Okay, i have only had a few disasters... but it just seems like it is all the dang time! I had one again today.

I was making a birthday cake for my dh's 73-year-old grandpa. He loves fishing. he is diabetic. I have never made a sugar-free cake before. They requested chocolate with chocolate icing. I had a really hard time finding a chocolate sugar-free recipe... i finally found one. i couldn't really find a chocolate icing recipe... i used a sugar-free icing recipe that didn't specify flavor (i used chocolate pudding).

anyway... i made the cake, i made my first fondant figure... a little fishing dude. The plan was to make a fishing guy, a dock, and little fishies.

I got the dude done, the fishies done, made the cakes yesterday.

i iced the sugar-free tier this morning, and immediately realized i had a problem. It was completely unstable. It started melting. I put it on top of the sheet cake, and it was melting brown streaks and making little brown puddles (AAAAAAAAAHHH!) i was able to soak them up, and put it in the fridge. I decided that i would cover the sides with fondant, thinking it would slow down the melt. I had originally planned only on "wooden" planks on the top.

I covered the sides of the dock with fondant and made little wood braces for the sides.

we had to leave for the party. It was still melting, except now it was black and brown streaks. Goody.

we got there and i started putting it together. i am apparently a moron and didn't think about the added weight of the figure, and the plank he was sitting on started migrating... and he started leaning further and further back.. and it was shifting some of the writing. I finally broke an extra skewer, scooted him back and sat him up and crammed it in behind him, which stopped the migration.

i added the fishies and soaked up as much of the puddles as i could. It just made me want to scream. It seemed like a hit, despite all its troubles though.

My dh, who is ever supportive said that all they were expecting was a sheet cake, so whatever i did extra they would be thrilled with, and were.

you can see the black leaking underneath the dock.. i didn't even bother taking a picture of the writing... i was very disappointed in myself.

Well... for one thing, sugar-free anything is pretty darn tough, especially cakes and frosting.

Don't be so hard on yourself. You should have seen my first (and only) attempt a at sugar-free cake and frosting. The cake tasted okay, but the frosting was beyond bad. This was over 10 years ago and I can still taste it! About 10 minutes after I frosted the layer cake, the top layer slid off! The frosting was oozing down the sides. It was beyond bad.

I think your cake looks great and you did a great job of fixing the problems. That's the mark of a good decorator.

Michele

Don't worry.. that's how we learn. Things happen, I've also had trouble with baking anything that is sugar free or uses a sugar subsitiute such as splenda. They just never seem to turn out for me. If all the family expected was a sheet cake I'm sure they loved it...good luck with your next sugar free baking adventure. Keep all the CCer's in mind if you find a good sugar free cake or icing recipe.

I agree... suagar free anything is hard! you did a great job! sorry it was so tough on you.

I flat out refuse to do sugar free any thing. I am afraid that someone will go into a coma and blame me for it not being sugar free enough. Live with a diabetic husband. He understands.

my dh tried the cake (pre-frosting) and said it tasted ok, but he isn't used to sugar-free stuff. He thought the icing was quite good. It is called Sugar-Free Frosting and submitted by Chelsey. I just used chocolate pudding, like i said... Note: very unstable... maybe the recipe should say that

Your cake looked great. I understand about the sugar free. It's really difficult to find good recipes.

Maybe next time it wont be so bad. I would think that if you were to use a type of sugar free chocolate like hershey's sugar free that you can find in the candy section. You could made a really stiff ganache that might work better next time, just make sure you use some flavoring to help with the taste. I have made ganache with rice or soy milk before hence the flavoring is important, the richness is not really there, but the taste is ok and it's a real treat for people who cannot have the sugar and fat.

I know MamaBerry mentioned a few low sugar sweeteners in another post, she uses Stevia a lot. I could not find the other post. You might want to PM her.
Just not sure how it would work in Chocolate or in icing since it's a very green type of powder.

Good Luck Next time

Lilypie, I'm sure sorry about all your troubles but I think your fisher guy cake is great! I'm pretty easily disappointed in myself at times too. I don't even take pics of the cakes I'm disappointed in. I don't need reminders. Yours looks really good to me. Sounds like it was a hit so good for you!

I like your cake .Its cute.can you give me the recipe for sugar free frosting ,I searched but didnot find it .Thanks

Versatile cream cheese frosting flavored with sugar-free instant pudding. It will frost one 9x13 or one 2 layer cake. Use any flavor of pudding mix.


1 (1.4 ounce) package sugar-free instant pudding mix
1 3/4 cups milk
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 (8 ounce) container lite frozen whipped topping, thawed


1 In a medium bowl, combine pudding mix and milk. Mix well and let stand until thickened.

2 In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add pudding and mix well. Finally, fold in whipped topping.

That was the recipe i found. hth!

Thank you so much .Iam having few guest over in July and one of them is diabetic ,I am so happy now he can have cake too.Thanks again.

Poor thing! Dont worry, the only way I learn is the hard way!

Hey thanks Lilypie, I'll try that one soon. My mom and bil are diabetic.

I used the sugar free cream cheese icing from here that I found and it was WONDERFUL. Very easy to decorate with, I made the 2 tiered square with green roses that's in my pics with it. The only problem I had was smoothing with it. I had to freeze the cake to get the cining smooth, but well worth it, they didn't even know the cake was sugar free!!!

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-1970-8-Sugar-free-cream-cheese-icing.html

This one sounds good too, but how sugar free is this recipe if it has honey in it?

Lilypie

I was reading your post and had to say how cute that baby is. Is that a picture of your son? Adorable!!!

K here's what I am thinking. Hmm. Because Sugar Free icings don't have the sugar they aren't going to be near as stable as american buttercream. So that being said, I think that maybe next time just forgo trying to get the frosting to decorate and just base frost the cake with a decent layer of the stuff and then cover it with fondant. They can pull the fondant off if it's an issue and then the frosting is sealed onto the cake and the diabetics or people with other sugar problems can just get rid of the fondant and the cake still looks great and everyone is happy.
I wouldn't try to do anything elaborate with such a frosting. It's like trying to nail jello to a wall. I would just keep it simple.

chaptlps - nice analogy! seems quite accurate!

i guess i should have sealed the whole thing in fondant before it really had a chance to run... but it was running out the bottom!

and yes, my avatar is of my youngest boy... thanks!

lilypie: I have but one question:

HOW do you get ANYTHING done during the day? All I would do is sit and KISS those cheeks!! That is the cutest pic EVER!

By the way: The cake looks good too! LOL Actually, it really DOES look good and you covered the problems well. We are always our worst critics.

Beth in KY

hmmm sounds like a frosting that had to be refrigerated all the time. I do know that dawnfoods has their own brand of pastry pride type icing. It comes in chocolate, vanilla, and get this, sugar free. woohoo. You can sign up for the newsletters and get an account. I don't know if there are any requirements to order from them. But it sounds like it could be worth it to go through a local bakery or restaurant (restaurant would probably be a better idea, could also get some referrals from them while yer at it.) and have them order it for you.
oops!! almost forgot to post the link. here tis: http://www.dawnfoods.com/Public/Managed/Home/Index.Asp