Hi All,

Does anyone have a tried and true, GREAT TASTING recipe for sugar free buttercream they would be willing share? With so many people being diabetic and just plain health conscious, surely there has to be one.

Thanks

Don't know about buttercream but I would think chocolate ganache made with diabetic chocolate would be a good alternative?

I got to taste a stevia buttercream , it tasted good but since body doesn't  like fake sweetener  my tummy hurt like hell. It would have been nice to be told is was sugar free, how ever the taste was  butter cream, sadly I didnt take the recipe.

catpoet -- maybe -- they used xylitol plus stevia -- or something else plus stevia because stevia doesn't have enough volume like sugar does to be made into buttercream without it being super greasy -- maybe it had a lot of cream though to lighten it up or something -- I have a real ticky stomach and artificial sweeteners will kill me fast if I don't watch the dosage but i eat tons of stevia and no problem-o -- not that that's scientific or anything --

and a lot stevia products are mixed with malitol and other things in there to create some bulk -- I've even gotten home with items I thought were stevia only to discover it's got additives--

and fwiw stevia is a highly distilled plant leaf so it is changed mightily from it's origin but it's not an outright sugar alcohol or some other concoction with nasty side effects --

as far as I know the only side effect of stevia is that it can still trigger your (meaning my) sweet tooth 

and sorry you got sick -- betcha it wasn't just plain stevia though especially since it tasted good -- stevia is sweet but it is an acquired taste -- when combined with another sweetener it is undistinguishable though

best

The reason that it is difficult to find fabulous Homemade recipes for sugar free, diabetic friendly recipes is that they don't exist.    It is possible to come "close" without using real sugar, but it will never be the same as real sugar.

Sugar in recipes acts like a chemical in scientific formulations.  Substituting a non-sugar results in very different outcomes. 

Just because there are a lot of diabetics and most of them want sugar-free dessert, doesn't mean it's gonna happen.  (Unfortunately...)

K8: well if had been aspartame  I would have known it, it gives me the runs badly. I found out it was truvia, it is  sugar and stevia  mix . 

My body prefer sugar or honey, all the other sweeteners are no go.  

I have learned that if you want to make something sugar free the best way is to try not make it  feel the same but taste the same, many people are just happy if it taste  good.

Just was told look for Natvia brand, that  might help you.

gotcha -- however truvia is made mostly with erythritol -- a sugar alcohol -- it can be very confusing --

and in fact truvia got in trouble for misleading advertising saying it was made with stevia because they did not use enough to retain the original wording 'made with stevia' or whatever it was --and wow I just checked my truvia baking blend bag and it doesn't reference stevia at all -- only mentions it in the ingredient list--

so you are ingesting erythritol and sugar and stevia when you have  truvia --

then for "stevia in the raw" another product -- it's maltodextrin plus stevia and it tastes like poo --

truvia is less calories than sugar -- the other is zero calories -- both have after taste or off taste --

i use sweet leaf brand stevia -- it's great -- love it -- it comes in powder, liquid, plain and in many different flavors in cute little eye dropper bottles because you use it by the drop -- no aftertaste after i got used to it not being sugar exactly

Stevia in organic form, is all natural, safe and very good. I use in baking all the time. Truvia on the other hand is NOT natural, or safe. Full of chemical sweetners...and almost zero Stevia...very misleading.  Unfortunately, the body. recgonizes Stevia as sugar, the same as white sugar, organic sugar, honey, agave etc.  Although a healthier alternative, and much better for you, to your body, sugar, is sugar is sugar. So even if  a diabetic consumed buttercream made with Stevia, they would have to count it as sugar. 

I have a family member who is diabetic and also health conscious. She is also trying to reduce the gluten in her diet to help with some other health issues.   Her opinion is that there is no substitute for the real thing because the alternatives are just a bunch of processed chemicals which are bad for your body and gluten free is not going to taste anything like the real thing.  She also explained to me that a carb is a carb and it does not really matter where it comes from. She told me that it is the carbs, fiber, and unprocessed foods (the glycemic stuff)  that all work together to control blood sugars - not just removing the sugar from a diet. 

If she wants a piece of cake at a special occasion, she would rather plan her carb/ insulin intakes ahead of time and have a sample of the real thing, including a few bites of buttercream.  You can scrape off the frosting ( I know a lot of regular people that do that too) and enjoy a piece of real cake.  Cake is not a healthy food and that is why it tastes so good!  She will not eat anything with artificial sweeteners in them because they are just processed chemicals which are not good for your body.   

PS - I can't touch the artificial sweeteners either - not even a little stick of gum!

@Happyfood  ~~  What your family member said is the absolute truth.   I've responded to many, many forum threads about "sugar free recipes for diabetics".  Thank you for responding with the  truth that no one wants to hear. 

