Have you ever heard of a chocolate cupcake that provides 60% of the Vitamin A you needed in a day? Today is your lucky day!

My first experience with surprise cake was a layer cake made with spice cake mix and pumpkin pie spice. It tasted good. However, if it is not chocolate I usually don’t spend the calories on cake. We experimented a bit and came up with chocolate cupcakes made with pumpkin and apple juice. Believe it or not, there is no oil added at all.

I love this recipe because it is super simple, lower in calories than the usual cupcake, and more nutritious. I bought a pack of 6 juice boxes which I use just for this cake. It is super moist so I freeze what I am not going to use in the next 4 days .

 Chocolate Surprise Cupcakes

Serving Size: 1 cupcake | Serves: 24 | Cost Per Serving: .12

Ingredients: 

• 1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin
• 1  box (18 ounces) chocolate cake mix
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup (6 ounces) apple juice
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts *

*the walnuts are optional, but they are included in the nutrition facts

Instructions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease or spray muffin tins.
2. Combine the pumpkin, cake mix, eggs, and apple juice in a large mixing bowl.
3. Beat batter well. Fill muffin tins 2/3 full of batter. Sprinkle walnuts on top.
4. Bake according to package directions for cupcakes (about 20 minutes).
5. Cupcakes are done when a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean.
6. Let cool on rack for 5-10 minutes. Remove from tin.

Options:

• You can use a white or spice cake mix with 1 tablespoon of cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice added to batter instead of the chocolate cake.
• 1/3 cup measure works well to scoop batter into muffin tin.

• Instead of cupcakes you can bake the cake in 9 x 13-inch cake pan or 10 x 15-inch jelly roll pan. Use toothpick method in Step #5 to test for doneness.
• Serve with low fat or fat free frozen whipped topping.