Fun with angel food cake

Over the past few weeks I've really started to notice that the sun is coming up a lot earlier and staying up a lot later. Definitely a sign that spring is on the way, which is fantastic! There is nothing worse than leaving for work in the dark and coming home in the dark, it really just makes you feel that your day was consumed by the office.

Of course longer days and the beginnings of spring are also an indicator that we will soon be exchanging our sweaters and sweatshirts for shorts and dare I say, bathing suits! As scary as that sounds, it is also good motivation to get moving and to get some healthier items on the Gribble Menu. So I decided to do some experimenting with angel food cake and cool whip the other night.

First up were Pineapple Crush Angel Cakes (still working on the title, perhaps someone has a better suggestion)-

I took the easy route, (because, while Martha is my gal, I also enjoy Sandra Lee and her "semi-homemade" ways) and used an angel food cake mix. The box didn't have instructions for cupcakes, but I figured it had to be possible, so I fiddled with the cooking time and everything worked out just fine.

Then I took a can of crushed pineapple, drained it a little before pouring into a bowl and then added a packed of instant sugar free vanilla pudding mix. I mixed that together and then started adding in fat free Cool Whip until I had the consistancy that I wanted.

Then I just used my pineapple topping as if it were icing. Yummy and very few calories (a big plus!)


After I made the cupcakes (I just made a dozen) I still had a ton of batter leftover, so I decided to make a bundt cake out of the rest. I don't have a tube pan, so had to use an intricate bundt pan which concerned me as I've yet to get a cake to come out nice and clean from it, but I figured I'd give it a try. The cake actually looked pretty good coming out, but it was still a bear to clean up (Andy has hidden said pan from me as he is tired of having to clean it! ha)

I wasn't sure what to top this with so I simply took some raspberry preserves (Andy's favorite!) and mixed it in with the rest of the cool whip.

I then drizzled it on top. Both desserts turned out to be pretty tasty, pretty healthy, and well, pretty!