I can't point fingers either, because I am very overweight and haven't been able to successfully lose weight over the decades.  I have been extraordinarily blessed that I don't have diabetes, and have enormous empathy and understanding for those struggling with this disease.   I have lost a sister to uncontrolled diabetes and another very close family member is controlling her diabetes with the same approach you mentioned above.

Please tell your family member that I'm very proud of her!

 No real decent thing such as sugar free buttercream.  Butter and cream without sugar is gravy so to speak. Artificial flavorings and fake sugars are hideously magnified in something delicate and simple like icings.  Actually the best think  might be a lightly sweetened and flavored whipped cream topping where you only add a few tablespoons of sugar, a teaspoon of real vanilla and whip some heavy cream.  Then just put a little on your cake.  With some experimentation you may be able to use a little less sugar and substitute with some sugar substitute like Glycerol Monostearate. Glycerin is also used as a sugar substitute. In this regard, it has approximately 27 calories per teaspoon and is 60% as sweet as sucrose. Although it has about the same food energy as table sugar, it does not raise blood sugar levels,

perhaps look into that...... 

If you are looking to bake for diabetics, please bare in mind that it's not just the sugar, it's the Total Carbs. Carbohydrates convert to sugar and raise blood sugar levels. So diabetics have to watch their carb count, some have a daily safe level, such as 40 carbs for the day. For health conscious people who don't care or know about that fact, they'll buy into the "low sugar means healthy" thing. And as a poster said above, your body generrally doesn't care what type of "sugar" it is, it just sees it as simply sugar (not cane sugar or cornsyrup). The only exception is fructose which is processed by your liver, but don't overwork your liver just to have sweets!

An idea would be to look at the atkins crowd type (low carb-high fat) or paleo (limited options available according to my friend), you can use other types of flours in cookies and such, coconuts seems to be a fad in the health world right now too. Add some nuts, coconuts, call it healthy and you're good! I'm joking here though, I have no idea how to incorporate other flour types into anything.

I see that Happyfood, Apti, MBalaska & craftybanana2  All have it 100% right. Carbs are the huge culprit with diabetics, as stated, they turn into sugar  when processed in the body.  So technically, there's no such thing as "sugar free" for diabetics, with exception of vegatables, and even they can be high in sugars, like carrots.  So diabetics must account for there sugar and carbs, which lets face it....cake is 100% both.  So they either avoid it, or as Happyfood posted, they plan for it in there daily diet. 

@ Apti , 

I am so very sorry to hear you lost your sister to diabetes!  Thank you for trying to help other people understand about diabetes.  I used to worry constantly about my sister as she was prone to black outs and high sugar spikes.  She was finally prescribed an insulin pump which has made a huge difference in managing her blood sugar levels. 

A lot of people just do not understand that there is more to it than just eliminating sugar from a diabetic's diet.  It is not their fault, they just do not understand.  :)

@ jchuck, you hit that one right on the nail head!  Sometimes the things you would least expect can be a big source for sugars.  My sister loves cottage cheese but does not eat it because it causes her blood sugar to spike.  Weird.

Thanks for the kind thoughts, Happy Food.   It is FAR, FAR easier to make generalized, sweeping statements like, "I can only eat sugar free cake because I'm a diabetic", instead of "I can not eat the corn, because I want to have a 2"x2"x2" cube of wedding cake". 

I worked in the medical field for 30 years and know the uphill battle of diabetes from both a clinical and personal perspective.  The single biggest problem is that the disease is so variable that diabetic educators can never say, "Do this specific thing and it will help".  Every person has a totally different response, and  if a patient does find a plan that works well for them, even that can change due to other factors.  Add that to the First World way of life, eating habits, and commercial advertisements and it may seem almost impossible. 

The other day I was trying to explain how hard it is to stay with a treatment regimen for diabetes to my BFF who has been part of my family for 30 years.  My friend is addicted to cigarettes and gets very antsy if she has to go longer than 2 hours without a cig.  I decided to put it in terms she might understand a little more and gave her this example:

Every morning when you wake up, you must take your blood sugar BEFORE you can find out if you can have your morning cigarette.  If your blood sugar is good, you can smoke 1 cigarette.  If it is not, you have to wait 2 hours, take your blood sugar again, and see if it is ok to smoke a cigarette. 

You can ONLY smoke a cigarette if your blood sugar test says it is ok.   It doesn't matter if you desperately WANT that cigarette, if your blood sugar numbers say "no", then you can't have it.   If you don't behave and do what your numbers dictate, you may have a stroke or die or have any number of really nasty things destroy your health.

ONLY then did she "get it".   [She actually jerked backwards in horror.]

