Need Help Altering Sf Cake Mix!!!

Baking By nancikay Updated 12 May 2011 , 3:07am by MamaDear

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nancikay Posted 12 May 2011 , 12:40am
post #1 of 4

Ok, I am having a heck of a time, and have a SUGAR FREE wedding cake to do for next week so I need any and all suggestions ASAP!

First, I decided to make a scratch cake because that is what I usually do, but it was a disaster, the first cake I have actually thrown away! It didn't rise, and when cut into it resembled cheesecake. It was truly gross.

So I have no choice at this late date than to fall back on a sugar free cake mix. The couple want marble cake--white/chocolate. So today I made two test cakes, with two different brands of sugar free white mixes. These are not the national brand you would find in the cake mix aisle (am I allowed to state the brands here?) So I'll call them Cake A and Cake B. For each cake, I made them according to the package directions which in this case was to add a specified amount of water and beat. Cake A said add 1/2 the water, beat for 3 minutes then add the other half of water and beat another 3 minutes. I then saved out a portion of the batter, and mixed in two tablespoons of cocoa powder and a teaspoon of baking powder and marbled that part into the white part. Cake B's directions said to add all of the water at once and beat for 3 minutes. I didn't expect either cake to rise a lot because of them being sugar free and I was correct. As for taste, Cake A was more moist than Cake B, but both were dry. The flavor of Cake A was not as good as Cake B.

So what ideas does anyone have to at least make these cakes more moist? Should I go the route of adding a box of SF instant pudding and 1/3 cup of oil? If I added egg(s) would that affect the rise? Truly, both cakes were too dry and I've got to do something. Oh, I also tried brushing the dryest cake with some SF simple syrup and that didn't help at all. It just made the cake taste like syrup!

I guess I just need to know if I can doctor these types of cakes the same way I'd doctor a regular cake mix. After this wedding I'm definitely going to work on figuring out a good basic sugar free cake recipe!

Thanks for anyone's help! I appreciate it!

3 replies
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jason_kraft Posted 12 May 2011 , 1:48am
post #2 of 4

We worked for months on putting together good sugar-free recipes for cake and frosting (our business specializes in allergy-friendly baking), but we eventually gave up because we couldn't make something that tasted acceptable. We went through several different types of sugar replacements, from Splenda to Stevia to Xylitol (which has its own side effects) without much success.

If the customer is diabetic they are going to have an issue with the flour as well. Our takeaway from the experience is that customers who can't tolerate sugar well would be better served with a smaller slice of a traditional cake than any amount of sugar-free cake.

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nomnomcakes Posted 12 May 2011 , 2:45am
post #3 of 4

2 cups pecans unsalted
1/3 cup cocoa
1 t baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1/2 cup (I stick) butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
Artificial sweetener equivalent to 1 cup sugar ( liquid sweeteners seem to work better)
1/2 cup water

Preparation:
Heat oven to 350 F. Grease a 8 or 9" round pan or springform pan.

1) Process pecans in food processor - pulse until they are meal - but they won't get quite as small as corn meal.

2) Add the rest of the dry ingredients and pulse again.

3) Add the wet ingredients and process until well-blended.

4) Pour into pan and bake. The exact time will vary with the pan. Start checking at about 25 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

5) Cut when cool. If desired, serve with homemade whipped cream and/or chocolate sauce.

Nutritional Information: Each of 8 servings has 2 grams of effective carbohydrate plus 4 grams of fiber, 6 grams of protein, and 334 calories.


not sure what the reason for sugar free is but if it is because of diabetic concerns then this cake recipe (which can probably be modified for vanilla) seems to be the best option seeing that a diabetics biggest worry is the carbs (not including fiber) the cake doesn't rise up like normal cake would but definitely works well for stacking because of it's dense nature. hope this was a bit of help and good luck!

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MamaDear Posted 12 May 2011 , 3:07am
post #4 of 4

Pilsbury has come out with a sugar free cake mix I buy at Wal-Mart that is actually pretty good (Don't even think about the frosting though...). I fix it as it says on the box with the exception of lowering the water to one cup and adding a snack sized cup of sugar free applesauce to make it moister.

The cake is more fragile that regular but if you use waxed paper or parchment paper in the bottom of your pans and spray with oil spray before you pour the batter in, they come out of the pans better.

Since my fam is mostly diabetic, I cook this in three layers and stack with stabilized whipped cream frosting (made with whipping cream, splenda and Knox gelatin). Now this cake isnt carb free, so it will affect your sugar but it doesnt spike it quite like buttercream and regular cake.

I suggest that if you ask the bride and groom if they want the whole cake SF or if just doing a tier or two will do as this would never look like buttercream and WILL require refridgeration. If they only have one or two family members that require it, maybe a separate six in cake would suffice, as I have a niece that I do Bday cakes for and her grandfather is diabetic so I send him a small cake in the same theme with each cake I make her.

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