Q. Dear Recipe Doctor, I like recipes that call for cake mixes but so many of them ask for a cube of butter or 1/2 cup of oil, plus lots of other ingredients that pour on the fat and calories. Can you lighten up this milk chocolate pound cake recipe for me?

A. I loved this reader's request so much I turned it into a monthlong series! I'm starting with the pound cake but from there I'm lightening up a peanut butter bar that calls for cake mix, a white chocolate raspberry cake, and a German chocolate cake cookie recipe that uses a cake mix. So stay tuned.

Cake mixes already have some fat in the dry mix, so you don't need to add any additional fat. You do, however, need to add something in place of the butter or oil that will provide the same amount of moisture and hopefully has a flavor that will complement (and won't compete with) the other flavors in the dessert.

The original milk chocolate pound cake recipe calls for a cup of sour cream and we can easily use a tasty fat-free variety. It also calls for 1/2 cup vegetable oil, and instead I used light cream cheese, which I thought would help maintain the characteristic pound cake texture. I also added 2 higher omega-3 eggs and 1/2 cup of egg substitute instead of 4 eggs. These changes reduced the calories by 90 and cut the fat, saturated fat and cholesterol in half.

Original recipe contains 330 calories, 18 grams fat, 6 grams saturated fat, and 62 milligrams cholesterol per serving.

MADEOVER MILK CHOCOLATE POUND CAKE