Sugar. . .

Aarons_mummy

I've been doing a lot of baking recently and everything home made seems so much sweeter than shop bought which is a good thing as I can stretch it further

However it's not doing my waistline much good and I remember watching a programme recently about using natural sugar and therfore using less of it as it's much sweeter than other sugars.

I was wondering what it is called I thought it was dextrose as I'm sure I seen the natural sugar in Asda but I can't find it on the website, can I indeed buy it from the supermarket or do i have to buy it elsewhere?

Also if I am able to substitute say caster sugar for this natural one how do I know how much to add as it won't be the same as the catser quantities.

One last thing will these keep/freeze like other cakes.

Thanks for any help

BitterAndTwisted

I don't know anything about this "natural sugar" stuff, as it seems to have passed me by so far. My only worry about making substitutions for sugar in cake recipes is that the mixture may cease to have the same properties when it's baking. The proportion of sugar is fairly crucial to the texture of the final result but I suppose the only way to find out is trial and error

LittleLauz

Could it be fructose? That's the sugar found in fruit etc I believe.
As for substituting, not entirely sure hiw much you'd need to use. At first it could be a case of trial and error to obtain the sweetness you prefer.

LittleLauz

Could it be fructose? That's the sugar found in fruit etc I believe.
As for substituting, not entirely sure how much you'd need to use. At first it could be a case of trial and error to obtain the sweetness you prefer.

Aarons_mummy

Have checked but doesn't seem to be that either, hmmm think I need to do some more research into this here was me thinking it may be simple

adelight

agar nectar/agave syrup? it's the "healthy" version i guess

Pixiechic

I use the agave nectar sometimes but I hadn't heard of anything else. I had a look and these were interesting:

http://www.naturodoc.com/library/nutrition/natsweets_use.htm

http://allrecipes.com//HowTo/baking-with-sugar-and-sugar-substitutes/Detail.aspx

janeym8

splenda is a sweetener that can be used in baking-tried it once myself and it was awful though

janey xxx

MrsCrafty

To be honest, it's better to use less sugar. I have a morbid fear of anything remotely connected with sorbitol or aspartame. Raisins/less refined sugar maybe.

JulieGeorgiana

Splenda is really sweet compared to sugar (it's made from sugar) I tried using it for baking bread... and the yeast wouldn't activate!

I would just cut the amount of sugar in the recipe, I started doing that years ago and you don't notice if you do it slowly.

Aarons_mummy

^^^^ Thanks for that, think I'll just try cutting down on the amount in the recipe and take it from their

Thanks for all your help!