It’s hard to believe, but I celebrated my daughter’s FIRST birthday last weekend- where has the time gone? We enjoyed a perfect day in the park with friends and family, and of course, some birthday treats! Truth be told, the birthday girl did not get her first taste of sugar and enjoyed a chocolate banana cake all to herself, but I did make some cupcakes for the grown-ups. They were chocolate with vanilla and strawberry (vanilla with freeze dried strawberries blended in- try it!) frosting, and delicious indeed, but we were left with quite a few extra at the end of the party. I hate seeing food go to waste, but I also didn’t want to feel like it was a race to eat the leftovers before going stale, so I thought about how I could transform these leftover cupcakes.
Enter, CAKE BITES! This was the perfect solution to getting to enjoy the leftovers for weeks to come, and an opportunity to transform them into something a bit more blood sugar-friendly.
If you are in need of a low-sugar dessert to enjoy during your pregnancy with gestational diabetes, or to help balance your blood sugars in general, these bites would definitely be something to try! Of course, every woman and mama-to-be is going to have their own unique blood sugar response, but I’ve included some ingredients and suggestions for swaps that could go over very well for most of you.
Before we get to the recipe, here are a few notes and considerations…
The cake
I used the Hershey’s “Perfectly Chocolate” Cake recipe as recommended by a friend to make my cupcake base. My only substitution to this recipe was replacing the regular sugar with Swerve granular sugar. My party guests actually commented on how much they loved that these cupcakes were not cloyingly sweet- win, win! You could likely swap the all-purpose flour for almond or oat flour for a lower glycemic index option too, or use your favorite grain-free cake recipe.
The frosting
Because I wanted the try a fancy frosting design, but didn’t want to invest in a whole set up piping bags and frosting tips, I found this shortcut option at Target. So, yes, it was regular, not sugar-free frosting, but you could also opt to make your own no-sugar version using Swerve’s confectioner sugar too!
I’m of course making these cake bites from “leftover” cupcakes, but you could make this recipe purely with the intention of making bites too. In this case, you could just make a side of frosting and a small cake rather than dealing with cupcake liners, tins, decorating etc. Either way works! For these reasons, my amounts of the frosting are “estimates”, but I’ll guide you through what to look for below.
So, if you have your base cake recipe made, let’s get the ball rolling!
Ingredients
12-15 chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting
2 tbsp unflavored collagen peptides- I used 1 heaping scoop of Vital Proteins
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
Instructions
Take your leftover (or freshly made) cake item and either scrape off the icing into a separate bowl or have your side of frosting set aside. Add all of the cake to a large mixing bowl and crumble it up with your clean hands. Add in about half the frosting (let’s say a ½ cup to start) and start to work it together into a “dough”. You can always add more, but essentially you want to add enough to form them into solid, semi-moist bites. Roll the mixture into golf ball sized bites and set aside.
Add your cocoa powder to a bowl, and then roll each cake bite in the cocoa to coat evenly. Place coated bites on a parchment paper-lined tray and place in the freezer for 1 hour or the refrigerator for 2 hours. Enjoy them from the fridge over the next 2 weeks, or store in the freezer for 1-2 months.
Copyright © Casey Seiden Nutrition, LLC | Design by Reach Creative
Copyright © Casey Seiden Nutrition, LLC Design by Reach Creative