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Home » Baking & Desserts » Cupcakes » SPLENDA Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

3 July 2017

SPLENDA Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

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Switching the sugar for SPLENDA in these cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting makes for a delicious, lower calorie treat. 

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Switching the sugar for SPLENDA in these cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting makes for a delicious, lower calorie treat.

Last week I was invited by SPLENDA to try out one of their low sugar recipes and tell you all what I thought about it. I was immediately drawn to their cherry clafoutis as it’s something I’d always wanted to try, but as I’ve never actually had one before I didn’t have a frame of reference to compare it to. Instead I opted to whip up a batch of cupcakes. I consider myself a bit of a cupcake expert (well I make them a lot if that counts) so I can really drill down and see how this low sugar version compares to my usual creations.

The challenge was inspired by recent comments by new Bake Off judge, Prue Leith, saying how she’d love to see more lower sugar, lower fat creations on the show. SPLENDA are passionate about supporting this and want to showcase how alternatives to sugar can be used to make baking that bit healthier.

Switching the sugar for SPLENDA in these cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting makes for a delicious, lower calorie treat.

So how do they really compare?

Initial thoughts…

I’ll admit that I was sceptical when I started this challenge. Not only is sugar a fundamental part of cake recipes in terms of flavour and sweetness, it also forms part of the chemistry of baking. My past experiments how shown me that simply switching from white to brown sugar can make a cake rise differently, so what would switching in something completely different do?

My scepticism wasn’t helped when I got to the supermarket to stock up on SPLENDA. Compared to regular sugar, the box feels weightless (I did wonder if I’d accidentally picked up an empty demo packet) – could something that felt so different really work in a cake?

I got home and it was time to find out…

The truth about the low sugar cakes

Baking with SPLENDA was really no different to baking with regular sugar, aside from the weight difference I mentioned earlier (I used just 16g of SPLENDA whereas I’d have expected to use around 125g of regular sugar for the same amount of sweetness).

This recipe is a little different from most of my cupcake recipes (where I usually just chuck everything into a bowl and mix it all up) as the eggs are separated and the egg whites whisked up to stiff peaks before being added to the cake mix. The addition of the whisked egg whites means the cake puffs up quite a bit in the oven and then falls back a bit as it comes out.

You can see in this picture that they were a little wonky looking!

Switching the sugar for SPLENDA in these cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting makes for a delicious, lower calorie treat.

I was a little worried that this would mean they ended up a bit dense but they were still lovely and light and full of air holes when I tried them.

While the cakes were cooling I made the topping which is a combination of reduced fat cream cheese, lemon juice and zest and then sweetened with some SPLENDA. It’s a lot softer than traditional buttercream icing, but you can see that I still managed to pipe it prettily on the top of the cakes and it held it’s shape quite well.

I did run out of the topping before I’d piped it onto the cakes so I decided to make a double batch (which I’ve refected in the quantities in the recipe below). If you want to simply spoon a little on top then you’d be fine to halve the topping ingredients listed.

Switching the sugar for SPLENDA in these cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting makes for a delicious, lower calorie treat.

But what about the flavour?

So I sat in my kitchen, took a deep breath and had a bite…

Cue a massive sigh of relief and a big smile on my face. As I said before I’d been sceptical about how well the cake would bake and whether using SPLENDA would alter the flavour but I loved them. I really truly did.

The sponge was light and the addition of the milk powder had given it a lovely flavour. The texture was a little different to my usual cupcakes (more of a cross between a sponge and a sponge finger) but I think this was more down to the recipe (with the whisked egg whites) than the SPLENDA and I still really enjoyed it.
 
The topping was just delicious, much lighter and fresher than buttercream icing and with just enough sweetness. I may have gone back and licked the spoon I made it with while I was cleaning up afterwards so none went to waste 🙂 I’d imagine this icing would work really well on a carrot cake, it’s something I’m going to try next time I make one.

If you need any more proof that these cake were actually as yummy as I’m saying here, then the fact that I packed up the remaining cakes and took the along to sell at a school PTA event later that day should say it all (after all they may be lower in fat and sugar but 12 cakes between four of us is still greedy!). People in the school know about my baking and have high expectations, there’s not a chance I would have taken them along if I didn’t think everyone would enjoy them – I have a reputation to maintain 🙂

The great news is that they all sold and helped raise some money for the school.

Switching the sugar for SPLENDA in these cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting makes for a delicious, lower calorie treat.

But what about the calories?

As I mentioned at the start the aim of this exercise was to see whether lower sugar, lower fat baking can still be delicious. However, there are some recipes that claim to the lower and when you actually look at it the difference is barely noticeable.

I’ve done a quick comparison of the calories, fat and sugar in these cakes compared to my vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream and here’s what I found…

I think you’ll agree that’s quite a significant reduction!

Switching the sugar for SPLENDA in these cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting makes for a delicious, lower calorie treat.

