Bake with Sugar Substitutes to Reduce Calories, Sugar and Carbs in Your Favorite Treats

Baking with a sugar substitute can be a helpful way to decrease the calories, sugar, and carbohydrate content of some of your favorite treats. The following are some tips for using sugar substitutes in baked goods.

Sucralose (SPLENDA®): Though there are many sugar substitutes available on the market, generally sucralose is one of the easier ones to use for baking. When using sucralose (granulated in bulk rather than packets) in place of granulated sugar, use a 1-to-1 ratio. Therefore, for every cup of sugar you would use 1 cup of sucralose. Be sure you are using the right product since there are sucralose blends which contain regular sugar.

Flavor: To enhance flavor, add an additional teaspoon of vanilla extract for each cup of sugar substitute you use.

Texture: Try using an 8-inch round pan instead of the 9-inch round pan to achieve a better rise when baking cakes or pies. Also, adding a half cup of dry milk powder and an extra half teaspoon of baking soda per one cup of sugar substitute may help.

Nutrient Comparison for Pumpkin Pie using SPLENDA®

If you are trying to watch your calorie or carbohydrate intake this holiday, using a sugar substitute when baking can be beneficial. In the above comparison, using a sugar substitute to bake a pumpkin pie reduced the calorie content by almost 30%, carbohydrate content by 50%, and the sugar content by 90%.

However, remember if you have diabetes you aren’t solely looking at sugar content (so don’t be deceived by that 90% reduction). Be sure to use the total carbohydrate content as your guide since all carbohydrates will break down into sugar in the body. The sugar substitute is still beneficial in this situation as it decreased the carbohydrate content over 50%.