I'm new to this website and to cake decorating. I love it. The only downfall is that my older son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes last November. His birthday is this Sunday and I promised him that I'd make him a cake. It seems every "diabetic" recipe is soooo involved with a million ingredients. But I did find a few recipes here that i'm going to try for him. But...
I found the Diabetic icing recipe on this site. Since it is made w/cream cheese and whipping cream, won't it need to be refrigerated? If so, won't the colors run when taken out of the fridge. If anyone can help with any other ideas, I would greatly appreciate it.
I'm sorry I don't know the answer to your question.
So here's a bump....can someone help?
You may already have your cake worked out, but my DH is type one also and we've played with lots of recipes.
If you can find maltitol in your area, use it. It's the sugar replacement that all the candy makers use in making their candy sugar-free. I ordered if from a website, but I can't find them anymore. It's offered at Bulk Foods and I'm sure many other websites.
http://www.bulkfoods.com/search_results.asp?txtsearchParamCat=1&txtsearchParamType=ALL&txtsearchParamMan=ALL&txtsearchParamVen=ALL&txtFromSearch=fromSearch&txtsearchParamTxt=4120
We found that while the maltitol cooks more like real sugar and much better than any other sugar replacement, it just wasn't worth the expense to keep around all the time.
I don't know how old your son is, but my DH loves peanut butter cookies. We've modified the recipes that come with crisco sticks and use 1/4 c brown sugar and 1 cup splenda when making them. It seems to me that, unless you're using a maltitol type replacement, you still need a little sugar in a recipe so it will rise.
I hope your son has a wonderful birthday.
I used the diabetic icing recipe on this site to decorate the following cake and didn't really experience much color running when refrigerated. But it is possiblethat your colors will run if you are using very bright colors. However, this icing is not crusting and is quite hard to ice smooth. I was however able to do a frozen transfer with it.
Also the following cake recipe I adapted from one on this site is outstanding diabetic!
(Diabetic) Chocolate Cake
3 oz. dark chocolate (sugar free for diabetic)
1 ½ C hot brewed coffee
3 C sugar (Splenda for diabetic)
2 ½ C all-purpose flour
1 ½ C cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking soda (add 1 tsp. for diabetic)
¾ tsp baking powder
1 ¼ tsp salt
3 eggs
¾ C vegetable oil
1 ½ C buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla
Preheat oven to 300° Grease and flour pans. Line with parchment paper.
Finely chop chocolate and in a bowl combine with hot coffee. Let mixture stand, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.
Into a large bowl sift together sugar(Splenda), flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another large bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs until thickened slightly and lemon colored ( about 3 minutes with a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a hand held mixer). Slowly add oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and melted chocolate mixture to eggs, beating until combined well. Add sugar mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined well. Divide batter between pans and bake in middle of oven until a tester inserted in center comes out clean, 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes.
Cool layers completely in pans on racks. Run a thin knife around edges of pans and invert layers onto racks. Carefully remove parchment paper and cool layers completely.
If you can find maltitol in your area, use it. It's the sugar replacement that all the candy makers use in making their candy sugar-free. I ordered if from a website, but I can't find them anymore.
www.netrition.com has a good price.
Maltitol cooks and bakes exactly like sugar, but with a few drawbacks. If you consume too much of it, it can be laxating. A small number of people are so sensitive, any amount laxates them. For an event, you need to be aware of the level of sensitivity for all the people that you're serving it to. Either that or warn people verbally not to overdo it. In a large party environment this can put a bit of a damper on things. Maltitol is ideal for small get togethers where everyone attending is known to tolerate it well.
The other downside to maltitol is that it is not very low on the glycemic index. At least, not for some people. If your son is diabetic, I'm sure you have a full understanding of the glycemic index. Not only does it seem to laxate some people but not others, it gives some people a blood sugar spike. For a diabetic, an unexpected blood sugar spike can be dangerous.
I'm not saying this to scare you away from maltitol, just inform you of the potential ramifications. Laxation and blood sugar spikes are very low probability occurances. Maltitol is the best tasting/easiest to use sugar sub there is. It's definitely worth trying to see how well your son tolerates it. Start with very small amounts.
Besides maltitol there's other sweeteners that work almost as well. Isomalt is one. It's not as sweet, but can be sweetened with splenda. Sorbitol is another. The nice thing about sorbitol is that it can usually be found locally. Xylitol has a lot of fans who claim it provides special health benefits such as being good for the teeth and intestinal flora. All of these ingredients provide the sugary texture that's critical to baking. Remember though, they all fall under the category 'sugar alcohols' and have the same digestive/glycemic issues as maltitol.
Other than sugar alcohols, there are some other ingredients that add sugary texture. Polydextrose and inulin. Both are extremely low glycemic (possibly non glycemic) but, unfortunately, like sugar alcohols, they can be laxating/cause gas. There is no free lunch. No miracle ingredient. Yet. If you want to the texture of sugar, you're stuck with non-digesting ingredients that can potentially cause laxation/gas. It comes with the territory.
I nswear the texture of the chocolate cake recipe above is exactly the same as the recipe made with regular sugar. There is a slight aftertaste due to the Splenda, but just barely.
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