What are the top tips for sugar-free baking?
1. Whole fruit
Nature’s natural sweet treat, whether fresh, frozen, dried or puréed, fruit adds flavour, moisture and nutrients to your bakes and is amazingly versatile.
Bananas are an obvious choice but don't forget other exotic fruits, like pineapple and mango. One of the key considerations when using fruit is to make sure it is as ripe as possible so you optimise its natural sweetness. Be prepared for some trial and error before you get your favourite recipe to work. Replacing refined sugar with, say, an apple purée, is clearly not a straightforward swap, so you’ll need to play around with the amount of fluid and the dry ingredients before you get the combination right.
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Dried fruit like dates, sultanas, prunes and apricots are concentrated sources of sweetness, rich in fibre as well as nutrients including iron and potassium. They make a great choice for boosting the sweetness of a recipe and when used as a purée they add extra moisture and stickiness. Where possible use whole fruit, with its skin intact – that way you'll be benefiting from the addition of fibre and extra nutrients.
Give it a go with our sugar-free banana bread, baked banana cheesecake and cinnamon apple pecan pudding.
2. Fruit purées and syrups
Optimise the natural sweetness of fruit, like dates, by making a purée or syrup and use instead of treacle, golden syrup, maple syrup, agave syrup, rice syrup or honey, all of these are classed as 'free' sugars – the type we are advised to cut back on.
Syrups add a gooey texture to traybakes, cookies and tarts, which is hard to mimic. However, fruit purées supply sweetness and moisture and make a useful alternative.
3. Vegetables
Popular veggie choices include carrots, parsnips and beetroot – these all work surprisingly well in sweet treats, as do sweet potatoes, squash and even courgettes. A great tip is to combine vegetables, like these, with an ingredient such as ground almonds so you can mimic that crumbly, naturally sweet, cakey crumb.
You can also combine veggies with fruit and other sugar substitutes as we’ve done in our sugar-free carrot cake and squidgy chocolate sandwich cake.
4. Xylitol
If you're looking for a low-calorie, low-GI substitute that will give you a straight swap for sugar, xylitol may be the answer. Despite its synthetic-sounding name, xylitol is extracted from hardwood trees and the fibres of some fruit and vegetables. It looks and tastes like sugar – although some people experience a slight after-taste. With fewer calories than refined sugar and a low glycaemic index (GI) it has less of an impact on blood sugar levels, which means you can enjoy that sweet taste without the resulting 'rush' that regular sugar might give you. For this reason, xylitol may be a useful alternative for people with diabetes and because it has a reduced calorific value it may also help those looking to lose weight.
There’s another important benefit with xylitol and that is it doesn't cause dental decay. You can use it as a substitute in many recipes on a one-to-one basis, but not those which use yeast as a raising agent. You should also be aware that cakes sweetened with xylitol don't tend to colour very much, but that’s not a problem for coffee or chocolate cakes. One word of warning: xylitol can have a laxative effect so go easy when you first try it – a slice of cake shouldn't be an issue though. Be warned, if you have a dog in the family, keep it well away from products made with xylitol – it's highly toxic to our canine friends.
Give these diabetic-friendly cakes, made using xylitol, a go: sugar-free lemon drizzle cake, and sugar-free victoria sponge cake.
5. Erythritol
Popular among those following a keto diet, erythritol is seen as the next-generation sweetener following xylitol and it shares many of xylitol’s properties, including being kind to the teeth. Found naturally in fruit, this processed powder is a low-calorie sweetener and tastes like sugar but because it's metabolised differently by the body it doesn’t spike blood sugar levels in the same way.
Erythritol works well in bakes but because it is not as sweet as sugar you do need to use a little more – roughly 30% more. It doesn’t caramelise and it doesn’t dissolve as well as sugar, so if you’re looking for a moist, gooey sweet bake you may need to add another sweetener to the mix.
Although less likely to cause digestive issues than xylitol, if you eat too much of it you may experience bloating, wind and diarrhoea.
Try keto-friendly baking with our keto chocolate cake and keto brownies.
6. Stevia
If you're cutting down on calories and want to make a sugar-free cake, try stevia. Made from the leaves of a plant that contains sweet-tasting compounds called steviol glycosides, stevia is up to 300 times sweeter than sugar, so the amount you use is tiny in comparison. What's more, it doesn't impact blood sugar levels or cause tooth decay.
Stevia is available as granules, tablets or in liquid form and is stable at high temperatures, so it can be used in bakes and puddings. You will need to use a specially adapted recipe, though, because swapping the quantity of sugar for stevia is not a straight swap. This is because stevia doesn’t caramelise or work well in recipes where sugar is key to the structure and texture of the bake.
