The Evil Dessert and the Good Dessert: A Study

I think I may have seen it all, people. While blog surfing, I saw a post about the simplest, most delicious, most hideous dessert you could possibly stuff into your pie hole. Ingredients: yellow cake mix and Diet Sprite. Mix. Bake. Devour. Blimp out.

That’s just eeeeevil, people. lol. I’m not even going to post the photo the lady had, as that would drive you insane with temptation. The dessert probably takes 5 years off your life. Ick.

I used to have such a sweet tooth as a kid (just ask my dentist), but now that I am, um, *ahem* more mature, I prefer a lot less sugar and a lot more greeens. But like any red-blooded gal, I do enjoy a hearty dessert now and then. :D And now that school has started, the kids and I are keen to learning more about healthy eating, maintaining healthy weight, and making good choices. We’ve put our lessons into a little mathematical equation:

(2)(Weight Watchers Golden Sponge Cake) = (Twinkies)(1) = (-1)(tooth)(365 + day)

Yeah. Well, Algebra was never my strong point.

I can’t believe I used to crave Twinkies when I was younger. I won’t let my kids touch them, although they have heard of the Twinkie in more secretive and sordid circles. I’ve tried my best to keep the kids shielded from the evil Twinkie and look for less destructive desserts. But one of the kids spotted the box lurking on the grocery shelf, and the gig was up. He had to try it. Me being the sympathetic yet moralizing mother that I am, decided to make this into a fun little lesson. We’d have a taste test!

So we thought we’d give the Weight Watchers Golden Sponge Cakes a try, too, and compare them in taste and “nutrition” to a Twinkie. I did take photos for this stellar event, but I must have deleted them when I was in my medicated stupor (from my back injury). Sorry about that.

Here’s a break down of the “nutrition” facts for both desserts:

Twinkie:
Calories: 150
Calories from Fat: 40
Total Fat: 4.5g
Sodium: 220mg
Total Carbohydrates: 27g
Calcium, 2%; Iron, 2%

Golden Sponge Cake:
Calories: 80
Calories from Fat: 25
Total Fat: 3g
Sodium: 80mg
Total Carbohydrates: 15g
Calcium, 0%; Iron, 0%

So the WW Golden Sponge Cake is less fattening than the Twinkie, but the Twinkie does have a smidgen of calcium and iron. I wouldn’t go so far as to call a Twinkie nutritious, but if you were trying to deceive yourself so you could eat one, it’d fly.

Then, we tasted them. Like I said, I used to eat Twinkies as a kid. I nearly gagged on it now. The kids ate theirs, but their faces didn’t have the same radiant euphoria that I used to get from eating them. They actually scowled a little. I’m raising them well, hehe. Twinkies are too sweet, with so much sugar that you have to chew it thoroughly to get it down your throat. And once down, your throat burns. The creamy filling is very good, though, like icing. Only a cold glass of milk will wash the toxic trace elements of sugar down the hatch.

The Weight Watchers cakes were definitely lighter and less sweet. They were palatable and easily swallowed, but rather dry. The cream filling was light and not as sweet, and I preferred it to the Twinkie (but I think the kids preferred the sweetness of the Twinkie filling). If I was on Weight Watchers program and had a craving for sweets, I would eat this. But the cakes are so small, I’d be tempted to eat more than a few, and that would defeat the purpose of the Weight Watchers program, wouldn’t it? These cakes would probably be best with a little low-fat vanilla ice cream and some berries sprinkled on them. You couldn’t do that with a Twinkie, that’s for sure.

So the consensus? Twinkies, while filled with nutritious calcium and iron for good strong bones and iron-rich blood, are much too sweet and too fattening. Sponge Cakes, while less sugary and lighter, are too dry and really too light.

So my advice? Stay away from the Twinkies, man. They’ll kill you. Eat your broccoli. And if you really must have a goody fix, the Weight Watchers Golden Sponge Cakes will do, but don’t eat more than one! You can read more about the Weight Watchers program here.