Although i am not strongly anti sugar, and I do have a sweet tooth,I feel some recipes have an excessive amount. I like the look of a Weetbix date loaf, but it specifies one cup of white sugar which seems excessive. Could I replace this with say, half cup of raw sugar and a teaspoon of Stevia powder? If so do I need to adjust any of the other ingredients to make up for the bulk of the sugar. I love experimenting, but readily admit to a lack of baking skills. I do have a fan oven!! Any comments appreciated. Thanks

spencer26 - 2019-10-06 11:55:00

In most baking it is possible to reduce the quantity of sugar by about a quarter without affecting the structure too obviously, but it still throws the balance out and plain cakes such as Madeira Cake or a Victoria Sponge may taste a bit eggy.

I don't like the taste of Stevia at all and don't use it.

Another answer is simply to eat less of your baking.

davidt4 - 2019-10-06 16:16:00

spencer26 wrote:

Although i am not strongly anti sugar, and I do have a sweet tooth,I feel some recipes have an excessive amount. I like the look of a Weetbix date loaf, but it specifies one cup of white sugar which seems excessive. Could I replace this with say, half cup of raw sugar and a teaspoon of Stevia powder? If so do I need to adjust any of the other ingredients to make up for the bulk of the sugar. I love experimenting, but readily admit to a lack of baking skills. I do have a fan oven!! Any comments appreciated. Thanks

You could easily reduce the sugar but raw or white sugar is sugar - replace the missing bulk with dried fruit

Edited by sarahb5 at 4:24 pm, Sun 6 Oct

sarahb5 - 2019-10-06 16:23:00

thanks David, and good point about eating less

spencer26 - 2019-10-06 16:25:00

sarahb5 wrote:

You could easily reduce the sugar but raw or white sugar is sugar - replace the missing bulk with dried fruit

Fructose from dried fruit is worse than sugars

geldof - 2019-10-06 16:53:00

geldof wrote:

Fructose from dried fruit is worse than sugars

Worse in what respect? OP wants to reduce sweetness rather than kjs but the best way by far to reduce sugar is to stop eating processed food - apple anyone?

Edited by sarahb5 at 5:15 pm, Sun 6 Oct

sarahb5 - 2019-10-06 17:14:00

Sugar helps keep cakes/loaves moist. You can take half the sugar out but you need to add some moisture in. If you find the loaf is a bit dry with the sugar removed, I would had a tablespoon of golden syrup, honey, condensed milk. You can try adding an extra small egg as well. I have not tried chia seed soaked in water overnight but I have been told this is used as egg replacer in baking. You can also try 1/2 cup soft brown sugar instead of using white sugar. Grated carrot, beetroot or zucchini may work as well.

Edited by marcs at 7:29 pm, Sun 6 Oct

marcs - 2019-10-06 19:28:00

Could add grated apple or mashed banana - really depends what goes well with the recipe

sarahb5 - 2019-10-06 19:38:00

sarahb5 wrote:

Could add grated apple or mashed banana - really depends what goes well with the recipe

Annette Symple used this idea in her several "Symply Too Good to be True" cookbooks..... I think she used unsweetened stewed apple to replace quite a lot of the sugar.
I don't bake very often these days, but for general sugarless sweetening in stewed fruit, etc, I use Queen Maple Flavoured Syrup (77 Kj/35 mls - no sugar, but quite sweet) or a liquid Thriftee Lemon Diabetic soft drink (other flavours might suit your recipe better). You'll probably have to add some fruit pulp to get the texture right. It's worth experimenting.

punkinthefirst - 2019-10-06 21:52:00

spencer26 wrote:

one cup of white sugar . Could I replace this with say, half cup of raw sugar and a teaspoon of Stevia powder?

No. It makes no difference what kind of sugar it is, nor even honey.
Replace with 1/2 cup Stevia. And no sugar.

lythande1 - 2019-10-07 12:37:00

I never use the amount of sugar stated in any recipe and it makes little difference to the finished product. I only use coconut sugar which is Low GI and can cut the amount back by ½-¾ of the amount stated in the recipe. Also adding 2 tablsp of yogurt will keep a cakes muffins etc. moist.

