Product Review: Pillsbury Sugar Free Cake Mix & Frosting
06 Jul 2010 24 Comments
in Product Reviews Tags: product reviews
Please note, this blog is in no way associated with Pillsbury or with any other product I review here. This is a weightloss surgery blog and I review products that compatible with weightloss surgery. While comments are welcome and appreciated, please understand that they will not be communicated back to Pillsbury unless of course, they do a search and find this blog. Thanks.
Last week I found that Pillsbury makes sugar free cake mixes, frostings and brownie mixes now. I ordered some from smuckers.com, and last night I tried the yellow cake mix and fudge frosting**.
First of all, the cake mix itself mixed up well – and didn’t have a strange texture as I’ve found with other sugar free baking mixes. The frosting also had a good texture and after a quick taste test (prior to baking…ahem) they had no sicky sweet after taste that can come from sugar free products.
The mix and instructions were your standard – you add 3 eggs, 1 c. of water and 1/3 cup of water. It does bake at a lower temp than standard mixes – 325 instead of 350. But it bakes up nice and fluffy and it does come out really moist.
The frosting spread well and retained a good consistancy.
The real test came with the tasting. It is really good. It bakes into 12 servings. I halved that and cut it into 24 pieces (I used a 9X13 pan). It is moist, not overly sweet, and has a wonderful texture. All in all, I’d give it 4 out of 5 stars.
Here’s the product info:
FactsServing Size 1/12 package (38g mix) Servings Per Container 12
Amount per ServingCalories 120 Calories from Fat 30
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 3.5g5%
Saturated Fat 1.5g7%
Trans Fat 0g
Total Carbohydrate 29g 10%
Dietary Fiber <1g 3%
Sugars 0g
SugarAlcohol 15g
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 280mg 12%
Protein 1g
Ingredients:ENRICHED BLEACHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, IRON, THIAMIN MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID), MALTITOL, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL, BAKING POWDER (BAKING SODA, MONOCALCIUM PHOSPHATE, SODIUM ALUMINUM PHOSPHATE), CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: PROPYLENE GLYCOL MONOESTERS, CELLULOSE, SALT, MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, XANTHAN GUM, PROPYLENE GLYCOL ESTERS OF FATTY ACIDS, CELLULOSE GUM, POLYSORBATE 60, ACESULFAME POTASSIUM (NON NUTRITIVE SWEETENER), SODIUM STEARATE, SUCRALOSE (NON NUTRITIVE SWEETENER), DATEM, RED 40, YELLOW 5, TBHQ AND CITRIC ACID (ANTIOXIDANTS).
**NOW – this product says it is sweetened with Splenda, but be warned – it contains sugar alcohols in the form of maltitol – SO, if you decide to bake it up, please for all that is good and holy, only eat the proper portion sizes, or you’ll be running to the bathroom. AND, even at the approved portion sizes, it may cause gastric distress.
Jul 06, 2010 @ 13:59:02
Wow! It’s about time! I don’t have a hard time with sugars, but even putting sugar free frosting on a cake will help keep the calories and carb intake down! Thanks for the info!
Jul 06, 2010 @ 15:20:19
I’m a definite dumper, so I was glad to have found this. I may have to wait until after summer is over to try the other products though – it also comes in a devils food cake, vanilla icing, and then fudge brownie mix and milk chocolate brownie mix. It’s just too danged hot to light up my oven again!
This will definitely be for a special occasion kind of treat though. The calorie counts listed don’t include the frosting – it’s 90 calories for 2 tbsp of frosting. I only used about half the tub though.
Jul 11, 2010 @ 22:59:26
Yes! Thanks for this post – cake is one of my weaknesses. It has been one of the hardest things to eliminate on my bariatric diet. I will absolutely give it a try.
Jul 24, 2010 @ 23:12:50
Where can you buy the sugar free cake mix, and espicially the frosting. I live in NJ and can’t find it? I would but it online if a website sells it. If anyone knows, please let me know. Thanks!
Jul 25, 2010 @ 13:21:24
Bill – I found them online at smuckers.com
Sep 06, 2010 @ 14:03:47
i bought the yellow cake mix last week and just make it and used the chocolate frosting. its yummy and moist. i have only had one pice so fare and loved it. my bf who says he wont eat sugar free stuff like that has almost eaten the whole cake lol. this is great because i have diabetes of course i know it has carbs.
Oct 15, 2010 @ 18:08:20
I had gastric bypass March 2008 and I’m down 120 pounds! I got a tip from one of my weight watcher friends to make cake using one box of mix and one 8 oz. can of DIET 7 up (replaces water, eggs, and oil). It’s very yummy! Just a slight hint of lemon/lime. You can add in a couple egg whites for extra protein. Plus you can skip the frosting if you top it with sugar free cool whip. Very low cal. I recommend cupcakes to keep portions under control.
Nov 04, 2010 @ 00:24:41
I found this at a local store yesterday, but they will not continue to carry it. I will have travel about 60 miles to get it or order it online. But it is well worth it! The cake and icing are awesome! My DH and I are diabetic and an occasional treat of this dessert will make us feel almost normal.
Feb 06, 2011 @ 21:43:43
I bought and tried the sugar free yellow cake mix and sugar free chocolate frosting. Made it for my husband’s birthday. He’s a “cakeaholic” and really liked it, but it gave him crazy gas. I am guessing it’s the malitol ingredient. As much I like to save calories whenever possible, I will not buy the sugar free products again because it’s not worth the gas problem for my husband. Thank you.
Mar 07, 2011 @ 17:19:59
We had the same problem! I made these great “sugar-free” cupcakes with “sugar-free” icing and we all ended up with bad gas and much discomfort.
