Joined
·
66 Posts
Well, here we are, ready for the holidays. Whee.
I usually craft quite the scrumptious (if I do say so myself) assortment of sweeties and cookies and cakes and stuff for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and really don't want to let le Beast ruin that tradition.
So now that I've received my batch of erythritol and Ez-Sweetz (thanks, Shanny!), I'm ready to start experimenting...but I'd rather pick some brains before I waste a lot of ingredients. My first try will be debster's brownies, but I have many other family recipes I want to try to convert to low-carb as well.
So, basically, my questions are thus:
1. My grandmother's sour cream chocolate cake (RIDICULOUSLY delicious) is very light & fluffy, yet moist at the same time. The kind of cake that's to die for the day it's made, but quite a bit "soggier" the next day (but still yummy). Will almond flour perform the same way as normal cake (e.g. Swan's Down) flour? This is really important, as the fluffiness is the whole thing...if almond flour won't do it, then I guess I'm willing to accept the carbs that 1.5 cups of Swan's Down will contribute to the recipe.
2. And this is probably a stupid question, but does using almond flour make the resultant product taste almond-y?
3. If I have a recipe that uses 1.5 cups of sugar, how much erythritol/liquid Splenda should I use in its place?
4. I also make an OMG chocolate butter cream frosting, and I know that's going to be a bit of a problem...the whole body of the frosting is based on a massive amount - usually two cups or so - of powdered sugar. There's the whole chemical-reaction thing going on between the fat molecules in the butter/cream and the sugar crystals, and I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that no mix of Splenda (liquid or granulated) and erythritol is going to behave the same way...any thoughts or ideas?
5. Those of you who've already gone through a Holiday season with modified recipes and such, what baking-related lessons have you learned? Is it silly to expect recipes to come out OK with so many substitutions? Baking is all about the chemical reactions of proteins, sugars and heat, and I'm assuming the removal of wheat flour and sugar poses more than a few problems...
Thanks much in advance!
Edited: (apologies, I posted this before I saw this thread: http://www.diabetesforum.com/diabetes-forum-lounge/7324-erythritol-how-use.html. )
I usually craft quite the scrumptious (if I do say so myself) assortment of sweeties and cookies and cakes and stuff for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and really don't want to let le Beast ruin that tradition.
So now that I've received my batch of erythritol and Ez-Sweetz (thanks, Shanny!), I'm ready to start experimenting...but I'd rather pick some brains before I waste a lot of ingredients. My first try will be debster's brownies, but I have many other family recipes I want to try to convert to low-carb as well.
So, basically, my questions are thus:
1. My grandmother's sour cream chocolate cake (RIDICULOUSLY delicious) is very light & fluffy, yet moist at the same time. The kind of cake that's to die for the day it's made, but quite a bit "soggier" the next day (but still yummy). Will almond flour perform the same way as normal cake (e.g. Swan's Down) flour? This is really important, as the fluffiness is the whole thing...if almond flour won't do it, then I guess I'm willing to accept the carbs that 1.5 cups of Swan's Down will contribute to the recipe.
2. And this is probably a stupid question, but does using almond flour make the resultant product taste almond-y?
3. If I have a recipe that uses 1.5 cups of sugar, how much erythritol/liquid Splenda should I use in its place?
4. I also make an OMG chocolate butter cream frosting, and I know that's going to be a bit of a problem...the whole body of the frosting is based on a massive amount - usually two cups or so - of powdered sugar. There's the whole chemical-reaction thing going on between the fat molecules in the butter/cream and the sugar crystals, and I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that no mix of Splenda (liquid or granulated) and erythritol is going to behave the same way...any thoughts or ideas?
5. Those of you who've already gone through a Holiday season with modified recipes and such, what baking-related lessons have you learned? Is it silly to expect recipes to come out OK with so many substitutions? Baking is all about the chemical reactions of proteins, sugars and heat, and I'm assuming the removal of wheat flour and sugar poses more than a few problems...
Thanks much in advance!
Edited: (apologies, I posted this before I saw this thread: http://www.diabetesforum.com/diabetes-forum-lounge/7324-erythritol-how-use.html. )