As well as being calorie-free, stevia contributes nothing in the way of nutrition, so it's what we call a non-nutritive sweetener – it supplies that sweet taste and that's all.
Give stevia a go in our fabulous keto pancakes.
7. Agave syrup
Syrups like agave are popular ingredients for a gooey flapjack or a sticky ginger cake – but whether you opt for golden syrup, maple syrup, honey, agave or rice syrup they're all classed as 'free' sugars – the type we should be cutting back on. If you're using these alternatives then strictly speaking your bake is not sugar-free, but you may, depending on which you use, be benefiting from some nutritional advantages like trace vitamins and minerals. However, because the amount is so small it's unlikely to have any impact on your health.
Enjoy the sweetness of agave in our healthier flapjacks and lower sugar cookies.
8. Coconut sugar
Coconut sugar is made from the sap of the flower buds of the coconut palm tree, it’s less processed than refined sugar and as a result retains some trace nutrients, although the amounts are negligible.
Flavour-wise, coconut sugar has the taste of caramel and works well in recipes that would typically use brown sugar. It can be used like for like to replace sugar but don’t be under any illusions, coconut sugar is still just that – another form of sugar and a costly one. It is available as a syrup or in crystallised form.
9. Palm sugar
Palm sugar as its name suggests is made from palm sap, like coconut sugar it has caramel flavours and is available both as a syrup and in crystallised form. Popular in Asian cuisine, palm sugar may also be used in cakes and bakes. That said, don’t forget this is a minimally processed form of sugar so will influence blood sugar levels in much the same way.
10. Jaggery
This is an unrefined version of sugar and as such is made from sugar cane or date palm. It is available as a block, liquid or as granules and can be used as a direct replacement.
Jaggery has gained a bit of a health ‘halo’ because being minimally processed it retains some trace nutrients, but these amounts are negligible and don’t be fooled, this is still sugar.
11. Chocolate
If you love the flavour of chocolate why not make a savvy swap? It’s worth remembering that even dark 70%-cocoa chocolate may contain sugar, as can cocoa powder. We love to use raw cacao nibs and raw cacao powder instead of chocolate in many of our recipes. Raw cacao has a rich flavour, so you may only need a small amount and it is a source of minerals including iron and magnesium. It works well in cakes, cupcakes, tortes and cookies.
Check out this speedy keto mug cake with peanut butter.
12. Flour
Swapping refined white flour for wholemeal may not seem like an obvious sugar swap but refined white flour is digested quickly – this means it's converted into glucose that will aggravate blood sugar levels. Using wholemeal flour instead slows the rate at which your body absorbs all forms of sugar.
We used wholemeal flour to make our vegan strawberry pancakes.
13. Vanilla
In the grand scheme of things vanilla extract isn't too bad, but if you're keen to avoid processed products opt for vanilla pods instead. Although they are a little more pricey than extract, it's easy to make each pod go a little further. Once you've removed and used the seeds, keep the pods and use them to infuse milk, yogurt and cream, as well as stewed fruits and purées.
14. Compotes
Even those jams and conserves that are made with minimal added sugar are still a concentrated source due to their high fruit content. Naturally flavour your homemade compote with spices such as cinnamon, vanilla or ginger, or make a fruit purée using mango, pineapple or apricots.
15. Toppings
Use lighter toppings in place of icing, buttercream and frosting – these little extras can more than double the calories per portion. Instead, sprinkle your cake lightly with cacao powder, cinnamon or ground ginger. Use a cream cheese topping flavoured with citrus zest, or a fresh cream filling with some seasonal fruit.
Whether you're looking for sweet substitutes, tips on how to cut back on sugar or your recommended daily amounts, find all the answers in our sugar hub: All you need to know about sugar.
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If you have blood sugar management issues or have been diagnosed with diabetes, discuss the use of sugar alternatives with your GP or healthcare practitioner before making significant changes to your diet.
Have you sugar-free tips for baking? Share them in the comments below…
Kerry Torrens is a qualified Nutritionist (MBANT) with a post graduate diploma in personalised nutrition & nutritional therapy. She is a member of the British Association for Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine (BANT) and a member of the Guild of Food Writers. Over the last two decades she has been a contributing author to a number of nutritional and cookery publications including Good Food. For more food and health tips follow Kerry on Instagram at @kerry_torrens_nutrition_
All health content on goodfood.com is provided for general information only, and should not be treated as a substitute for the medical advice of your own doctor or any other health care professional. If you have any concerns about your general health, you should contact your local health care provider. See our website terms and conditions for more information.
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Have you tried any alternatives to sugar in your baking? What do you think of them?
