Does anyone have a recipe for diabetic cake please

[DelGirl]

I want to bake my fil a cake for his 80th birthday next week. I've done a search and all I can find is what I think is an American recipe. However, it contains 1 cup of sugar amongst other things that i'd have thought were a no-no. So, can anyone give me a recipe please? I'm ok at baking, but my equipment isn't up to much so the simpler the better. Also would like one that will be ok to eat the next day and that will travel as fil is 2.5 hrs away.

Cheers!

Can you use Fruisana (which is fructose rather than sucrose) instead of sugar - you use 2/3 of the amount stated in the recipe. Available from Tescos.

NB I am not a diabetic expert by any means.

Fructose has a lower GI than sucrose so is better.

Hi Soupdragin. I guess so, I was thinking of substituting with Splenda or something but I don't want to get it wrong iykwim. Also, the recipe i've found uses cups as a measure. Not difficult I know but I don't have any and would sooner go for the lb's and oz's/ Call me old fashioned!

Hopefully you'll have an actual diabetic on soon, but I'd say the best option is to try to make a reasonably low-sugar cake, and for him to have a small portion. From what I know, the current advice for diabetics is to essentially follow the GI/GL diet and watch calories. This is particularly true of Type 2 (adult onset, non-injecting) diabetics.

Using fruisana helps (I always use it in cakes, and it's fine). Baking a cake with some healthy ingredients (e.g. a carrot cake, or some sort of cheese cake, as the cheese should lower the GI) helps. And of course portion control helps.

Essentially, I'd make whatever sort of cake he likes (ok, not Kendal mint "cake"), but make it with fruisana.

DelGirl, my dh has diabetes so I tried substituting some of the sugar in a cake once with Canderel and the cake turned out very flat (although it tasted fine). Usually my cakes are OK so I guess it was the substitution. My problem was that the sweetener hardly weighed anything, so I was piling it in and the scales weren't changing so I just guessed which probably didn't help!

Anyway, I shall go and have a look in my diabetic cookbook and see if there's anything in there. I would have thought a fruity cake would be quite good. TBH, diabetics don't actually need different food as such, it's the overall diet that matters, so a piece of normal cake is OK as long as it's part of a generally healthy diet (and better eaten after a main meal rather than on its own).

I would suggest a regular recipe using only half sugar quantity, half wholewheat flour to white if you want a regular sponge cake alternatively a fruit cake

Thanks for the ideas. Not sure what type he has other than that he does inject every day and he's only had it a few years. He's very good at watching what he eats so I suppose one bit won't hurt.

bumping this for any football watching diabetics

Hi DelGirl, sorry it's taken me a while to get back. Sounds like your FIL has Type 2 diabetes (Type 1 usually develops quite early in life). A lot of Type 2 diabetics control their diabetes with a combination of dietary measures and insulin or tablets.

Anyway, my cookbook has recipes for Christmas cake (basically fruit cake), marzipan and Dundee Cake (also fruity but with almonds on the top). The Christmas cake contains no added sugar and the dundee cake has only a very small amount of sugar in it.

Any good? Will post the recipes if you like (but probably not tonight!).

thanks gingernut, have you got a recipe for a cake without dried fruit in it please? Thanks everso

Oooooh! Now you ask, I have just found a recipe for Victoria sandwich which I didn't know was in there! Any good?

great, thanks. Whenever you get a spare few mins

100g/4oz low fat spread
50g/2oz caster sugar
2 medium (size 3) eggs, lightly beaten
1 x 15 ml spoon/1 tablespoon hot water
100g/4oz self-raising wholemeal flour
pinch baking powder

1. Cream the lot fat spread and sugar together until the mixture is light and creamy. Beat in eggs and water. Sieve flour and baking powder into another bowl, then gradually fold it into the creamed mixture.
2. Divide mixture between 2 x 6" tims. Bake at 350F/180C/Gas mark 4 for 20-25 minutes until risen well. Turn out onto wire tray to cool.
3. Suggested fillings: pure fruit spread and whipped cream or butter icing (they suggest making this with 2x15 ml spoons powdered intense artificial sweetener and 25g low fat spread plus flavouring as desired). You can sprinkle powdered sweetener on the top as well.

Whole cake provides 120g CHO (carbohydrate) and 1060 calories.

hi gingernut. thanks alot for the recipe. i'm going to try it out this weekend I think. i'll let you know how it tastes

Gingernut

have made half the amount as a try out and it's lovely. It's the easiest cake i've ever made! Only thing is, it was only about 1cm thick cos i've only got an 8 inch tin. When I do the proper cake, i'm going to use 2 loaf tins instead. No time to go hunting for tins and i've already got a few. > i'll increase the quantity, doh!

So, a big thank you .

Glad it worked out well...I must try it sometime too.

lol, have you not????? Well, i'm going to bake the birthday cake tomorrow , err make that today! definately yummy. Not sure if i'm going to put butter icing and jam in or just jam. I bought some french stuff that supposedly is just raspberries sweetened with fruit juice. That's yummy too

Well no, I don't often make cakes and when I do I just do a normal one with a bit less sugar.

Sounds like you'd better make 2 cakes, 1 for your FIL and 1 for you!

I've made it but it's not turned out quite so good. Still lovely, just not the same as the 1st time. I also rightly or wrongly sprinkled some splenda on it but it's dissolved now and it's gone a bit sticky. Anyway, i'm sure fil will appreciate the thought....if not the cake