Jun 22, 2011 @ 16:33:50
I was searching on the web for something to explain what a lousey weekend I had with bloating and horrific gas. I had made the sugar free cake and frosting for my husband’s birthday (he is pre diabetic). We took 5 days to eat the cake (just the 2 of us), but whatever the portion size…I guess 1/10 of the cake each serving, I was in great distress…with out of town company, a huge party, and 3 days of events. (The guests and BBQ for 100 had a regular cake.) I am glad to know the source of the trouble and will not use this product again. I’m still eating only oatmeal 3 days later to try to get the insides feeling right again.
Mar 07, 2011 @ 01:46:55
I tried the Sugar Free chocolate cake mix and frosting and I had to throw it out…it was dry and had no flavor…the frosting was so thick I could hardly spread it…I was very disappointed in this product not to mention wasting 3 eggs on it…we could not even eat it…maybe the reduced sugar cake mixes would be better but these are horrible!
Mar 13, 2011 @ 08:07:00
Did you notice the 2 grams of trans fat in the sugar free chocolate fudge frosting?
Mar 26, 2011 @ 16:45:45
I just tried to bake the devils chocolate sugar free cake for a birthday & it looked beautiful coming out of the oven but once it was out it started to shrivel up! Any suggestions of what I might try to relieve this from happening if I try it again? It was baked in a metal pan, don’t know as if that would cause it? Please help with any suggestions thanks!!
Mar 30, 2011 @ 02:29:06
I too, tried this sugar free cake, and it gave me HORRIBLE hot gas all day long…. I couldnt figure out where it came from, until I found it about the Malitol… ugh..not worth it.. theres only a 40 calorie difference from the regular… Id rather have the extra calories and by pass the “pass”.. lol
Apr 03, 2011 @ 19:32:17
i found the Pillsbury sugar freecake mix/frosting about 3 weeks ago.iused just have the batter,my husband is on pills plus shotsand checked his sugar real closeand his sugar was fine.I’ve been back to the stores and i can’t find them on shelves.even asked the stores in hometown to check their listings,but can’t order it.NEED HELP.finally find something for sf desserts and now we can’t get. would appreciate any help. thanks meryl stanford 120 Martin St. Poplarville,Ms.39472 ph.6017954766
Apr 03, 2011 @ 23:32:57
Please note this site is not affiliated with Pillsbury – You can order the cake mixes online however through smuckers.com.
Apr 25, 2011 @ 22:34:31
Sugar Free Devils Food Cake mix is Ok. Just not as much as a chocolate flavor as the regular mix. However, it is moist. The sugar free frosting is awful! I made cupcakes for my sons teacher who is diabetic and I honestly fear serving them to the class tomorrow! My family says that it takes like cardboard. I think it’s just alright. Wouldn’t try it again. It’s very hard to smear on a moist cooled cupcake. I should have just used a very small amount of the regular frosting. Will be keeping my fingers crossed!
Jun 20, 2011 @ 23:20:14
DO BE WARNED – This DOES cause gastic problems and IT DID in 3 out of 4 family members that ate a slice of cake. All of us had stomach aches, and were in the bathroom the next day ALOT. I don’t think we will buy this anymore. We did not have unusually large slices of the cake. The pain wasn’t worth the pleasure of a slice of sugar free cake.
Jun 21, 2011 @ 14:40:46
Um yeah I had two slices of cake with the frosting and I swear to god I suffered from the gas well into the next day after eating it. Therefore be warned! It tastes great at a price.
Aug 13, 2011 @ 07:22:57
We had the same problem with a cake we had at a friend’s home. The cake looked great, yellow cake with chocolate frosting. My poor husband had lots of gas. He was worse off than I was he ate a huge piece, he can’t eat sugar at all he gets very ill. He is Hypoglycemic. I hope the other guest we brought a 93 year old is OK, as we are younger and can survive this, but that much gas can effect someone her age. Will check her out tomorrow. My husband is a chemist, and he figured it out that it must have Malitol. We didn’t make it or read the label on box. You all have mentioned that Malitol is a main ingredient for sweetening the cake. I couldn’t eat it too sweet for me but I must have had enough to give me gas as well. It was great of Pillsbury to come up with a product like this, but maybe they better try Splenda instead and see if that works out better for customers interested in a sugar-free dessert. Thank you Pillsbury. Maybe make a cake where you add your own Splenda at home, this way we can try to see how little we can get away with in our cake mix.
Aug 25, 2011 @ 16:32:21
Well does anyone have an easy cake recipe I can make that’s sugar free. Need a little cake for bride she’s diabetic. HELP…………..
Oct 22, 2011 @ 16:08:12
I have discovered Stevia. It’s an all natural sweetener from the Stevia plant. Japan and Canada as well have been using it for many years. It has no Malitol and no gastric problems are associated with it. I make the cake from the back of the cocoa can and used half sugar and half Stevia. It was so good. I did use the sugar free frosting from Pillsbury. We had no gas or bloating from it and it tasted wonderful. I imagine you might be able to replace the sugar cup for cup, but I had bad luck with Splenda that way, so I didn’t try it.
Sep 11, 2011 @ 08:54:09
For a decent low-carb, gluten-free, high protein, high fiber cake substitute, Google for “Black Bean Brownies.” (I would have called it light chocolate cake, instead of brownies). I substituted Splenda for the little bit of sugar in the recipe and it worked fine. It is a concoction of black beans, ricotta cheese, eggs and cocoa powder. Variations include using white instead of black beans, leaving out the cocoa and adding carrots or zucchini, and spices. Can make muffins & pancakes with it too. I refrigerate left-overs. I can’t quite see letting beans, eggs & cheese sit around at room temperature. What I froze thawed nicely with a light zap in the micro.