Store bought Sugar Free Cake mix and Sugar Free Icing???

[Southern_Charm]

Hi all!

My husbands birthday is comming up and we are planning him a little celebration....I will likely have a regular cake made for everybody to enjoy. But My husband is following the diet very strictly and doesnt feel comfortable even allowing him a "special occasion" cheat treat. So, Im trying to think of some alternatives both for the desert, and for the meal.

Our local grocery now carries some pillsbury sugar free cake mixes as well as some sugar free icing. I cant speak for thier taste, but was thinking about giving them a try. Im sure I read there were hydorgenated oils in the icing and all in all probably isnt' still hugely "great" for the SBD , and perhaps not with the sugar free cake mixes I think prepared they are still 150 calories for a 12th of a serving, the icing I think was 6gs of fat and 100 calories for 2 table spoons... (just to give you an idea). Though it still may not be ideal, do you guys think it would be a better alternative? Its just going to be a small suprise party for my husbands birthday in a couple months with about 6-8 guests... I was gonna have a really nicely designed custom made cake"regular cake" made for the non dieters, and for my husband but I wanted to have an "alternative" for him to eat in case he's truely not comfortable having a "cheat day". I dont want to have him a suprise party and have nothing he feels comfortable in enjoying.
Also, any ideas for easy made snacks and apetizers would be appreciated....

[Kimboroni]

As you suspected, sugar-free doesn't mean it's SB-friendly. The main ingredient in the frosting is partially hydrogenated oil (trans fats), which is very unhealthy. The cake mix is white flour and more partially hydrogenated oils. So eating this option would still be way off plan, and it probably wouldn't even taste very good. There are also possible side effects from all of the sugar alcohols. I don't know how much experience you've had with those, but I can't have them at all without experiencing a lot of discomfort.

The general advice for SB is that if you're going to eat off plan (and some treating is built into the plan), it should be with premium options. Eat a really good SB-friendly meal, and then a small amount of the best real dessert-- it's going to taste good and be more satisfying than some weird attempt at making it healthier (while still being really unhealthy).

That said, you could probably find a recipe for sugar-free cake that is whole grain with quality ingredients. But it may not have the taste you're looking for. That depends on how successful you've been so far at retraining your taste buds.

As for food, you have many options. Here are a few off hand:
veggies with Ranch dip
cheese and crackers (Wheat Thins, Triscuits, or other whole grain choices)
guacamole for dipping both of the above
rolled up deli meats

[Chris55]

Sugar free cake mix just doesn't sound like a treat to me at all!! Why not have your real wonderful birthday cake and something healthy to go with it, like a pile of dark chocolate covered strawberries? He can have a small sliver of cake and still have his plate filled with something wonderful and festive, and mostly SB friendly.

Usually after you've been following SB for a while, very sweet things are over the top sweet and you can only actually enjoy a small portion. A few bites of real cake will be festive and if it's paired with a nice healthy meal, it shouldn't set off any cravings the next day.

[Southern_Charm]

Well, I didnt think it'd be too tastey either... but we've sorta Or I have anyways have come to get used to things that taste slightly off.... it doesnt bother me too bad. I havent as of yet, noticed any upsets with the sugar free or sugar alcohol things..

My thoughts were, that we've done really well on the diet. 110 pounds between the both of us since January 7th, in about 5 months. Ive done about 52 pounds and he's done a little more. I have periods where I loose nothing for weeks at a time and periods where I'll loose 3-4 pounds a week. We've not really had bad cheats. We make the best decisions possible when we eat out with the execption of my husband having too big a steaks.. lol :O) But most of our "cheats" so far have been diet friendly foods we just might have "too much" of a certain area. Ive noticed I didnt buy nuts or p nut butter for a couple weeks and my loss kicked back up.. I was over doing it there..

But I feel like a "cheat" on a special occasion when we've done this well would be ok. We've done it long enough that the diet foods have become second nature and is just our "normal" groceries now..So, Im in the habbit of putting good food in our home. You cant eat it if its not in the home... But my worry is that I dont think my husband will allow himself to eat the regular birthday cake.... and so I was trying to find him an option he would feel ok with. I would skip cake when I go to other functions but here at home for his birthday I could do a small piece this far into the diet and not get bent out of shape about it... I just want him to "feel" like he has good options. I might do a straberry desert with just sugar free gell , sugar free whip cream and nuts. We have that here sometimes and like it. OR maybe a sugar free chocolate pudding pie, with sugar free whip cream and maybe a nut crust?

One idea I did as an appetizer at another get together not too long ago everybody loved was mini kabobs... they appealed to the dieters and the non dieters. I took the little steak cubes you can buy at the store for stew and I could them up in seasoning.... Then I put them on mini kabob scures and I added chunks of part skim cheese, cucumbers and the cherry tomatoes and they were a hit! None were left! Could even swap the steak for chicken chunks.... But I think I will deffinately make those for our party!

[Kimboroni]

The kabobs sound great!

It's better to go with some of the other options that you mentioned for dessert rather than the SF cake-- there's just not anything remotely "okay" about it because of all the white flour and trans fat. Sugar is the least of its worries.