Ahhhh great analogy Apti. I call those "word pictures". Putting into context so someone can understand. I also was a psw for 20 yrs., and had many clients with diabetes. It actually runs in my family. I had a lovely Aunt succumb to diabetes. I also have a older sister who, unfortunately couldn't, or should I say wouldn't lose weight or do any exercise of any kind....100% sedentary. She was type II for years, but is now insulin dependent.  I struggle to keep my weight down, I'm not overweight, but I love, love carbs and sweets. But I don't keep any junk in the house....or I'd constantly cheat. If hubby and I want a treat, we go out for it. I also do low impact dancercise,  power walk and Pilates. As Apti says, were surrounded by food everywhere...TV, billboards, on the radio...etc. Makes it so darn hard. And I track my food everyday...and I gotta say, sometimes I get SOooooo fed up doing it, I just want to eat whatever I want whenever I want. And being around a skinny person who never has to worry about what goes into there mouth.....grrrr. But, it is what it is....and I don't want to have the complications my sister is going through....so I accept it, and do my best to stick to eating right.

apti, i too am very sorry to hear you lost your sister -- heartbreaking -- bless you very much -- and very good that you got through to your bff -- 

jchuck and all -- i'm a junk food junkie and one of my biggest delights is lays potato chips and if you'll ever notice they are ev.er.y.where in the grocery stores more so in the summer -- those beautiful bright yellow chip bags full of salty crunchy pre-cellulite -- if you survive all the displays you then have to keep blinders on at the check out counter too -- must be strong must be strong send husband to store  send husband to store 

i'm doing my swim exercises and tai chi -- i so love them both -- i basically tread water for an hour while doing the 45 minutes of exercise in the deep end -- fat floats better than non fat -- there's 2 or 3 leg exercises that i touch bottom (of the pool) for then i also do tai chi in the park -- i've got dvds too but wow it's a lot different with a good teacher --

i stock my freezer with great soups, pot pies with oat crusts etc. in individual servings so i always have 'fast food' 

here's a blog i haven't updated in while but i worked out a few things on there, especially the pizza is great -- i also often add some nut flour to my baked goods to help provide a little balance -- 

http://k8memphis.blogspot.com/

and fwiw i just learned that a teaspoon of cumin a day in 5 ounces of yogurt helped lower bad cholesterol in a test group -- about 40 overweight women had the cumin in the yogurt and the other 40 just had yogurt and both groups lowered their calories so the cumin group had three times the bmi reduction of the other group and their bad cholesterol declined and the good cholestrl increased -- triglycerides decreased as well in the cumin group -- that's what I am working on  right now lowering my triglycerides by January -- oh those good results came about in only Three Months -- pretty cool

so all that to say -- i added the cumin to a simple apple salad i make with yogurt, cinnamon & stevia -- was good -- so hope this helps with all the exercise too

http://www.prevention.com/weight-loss/weight-loss-tips/cumin-spice-weight-loss

K8memphis

My daughter has been pushing me to use more cumin....as you said......tremendously great health benefits. Now after reading your post, I'm all about reducing my BMI. Off to have some right now in my yogurt.....

I am overweight, regular check up due to my muscles disease  ( no it doesnt help being a size zero , I would still be as ill as I am), never had any normal fat person problem at all, my body can handle it.  Oh but with age comes problems, yes but the most cake loving, cookie munching, chain smoking  sweet tooth person in my family lived to 98 years,  the skinniest got to 89 and this repeats again and again , the overweight lives to  90-105 and the skinny  70- 90.  Genetic can be a powerful thing. 

I just hope I get to 80 and I be happy. How ever none of us fatties  ate  fake lowfat and fake sugar foods, real sugar or none at all, while the skinnies did eat both fake low fat and fake sugar.

jchuck -- yay!  let's check back around the holidays and see how we're doing -- i can eat cumin all day long it's getting past the chip bags at the store that messes me up -- but i do portion control and just buy the real small bags because life is too short -- i just try to balance things out -- chips and cookies that is ;)

and a little chocolate...

but i have gone for years on a maintenance diet and kept the weight off -- but if i get off of the special diet ... i'm just trying now to stabilize my weight and the triglyceride thing -- 

around the holidays then?

cat poet --  let's shoot for 90! 

wait, for 90 with decent health

i have a couple stevia posts around here but i'm gonna put this here fwiw -- there's a coffee drink available at the grocery store where they sell the individually bottled & canned coffee drinks in the coffee grounds aisle  -- the brand is "high brew" and it's 60 calories a can cold brew coffee drink like a frappuccino and it's sweetened with stevia --  my husband even likes it -- i zip mine up with a little extra milk & sugar free chocolate -- it's wonderful -- they come in mocha and caramel etc.

