Sugar is the number one agent that damages the teeth. In this article, I will be giving suggestions of substitutes for sugar as ingredients in cakes.
Fruits & Vegetables
There are a number of sugar substitutes on the market but the most natural are whole fruit and vegetables. Using them in their whole form means you’ll be benefiting from the valuable fiber and nutrients they contain as well as enjoying their naturally sweet flavor. Popular veggie choices are 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 veg like these with ground almonds to create a crumbly, naturally sweet cakey crumb.
Fruit is amazingly versatile - bananas are an obvious choice but don’t forget other exotic fruits which are naturally high in sugar like pineapple and mango. One of the key considerations when using fruit and veg is to make sure they’re as ripe as possible so you optimize their natural sweetness. You need to be prepared for some trial and error before you get your favorite recipe to work. Replacing refined sugar with, say an apple purée, is clearly not a straight forward swap so you’ll need to play around with the amount of fluid and dry ingredients before you get the combination right. Dried fruit like dates, sultanas, prunes and apricots are concentrated sources of sweetness, rich in fiber and nutrients including iron and potassium. They make a great choice for boosting the sweetness of a recipe or as a puree for adding extra moisture and stickiness.
Stevia
If you’re worried about calories - 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 baked goods 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. As well as being calorie-free, stevia contributes nothing nutritionally so it’s what we call a non-nutritive sweetener – it supplies that sweet taste and that’s all.
