I have a friend that has asked me to make her a cake... she is diabetic. Does anyone have a good recipe for the cake and also what kind of icing could I use? Thanks for your help.

I made a lemon poundcake with Splenda that turned out great. The filling was fresh blueberries reduced with in a "sugar syrup" made with Splenda. I just used my normal lemon poundcake recipe (you can find a good one on food network) and substituted the Granulated Splenda. I added 1/2 cup evaporated milk and 1/2 tsp. baking soda, as stated on the splenda packaging. The lemon was nice because it covered up any "fake" taste without being too overpowering. I do all my cakes in fondant, and although I found a diabetic BC recipe, I read that diabetic BC will break down MMF, so i used my normal sugar laddened recipes for those and just told the people they would only be able to eat the cake and filling (which is fine since half the people pull up the fondant, anyway....)

It is very nice of you to want to do the right thing for your friend. Does she expect you to make a sugar free cake for her? If she did not ask for that, you might want to make sure.

Most people who are not diabetics usually think that sugar is the problem. I'm a diabetic and I can tell you it's not just sugar...it's carbs in general. Flour, fruit, milk...all carbs. For example, the 1/2 cup of evaporated milk in the recipe Bskinne used has 169 calories and 13 grams Carbs. That is one "carb serving" just in the milk. In general, one 2x2x2 serving of plain yellow cake, no icing, is 1 carb serving + 1 fat serving. With icing is 2 carbs + 2 fat.

Is she on insulin? Is she type 2 or type 1? I have a regular client who orders cakes a couple of times a year. Her teenage daughter is a type 1 (insulin dependent) and they just order my regular cake. The daughter guesstimates the carbs in the serving of cake and adjusts her insulin accordingly.

I am type 2 and not on any meds. Personally, I count carbs, so I would adjust the other foods at my meal (skip a slice of bread or 1/2 cup mashed potatoes, or both) to allow for a serving of regular cake, if I really wanted some.

Incidentally, I have lost 95 lbs in the past year with exercise and counting carbs, and my labs are all in normal range now.

Good luck!

Anne/Sugar-Frosted,

Thank you so much for the simple and informative lesson on carbs and diabetes. We know so much more than we did 40 years ago about how to regulate blood glucose.

And *this* is pretty darn amazing. You should be a role model and coach for other diabetics!

You show that you can bake your cake and eat it, too.

dawncr, Thanks so much!

I'm always happy to help...

but sometimes unfortunately, I get on my soapbox. I hope no one was offended by my mini-lecture :\\

Nope, not offended. I was hoping someone would say it. Thanks for the education!

Oh my goodness, in no way was I offended. You were straightforward but not condescending, at all.

Many of us around here are happy to learn more about how to adapt cakes for 'special' diets/allergies.

Having said that, is it even possible or necessary to create a lower-carb cake? As you said, you'd rather have a small piece of regular cake, and work it into your plan.