I am new here. I was just reading through the various forums and was so compelled that I just had to create an account and chime in. My wife and I have been creating wedding, birthday, anniversary, etc cakes for pretty much 20 years or so. I am a decorator in a grocery store bakery (recently, really long story, but I wanted daily practice to improve my skills). Currently I am decorating as little as possible because I am left handed and have carpal tunnel in my left hand (I had the right hand taken care of a few years ago) and I let it go to the point that the muscle mass at the base of my thumb is beginning to atrophy and die. So I am waiting for a surgery date, and I don't know if I will be able to decorate when this is over or not. Okay, so those are my creds. 

Regarding this post, I am diabetic. Yes, I know, I've heard it all about how can you, blah, blah, blah. To me decorating is an art form, and when you get into stacking a little bit of science comes into play in the form of physics. My wife and I love to decorate, but we just don't eat it. We will taste new recipes, but there is a world of difference between tasting and eating. So as a diabetic decorator, my take on this is just forget it. There is no diabetic buttercream. At the end of the day, no matter what recipe you use, true buttercream is fat and sugar and maybe some stabilizers and flavorings. To try and make this as a sugar-free item is just a futile endeavor as folks with diabetes are also prone to heart disease. This means that as soon as you are diagnose, in the U.S. the standard is to put you on some sort of regimen for controlling glucose in the blood, a cholesterol med, a blood pressure med and an aspirin a day at minimum. Let's say you can manage the sugar part (without using sugar alcohols, which you likely can't) the fat part is defiantly not going to fit into a diabetic diet. Does that mean we cannot eat that stuff? No. It means we have to manipulate our daily food intake and medicine regimen to accommodate the buttercream. We do get to have something sweet from time to time, we just need to plan for it. Personally, I just hate the taste of buttercream and fondant, and I'm not a fan of a whole lot of cakes. I love a nice moist yellow sponge which seems to be, by and large a thing of the past in the U.S. I also prefer a nice whip rather than buttercream. Overall I find it easier to just not partake as I am not a huge cake fan. But I do love creating beautiful cakes and making people happy.

i agree with most of the content in this thread -- i know my diabetic neighbor could eat my pound cake because he was so meticulous otherwise --

but while diabetics should not indulge much in buttercream the idea of maybe not healthier buttercream but less damaging buttercream is a worthy one as that's what chinadoll meant i think because she included the area of the health conscious too in her original post --

so all that to say i think the one on the truvia site is worth exploring -- I haven't tried it yet myself -- although truvia packs a detectable off taste --

http://truvia.com/recipes/vanilla-buttercream-frostingvanilla-buttercream-frosting

but it replaces half the volume of sugar lost with cornstarch -- because w/truvia you use half as much as you would use sugar -- so it uses cornstarch to replace that volume lost --

however a long long time ago i used to use honey sweetened whipped tofu to make a cookie based fruit pizza -- add in some cornstarch and who knows -- would at least make a great filling -- there's a world of possibility there though

sorry i got so far off topic previously -- best to you, chinadoll -- i'm all about more sugarless items -- way to go, cd 

oh and fwiw i've dabbled with date sugar which is not very sweet at all -- might make a decent streusel topping -- i should try that next time i make apple pies -- and speaking of apples -- to me that's the best way to go more 'sugar free' is to use some kind of fruit in there -- 

now coconut sugar is wonderful but high in calories -- monk sugar was sticky -- i've got some rice syrup that i got for a more heart friendly toffee topped w/bittersweet choco that i haven't made yet -- if I can find this thread i'll report back when i try these things or maybe post a new one --

i love to talk about sugar free though -- great thread

Sugar free is a term that is misused a lot. If you are making something with fruit in it, it can be no sugar added, but fruit has a lot of sugar that occurs naturally, yet still must be considered for someone with diabetes. Therefore, it is not sugar free. Just want to give you some insight into what those of us with diabetes go through. We have to read labels for everything, and translate things like sugar free vs no sugar added. Nutritional labels are getting better, but a lot of them want to present their product in the best light,so they play a little fast and loose with descriptors. Also, not all carbs are created equal. For example, I don't drink fruit juice, but I will eat an apple. Why? By consuming the fruit itself you are getting things like fiber that affect how the carbs are absorbed into the body and at what rate.

i getcha -- my thing is weight loss/maintenance/control like yesterday i made brownie muffins with bittersweet choco chips in the batter which consisted of about 13 ounces of pumpkin puree and one box of choco cake mix nothing else -- i ate two of them and still dropped a pound last night due to the fiber probably -- so the sugar didn't just fly me to the moon kwim --

i add nuts to sweets all the time to help balance or i add some chickpea flour for protein but i know diabetics specially brittle ones cannot dabble -- must be very calculated --

however i dabble because i have a non stop sweet tooth but i'm loosing weight again!

best to you mjbearit