[Magna]

If I were in your place, I think I'd make a healthy cake (or something similar, like banana bread) - there are some good recipes in the recipe area. Or, you could try making some other healthy dessert.

[SBHereICome]

Congrats on your weight loss so far! I started the same time as you (this is not my first time around). I have lost the SAME amount as you I have five young kids and it isn't always easy for me to follow 100% of the time. I try very hard though I hit a bit of a plateau for a while and found that changing my exercise and/or having a "cheat" (like b-day cake or a b-day dinner out at a restaurant) actually jumpstarted the scale to go down again. I just made sure to drink A LOT of water during and afterwards and returned back to the beachy meals right after. I read about people going for full on cheat days and there is no way I could do that...it would cause me more harm.

As for the cake...is there any reason you can't ask your hubby what he's like? Maybe he is willing to try a SF cake, or a sliver of real cake, or icecream cake? Just make sure to get it out of the house AFTER the b-day so you aren't eatting the leftovers all week

There are A LOT of recipes for SF cake that use WW flour....TONS!!! Carrot cake, banana, cheese cake. Go on pinterest or google the type of restrictions you are looking for. Use spenda, agave, honey, or just banana or apple sauce as your sweetener. You could use cool-whip for a topping if that is your thing.

The first time I did this (years ago) I did all the sweeteners, cool whip, etc. This time we are trying to balance out real food (like a dollop of real whip cream instead of cool whip). It is a learning curve and my scale likes to tell me what doesn't work

[Southern_Charm]

Well Im trying to do this as a "suprise party". He has a small group of friends that he hangs out with and plays some games with etc... it would be a suprise get together of probably no more than 8 people.. I was gonna get him out of the house and do a little decorating and he's a huge comic book collecter etc... ( I personally hate his hobbies) lol But, I wanted to make this small suprise get together "exiciting" and I was gonna have a special suprise theme custom cake made... So Im not intending on making his actual cake... Im just afraid he wont eat it or feel uncomfortable having a small cheat day for his Bday so I will do a recular cake that Im having made, I just want to come up with some other option too just in case he wont eat it... The others in the group Im sure will... My husband has done really well on the diet and Im very proud but he doesnt want to have any cheats... which is good.. and Ive not really had any "bad " cheats, just cheated a little in certain areas of the diet, too many nuts or starches etc... (but I figure if you were gonna cheat, that would be better than a "bad" food). But Id like him to fully enjoy his get together.Ive been trying to get a feel for what he would and would not eat, Ive mentioned b day cake without mentioning my spacific suprise plans and he says he wont have any. Says if he did cheat he'd want to have ice cream... so Maybe i can do the cake and have ice cream too and maybe he will at least have that....
Im very proud that he doesnt want to cheat, but frusterated at what I can do to do his nice custom /hobby cake AND get him something "safe" that he feels comfortable eating. I think he will be pleased that IM going through this trouble and the effort of having him a custom cake made in his hobby.....Also, Im thinking of doing a Subway sandwhich platter.... maybe..
I know normally the bread is too much on the sandwhich for our diet... but, I think the sandwhich platters may be smaller 3 inch sandwhiches.. so Im thinking they might not be all that bad at that size if we get the wheat ones.. Again , may not be SB "ideal" but I thought might not be "too " bad..... there are other dieters in the group but they're diets are not as strict as ours.. so im trying to please everybody. I can do the kabobs and maybe a desert alternative but I dont want to have too much food to come up with on my own because I will have to get him out of the house that day to decorate and get ready. We're having the suprise party in our basement in his "man room" where he and his friends get together to play games etc.. So the plan is to tell him a game day is planned as usual at his buddies house that Saturday afternoon, then the buddy is gonna cancel the night before. We are gonna get his brother to get him out of the house for a couple hours while we decorate and set up... and then the "group" of friends is supposed to show up at OUR house for a regular game day, we're just gonna blind side him. He's got a new "man room" and so he's not hosted a game day here yet and so his first one is gonna be a suprise birthday get together that HE is hosting yet wont know.... So I want it to be special yet simple enough to pull off. I can explain away me in the kitchen cooking a few things... but If Im cooking and specially prepare the food , he might get suspecting. So, Im trying to think of easy things that I can pre order and pick up to make the day go smoother. So I was thinking, I could have the custom cake made and pick up ice cream.... I will make one diet friendly desert... Im thinking of doign something like a sugar free chocolate pie w sugar free whip cream and a nut crust or even do regular crust but feel good that its "part" diet friendly. OR was gonna do a srawberry desert with the sugar free gel and whip cream w nuts on top... I like that alot myself. So I can do the kabobs maybe and a desert. He'll just see me in the kitchen cooking this stuff..... and I wil lhave to explain it away some how like Im experimenting a new desert or something..... Oh wait... maybe I could make a pot of my SB friendly CHicken chilli....I make that all the time anyways and he wouldnt suspect anything.... so I could do that and order a pizza or sandwhich tray for the other guests and have the chilli for a alternative.. ......

[Kimboroni]

Wow, that sounds like a great plan! I bet he'll be thrilled!!!!