How to get the very best from your low-calorie  cake mix 

Making a cake with the Lo-Dough Vanilla Sponge Mix is super easy. Our just add water mix is designed to be as simple as possible to use while keeping the calories and carbs super-low, the fibre high and the gluten out! 

That said, below, we've got a few pointers to make sure each bake is tip top. 

Flavouring and customising the mix

We've created a universal, vanilla flavoured mix that can satisfy all our customers, no matter what their diet; what you do with it is entirely up to you. If your diet allows it and you have a particularly sweet tooth, feel free to add a couple of table spoons of sugar to our mix. If vanilla isn't your thing, you could add any other flavouring; the existing vanilla flavour will complement it nicely, be it chocolate, lemon, ginger, etc. Likewise, before baking, add fruits, choc chips, nuts, colours and anything else you like.

You may need to slightly adjust the amount of water you put in to compensate for any additional powdered ingredients added.

The Tin/Mould

You have several options here, but the most important thing is getting the size right. Our mix is made to fit a 15cm/6-inch sandwich tin or mould. Check out the mould in our shop!

We recommend a silicone mould as it means no greasing and lining, but a lined tin is fine. By making the cake in a 15cm/6-inch tin/mould, you are guaranteed enough height to slice in half horizontally and make a sandwich cake. Each sixth of a cake is perfectly calculated to give you a 7g fibre boost, for just 49 kcal, 1g carbs and 0 sugar, all the while being gluten free. 

If you do use a larger tin, you will get a flatter cake. Perfectly delicious, and the same calories and carbs per sixth, but a flatter, slightly less moist cake to eat.

Alternatively, you might like to make muffins. We use a tray that makes 6 x 7cm (2.75-inch) muffins.

Again, silicone trays are great for this, but if you want to bake them in muffin papers in a metal tray you can too. Just be sure to grease the papers first.

We have found for a loaf cake, the best size to go for is 18cm x 7.5cm (x 5cm deep). Use a silicone mould or line a tin as above. We grease using low-cal spray oil to ensure our fats are under control. 

Finally, for the quickest hot dessert ever, you can microwave a portion of the mix in a mug to make a mug cake, as directed on the packet. If you take a mug cake portion out of the mix, it is best to use up the remaining mix in this way, or as muffins. 

The bowl of water...

On our packet we recommend adding a separate bowl of water into the oven and some people have asked what this is for. By doing this before baking your cake, you are creating a steam environment for your cake to bake in. This will help it rise a little AND keep it moist. If you miss this step, it's not the end of the world, but you might find your finished bake a little flatter and a little crustier at the edges—don't worry, it will still taste incredible! 

Cooling

We recommend cooling in the mould/tin for 15minutes before transferring to a rack. This is as much for safety as anything else, but the residual heat in the tin/mould will continue cooking the cake.

Dressing it up

Alongside what you add to the mix, this is where you can really make this cake your own. Let's face it, plain vanilla cake is a little boring as it is. Dress according to your diet and tastes with cream, jam, frosting, chocolate, peanut butter, cream fraiche, low-sugar syrups etc. Serve with hot or cold custard or low-cal ice cream. 

We are super proud of our Vanilla Sponge Mix and have been eating cakes several days a week since developing it. We hope you can enjoy and get the very best out of it—make sure to share your results with us on social!