Just Desserts: Diet-Friendly Baking Tips

Crack Down on Eggs

Use two egg whites or a quarter cup of egg substitute in place of one egg and you'll trim about 60 calories and six grams of fat from your treats. You can skip eggs altogether by combining a half teaspoon of baking powder, one tablespoon of vinegar and one tablespoon of water, says Patricia Kendall, PhD, RD, a professor of food science and human nutrition at Colorado State University. Or mix together one tablespoon of omega-3-rich ground flaxseed with three tablespoons of water.

Make It Your Fizzness

Mix a can of diet soda into a cake mix and, voilà! You have a moist, fluffy dessert -- for just 160 calories and two grams of fat per piece. "Most dry mixes already contain some fat, so you don't need to add oil or all those eggs," Galeaz explains. She combines one box of devil's food cake mix with a 12-ounce can of diet cola and an egg white. "It works in other combinations too," she adds. Consider using diet cream soda in white or yellow cake, or diet root beer in a chocolate mix.