Edited by nauru at 5:39 pm, Mon 7 Oct

nauru - 2019-10-07 17:34:00

lythande1 wrote:

No. It makes no difference what kind of sugar it is, nor even honey.
Replace with 1/2 cup Stevia. And no sugar.

Just be careful with Stevia - for baking stevia, 1/3 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons equals 1 cup sugar. However if you are using pure powdered stevia, the ratio is totally different; 1 t of powdered stevia equals 1 c of sugar.

awoftam - 2019-10-07 21:12:00

awoftam wrote:

Just be careful with Stevia - for baking stevia, 1/3 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons equals 1 cup sugar. However if you are using pure powdered stevia, the ratio is totally different; 1 t of powdered stevia equals 1 c of sugar.

True, but what you buy at the supermarket isn't pure stevia.

lythande1 - 2019-10-08 08:19:00

Since I moved to lower carbs, I use Erythritol in baking. Binds just like sugar but is 80% as sweet as regular sugar with just 5% of the calories. You often see blends of this with a tiny amount of Stevia added to boost the sweetness to make it 1:1 sugar sweetness since pure Stevia is 250 times sweeter than sugar w/w.
I regularly make crunchy Anzac style biscuits, although don't use regular flour.

nzstocked - 2019-10-08 14:37:00

Can you post your Anzac recipe ? Thanks

timturtle - 2019-10-08 16:41:00

spencer26 wrote:

Although i am not strongly anti sugar, and I do have a sweet tooth,I feel some recipes have an excessive amount. I like the look of a Weetbix date loaf, but it specifies one cup of white sugar which seems excessive. Could I replace this with say, half cup of raw sugar and a teaspoon of Stevia powder? If so do I need to adjust any of the other ingredients to make up for the bulk of the sugar. I love experimenting, but readily admit to a lack of baking skills. I do have a fan oven!! Any comments appreciated. Thanks

I heard this guy speak a while back & was mightily impressed.
You may wish to have a cruise around his website for ideas.
If I recall correctly, he advised dextrose, but I'm sure you'll find it on the site.
Hope that helps.
D'uh ...edited to add the site
http://www.nzsugarfree.co.nz/recipes.html

Edited by samanya at 5:00 pm, Tue 8 Oct

samanya - 2019-10-08 17:00:00

lythande1 wrote:

No. It makes no difference what kind of sugar it is, nor even honey.
Replace with 1/2 cup Stevia. And no sugar.

Under no circumstances use ½cup stevia. Absolutely do not do that. Processed Stevia is about 200 times sweeter than sugar.

buzzy110 - 2019-10-08 18:55:00

timturtle wrote:

Can you post your Anzac recipe ? Thanks

I will be making another batch tomorrow.

Here's my own Low Carb ANZAC biscuit recipe. Just 5% carbs.
Cook time:30 mins Makes:about 20-30

1 cup rolled oats
½ cup Gluten flour
¼ cup Coconut flour
¼ cup LSA
1 cup coconut
1 cup erythritol
¼ cup Black strap molasses
1 tsp ground ginger
125g butter, or I use Marg.
2 tbsp boiling water
½ tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 160°C fanbake and line 1-2 oven trays with baking paper for easy clean-up.
Combine rolled oats, flour, coconut and sugar in a large bowl.
Heat together butter, golden syrup and water until butter melts. Stir in baking soda (will froth up), then mix into dry ingredients until well combined.

Roll mixture into balls slightly smaller than a golf ball and press flat, place on trays, allowing room for spreading. For crunchy biscuits with a chewy centre, lightly flatten with a fork and bake for 20-25 minutes. For chunky, super-hard biscuits, bake for 25-30 minutes. For very crunchy thin biscuits, press very flat and bake for 15 minutes. Allow to cool on the trays (they will harden on cooling). They will keep for several weeks in an airtight container.

nzstocked - 2019-10-08 19:33:00