Does anyone have good cake and frosting recipes that do not use ant refined sugar,  and instead use something like honey or coconut sugar? That will feed 40 .... so maybe hold up to stacking and dinosaur decorations.   1st time ive been asked for this,  so new top to me.

I don’t have any recipes for you — and I think you mean ‘without white granulated sugar’ but just to say that coconut sugar is refined as well as the white — it has a low glycemic index — all those sweeteners have different properties —

you can substitute it one to one for the white— it usually works out ok — 

The customer specifically said no refined sugar,  but honey or coconut sugar could be used.... so idk. Ive got another message in to her with options.  All of the coconut sugar ive looked at online is brown.  There was a thing called swerve I saw that's like fake powdered sugar.... so we'll see

i mean I'm just telling you but your client is not necessarily using the correct terms -- swerve is  highly refined -- swerve is made mostly with erythritol a sugar alcohol -- all that stuff that is not white granulated cane sugar bakes up a bit to a lot different than the usual stuff -- pinterest has a bunch of recipes but believe me finding a great cake recipe made without 'refined sugar' is a tall order -- coconut sugar is very close to it but all of it is a bit different -- so good luck on this -- i'm not saying it can't be done -- i'm saying it's a trade off -- your product will be a little different than a regular cake --

but using fruit and date sugar (dry ground dates) is a great way to go pricey though -- I use cherries to sweeten apple tarts sometimes -- but it's not easy to find a good balance like it is with just any cake recipe -- so i'd say cut your losses early unless you are being paid for ingredients and the time to test things out --

come to think of it — i have seen pictures of the cutest all fruit “cakes”  where different sized discs were cut out of melons, including watermelon, honey dew, cantaloupe etc and stacked to resemble a tier cake — so there’s that way to go too —

wow there’s a lot of them if you google  ‘melon cake images’ and there’s still a few small melons in the produce departments — 

Thanks for the info. I don't know all the specifics,  but she said she's good with stevia, splenda,  swerve etc. And chocolate sweetened with these....So Ive sent her everything in the cake and frosting recipes for her approval.  Going to use plastic dinosaurs instead of fondant or modeling chocolate,  and a sugar free chocolate volcano.  

i'd use Splenda if it was me baking for someone else but it has an aftertaste unless you add in some sugar which I know she doesn't want -- but the chocolate will cover for it a bit but you've got to read the  labels for her -- a lot of that stuff has sugar in it --

she wants to avoid refined sugar so she goes for the refined sugar substitutes -- those don't have enough volume on their own so they add sugar back in or add other weirdy concoctions to make up the difference -- they are all sweet but they are not sugar

I have never baked a cake with just Stevia, but I have, many times, used like four parts Stevia to one part sugar and we honestly could not tell the difference.  I guess I could have just gotten lucky.

yes the sugar masks the stevia — sure it can definitely work but without any white sugar at all will absolutely make a cake but usually there are trade offs with a bit different texture or an aftertaste 

hey sandra your stevia is what I am talking about — stevia is literally 100 times sweeter than sugar not a one to one  substitution— 3 parts stevia to one part sugar would sweeten many cakes — sounds like you have stevia plus sugar or stevia with monk fruit or some other blend —

that’s what i’m talking about — even the little packets of stevia sweetener have other ingredients in there too —

so our op has to read the labels

I am not sure if I still have any Stevia left, but if I do, I am going to check the ingredients.  It says to substitute in equal amounts, i.e. one tablespoon of sugar translates into one tablespoon of Stevia.

My box of Sevia says, INGREDIENTS: Maltodextrin, Reb A (Stevia Extract), Natural Flavors.  

yes there’s more of the maltodextrin than stevia to provide the bulk that stevia doesn’t have — and it also makes the product a one for one substitution — 

whipped chocolate or white chocolate ganache.

I imagine that you could make swiss meringue buttercream with most sweeteners as the main structure comes from the egg and butter.

My local cake shop sells a sugar free cake mix, I would go straight for something premixed like that for the cake.

to add onto what mb said about whipped ganache:

ily brand chocolate has no sugar in it — made with stevia —

(and their milk chocolate bar filled with salted caramel is the bombshabomb)

Finally ended up just using a doctored up pilsbury no sugar devils food box cake and made frosting with swerve powdered sugar.  Turned out goid and she said it tasted great! Used plastic dinosaurs and sugar free baking chocolate for the volcano.

Looks fabulous!!

yay!! looks great!