I am doing a baby shower cake and she has pretty serious Gestational Diabetes - 5 shots a day. The only sweetener that the doctor said she can have is Splenda. I found a few (very few) recipes using Splenda, so I'm sending a call out for help. If you have cake/icing recipes that you have made and that taste good, please post them.

She wants a white (vanilla) cake and I will need to make frosting too. Has anyone ever tried SMBC with Splenda? Unless I hear otherwise, I'll give it a shot ... I have found cream cheese icing recipes with Splenda so I can always to that.

Thanks in advance - the bride thanks you and the hostess (my niece and the baby's grandmother) REALLY thanks you too!

Hello! I was also curious about sugar-free recipes awhile back and got pretty frustrated because most of the icing recipes were merely combinations of whipped topping and cream cheese. I wanted something like buttercream - something that I could decorate with if needed. There is a recipe where they turn splenda into a powdered sugar replacement. I haven't tried it yet, but it's been tucked away for a rainy day.
As for cakes, I haven't had much luck with that. The big problem is artificial sweeteners will never be as good as the real thing. I read an article about how sugar crystalization is necessary to achieve that tender crumb that we love so much in cake. There's got to be a way, though. Maybe find a sugar free cake mix and follow a WASC recipe from there? Wish I could help you on that part. Anyway, here's the icing recipe I found. I hope it helps.

SUGAR-FREE FROSTING OR ICING

POWDERED SUGAR REPLACEMENT

2 CUPS NONFAT DRY POWDERED MILK
2 CUPS CORNSTARCH
1 CUP SPLENDA

MIX IN BLENDER OR FOOD PROCESSOR UNTIL WELL BLENDED AND POWDERED
STORE IN AIRTIGHT CONTAINER. THIS MAKES MORE THAN ONE RECIPE!

DECORATOR ICING

1/4 CUP SOLID SHORTENING
1 TSP. CLEAR VANILLA EXTRACT
3/4 CUP POWDERED SUGAR REPLACEMENT
1 TABLESPOON MILK
COLOR AS DESIRED

MIX WITH ELECTRIC MIXER UNTIL LIGHT AND FLUFFY. IF ITS TOO STIFF, ADD A FEW DROPS OF MILK

What you need to know, and they need to know.....cake......is a carbohydrate, and this when digested turns to sugar....so if she has five shots a day, I think she best stay clear of cake. Thats just my concerns I am sharing. You see the icing is only one pasrt of the cake....and diabetes can be very difficult to control!!!

Agree with Madge, in her place I would order a cake for the guests to enjoy and have some vegetable with dip myself. Saying no for the last couple of months can't be that difficult, if you know, that your own and your babies health is at risk

Oh I also wanted to add, that I would stay away from that kind of an order, if the mother to be insists on having some of the cake. Too dangerous in my opinion, could call for a lawsuit, in case she goes into shock....but "I SPECIFICALLY ORDERED A CAKE THAT I COULD EAT.........." No way would I leave myself that open

This is family and their cakes are all love gifts, so I'm not concerned about getting sued. That is a good point though. I guess I should be glad that we aren't allowed to sell out of our homes in Texas????

Regarding the cake issue - I don't think that anyone has even thought about it doing some harm to the mother-to-be. We were only thinking 'no sugar' .... I'll pass these concerns along to the future grandmother and let her decide.

thanks.

For me it's not only the mother, but the baby, which would also suffer. I had problems getting pregnant and then bringing the pregnancy to having the child, I lost 2 babies.

The biggest gift of love the mom to be can give her child, and to herself. is, to abstain from eating cake, but there is no reason the guests should not enjoy. Gestational diabetes goes away, once the baby is born, she could freeze a small topper cake for AFTER the birth, similar to the first anniversary cakes, which usually are the top tier cake. That way, she has something more to look forward to.

Another thought (if you get past the potential lawsuit issue and decide to do the cake)

Whipped cream icing uses very little sugar...and you could probably substitute Splenda in that...

Another thought for filling: use sugar-free Jello pudding w/whipping cream. I've made stuff for my grandmother (diabetic) like that...certainly not low-fat but sugar free!

Also, I read somewhere (a while back) there IS a sugar-free powdered "sugar" substitute out there online somewhere...I think they make brown "sugar" also...

I don't know about all the substitutes during pregnancy, it's all chemical, that can't be good for the baby or the mother. It's only a couple of months of abstinence, compared to a lifetime of joy

The Splenda is approved for kids and pregnant women, I believe...
I didn't want tons of the sugar when I was PG, so I looked into it, and used Splenda, but NOT Nutrasweet or aspartame, which are not approved for kids...
Seemed to be fine for us!

Thanks to everyone for the positive comments. As far as the mother-to-be goes, she did NOT ask for cake and she is doing everything her doctor tells her to. The hostesses and I are the ones who think shower = cake.

Splenda is the ONLY sugar substitute that she can use.

Thanks,

I'm sorry, i didn't want to step on anyones toes, i hope I didn't come across like that. It's only that I had so many problems having the one daughter I have (and that coming from a prolific family) I am a bit overcareful and overprotective perhaps. i would have loved to have a shower, and seeing others eat cake, unfortunately we were living in Korea at the time and that is not a German thing anyway, but just the thought of it is great. Threw one for a German girlfriend here in Shanghai, and all of our friends loved the idea as well

As a diabetic myself, I can tell you it's not just about sugar, as Madge said. The flour, sugar, and fats are all considerations. So even if you made it sugar free, it's still a problem for a 'brittle" diabetic. That said, could you buy a sugarfree cupcake and decorate it for her. Then make the cake by your regular method for everyone else? Just a thought.

as long as you know those sugar free cupcakes are carbs which will turn to sugar!!!

Thank you all for this information. I'm passing it along to the grandmother (my niece) and great-grandmother (my SIL). I'm just the baker/cake decorator.