through the hole in the bag's corner and into the holes in the cupcakes.

Evenly spread frosting-syrup mixture over the cupcakes. (Don't worry if some of the pudding filling gets mixed in!)

Serve and enjoy! (Refrigerate leftovers, if you've got 'em.)

MAKES 12 SERVINGS

PER SERVING (1 cupcake): 114 calories, 2.5g fat, 193mg sodium, 21.5g carbs, 0g fiber, 12g sugars, 2g protein -- PointsPlus® value 3*

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My observations:

The cupcakes were very tasty & moist - not quite as moist as they would be if you followed the directions on the package, but still very good. They were a little more dense than usual - almost more like a poundcake (but not quite).

The pudding was really good with the vanilla & Truvia added. Unfortunately, it tended to get a bit runny after 24 hours (even refrigerated), so I recommend only making as many cupcakes as you can eat within 24 hours.

It was difficult to make an opening in the cupcake because the cake was "sticky" and wanted to stick to whatever I used to make the opening. I ended up with openings that were larger than I wanted. Next time, I won't try to save time & I'll use my frosting bag/tip to fill the cupcakes.

The frosting/glaze was tasty, but it was too runny for me. It didn't harden at all (even in the fridge), so it oozed off the top of the cupcakes & down the sides of the liners. MESSY!!! Next time, I'll make a true glaze that will harden & be less messy.

Overall, these cupcakes were really good & I will definitely make them again with a little tweaking!