Halo Top Joins The Baking Aisle With Single-Serve Cake Mix Cups

Move over Betty Crocker, Halo Top is coming for your crown, or rather for your rubber spatula. The light ice cream brand is moving out of the freezer and into the fire with a new line of lower-calorie baking mixes. Halo Top has made a name for itself by offering indulgent ice cream that keeps up with full fat and calorie brands at a reduced caloric intake. In fact, in 2017, the brand surpassed Ben and Jerry's and Häagen-Dazs as the best-selling ice cream in America (per Business Wire). 

And why shouldn't it? It's packed with protein and designed with the idea in mind that you're going to want to eat the whole thing in one sitting, instead of the measly one-third of the container you're allotted with one serving of Ben & Jerry's (per Thrillist). According to Business Wire, Halo Top was also the first low-cal brand to have a recipe using all-natural ingredients. Now that the company has fully conquered the ice cream aisle and cemented its name as a heavy hitter among other big names in ice cream, Halo Top's next step is bringing its signature flair to baked goods.

Halo Top is getting ready to bring five light but indulgent options to an oven or microwave near you. According to a press release, you can expect one-third of the calories from these treats that you would find in competing brands. Three of these decadent options are single-serve cake cups that come in adorable replicas of Halo Top ice cream cartons. These individual cakes boast that they cook up in minutes and have only 170 calories a piece. The cake cups are available in strawberry, chocolate, and birthday cake (via Halo Top).

The other two offerings from Halo Top's ambitious new line are a brownie mix and a "light cookie mix." The brand's Fudge Brownie Light Brownie Mix is only 90 calories a brownie compared to the 160 you can expect from a regular brownie. The cookie mix is Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip and contains only 80 calories per cookie.

Unfortunately, at least as far as we know, these baked goods do not pack a protein punch like their frozen cousins. A classic flavor of the original ice cream, Birthday Cake, clocks in at 16 grams a carton (per Target). Protein makes you feel more full, and Healthline notes that eating more protein can even reduce calorie consumption. So while these treats may be reduced cal, they may not help you stave off the cravings in the long run — but hey, downing a high protein pint of Halo Top ice cream might.