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Sugar-Free-Cupcakes-3

SPLENDA Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Switching the sugar for SPLENDA in these cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting makes for a delicious, lower calorie treat.
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Active Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Servings: 12 cupcakes
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INGREDIENTS

For the cupcakes

  • 16 g SPLENDA granulated
  • 125 g low fat spread
  • 125 g self-raising flour
  • ¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 75 g skimmed milk powder
  • 2 eggs - separated
  • 4 tbsp water

Equipment

  • 12 cupcake cases

For the cream cheese topping

  • 300 g reduced fat soft cheese
  • 1 lemon - juice and zest
  • 2 tbsp SPLENDA granulated

INSTRUCTIONS

  • Pre-heat your oven to 180ºC/160ºC fan.
  • Cream together the low fat spread (125g) and SPLENDA granulated (16g).
  • In a separate bowl, sift together the self-raising flour (125g), bicarbonate of soda (¾tsp) and skimmed milk powder (75g).
  • Beat the egg yolks (2 yolks) into the creamed butter and SPLENDA, then mix in the sifted ingredients. Mix in the water (4tbsp).
  • In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff then carefully fold them into the cake mixture.
  • Put your cupcake cases into a 12-hole muffin tin and then equally divide the mixture between the cupcake cases.
  • Bake for 15-20 minutes until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
  • Once cooked, move the cakes onto a wire rack to cool.
  • While the cupcakes are cooling make your topping by mixing together the reduced fat cream cheese (300g), lemon juice (1 lemon), lemon zest (1 lemon) and SPLENDA granulated (2 tbsp).
  • Decorate your cupcakes with the topping.
  • Enjoy!

NOTES

Adapted from this recipe from SPLENDA.
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NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

Calories: 147kcal | Carbohydrates: 13.7g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 6.9g | Saturated Fat: 2.9g | Sodium: 240mg | Fiber: 0.5g | Sugar: 4.2g

Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.


Course: Dessert, Snack
Cuisine: American, British
Keyword: Baking with children, Lemon Dessert, Lemon Fairy Cakes, Party Food, Sponge Cake
Author: Charlotte Oates

 

Switching the sugar for SPLENDA in these cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting makes for a delicious, lower calorie treat.

Free From/Suitable For…

  • Suitable for Vegetarians
  • Corn-Free
  • Nut-Free
  • Soy-Free

The ingredients for this recipe are easily available free from all these allergens. However, please ensure you double-check allergen information for all ingredients.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Colette says

    April 27, 2022 at 9:01 am

    Hi Charlotte
    Could you use any sweetener in this recipe or does it have to be splenda
    Best wishes
    Colette

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      April 29, 2022 at 5:22 pm

      It was designed by Splenda and I’ve not tested it with other sweeteners so I’m not sure how well it would work – sorry.

  2. Julie Streatfield says

    September 29, 2020 at 7:09 pm

    Hi Charlotte
    Thanks for posting this, going to try it tomorrow if we can still find milk powder on the shelves :). How can I size up this recipe to a two-twin cake please?
    Many thanks
    Jules

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      October 02, 2020 at 12:00 pm

      I haven’t tested this recipe as a larger cake as the recipe was provided to me by Splenda so isn’t one I developed myself – sorry.

  3. Maureen says

    November 22, 2019 at 7:27 pm

    Is the nutritional information for 1 cake?

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      November 22, 2019 at 7:44 pm

      Yes

  4. Lyn says

    September 16, 2018 at 11:39 am

    These look great. As there is just the two of us at home now, I wondered if these freeze ok.

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      September 18, 2018 at 3:39 pm

      I’ve not tried freezing them. I would expect the undecorated sponge to freeze OK but I wouldn’t freeze them with the frosting.

  5. Kerry says

    August 08, 2018 at 6:45 am

    I would really like to try this recipe but is there a dairy-free alternative? I can substitute most things but the skimmed milk powder is throwing me!

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      August 09, 2018 at 3:29 pm

      I’ve not tried it but I’ve been told that you can buy powdered coconut milk which works as an alternative.

  6. Rose says

    February 06, 2018 at 3:38 pm

    Hi Charlotte, thank you so much for sharing your recipes as i have had a great experience using them : -)) your recipes are very easy to use and straight forward!

    Can you please share a good recipe for cream cheese icing on cupcakes?

    Many thanks

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      February 06, 2018 at 9:58 pm

      Unfortunately that’s not something I have at the moment. I’ll add it to my list to add on here soon.

    • Rose says

      February 07, 2018 at 2:59 pm

      Will keep an eye out… looking forward to it :)) thank you x

  7. Mandy says

    July 18, 2017 at 12:27 pm

    These look and sound lovely Charlotte – so interesting to see the nutritional table at the end – what a huge difference!

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      July 23, 2017 at 6:50 pm

      I was very surprised when I worked it out. The biggest difference is in the icing, buttercream is a shocker for calories, fat and sugar.

  8. Kathy says

    July 10, 2017 at 12:45 pm

    What is “low fat spread”?

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      July 12, 2017 at 9:48 pm

      Lower fat margarine. If you have a look here it’s the ones labelled “light” https://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/search/default.aspx?searchBox=light+margarine&newSort=true&search=Search

  9. Mimi says

    July 06, 2017 at 5:40 pm

    These are so summer and cute! xx

    Reply

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