After being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, Stacey Harris (‘The Diabetic Pastry Chef’) taught herself how to make pound cake, pecan rolls, pies, muffins, cupcakes, and other baked goods with about half the carbs you’d get from a traditional bakery item.

“I started experimenting by using almond milk or whole milk mixed with water to cut down on carbs, then tried different flours, incorporating white whole wheat flour, soy flour, oat flour, black bean flour, and other alternatives into my brownies, cakes, and cookies,” she said in an How 2 Type 2 article.

She adds,”To cut back on sugar, I started using all-natural substitutes, like agave nectar, and trying erythritol. I also bake with a store-bought blend of sugars that tastes delicious.”

All of the Diabetic Pastry Chef‘s recipes are adapted to her preferences and dietary needs; we encourage you to adapt them to yours!

The Diabetic Pastry Chef‘s Sugar-Free Carrot Cake Recipe

Ingredients

1 c. flour, whole wheat or all-purpose
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1 c. granulated brown sugar substitute such as Whey Low®, Swerve® or Truvia®
2 large eggs
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 c. plus 1 Tbsp. canola oil
1/2 c. chopped nuts (preferably walnuts or pecans)
1 1/2 c. grated carrots
1/4 c. raisins, optional

Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease and lightly flour a 6-cup Bundt pan.

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves; set aside.

In a mixing bowl at medium speed, beat together the eggs, sugar substitute and vanilla for 2 minutes. Lower the speed and slowly add in the canola oil until combined. Turn off mixer, and by hand, stir in the grated carrots, nuts and optional raisins, being sure not to overmix.

Add batter to greased and floured Bundt pan and bake until toothpick inserted into center of pan comes out clean, about 40 to 50 minutes. Invert pan onto cooling rack after about 10 minutes and let cool.

Dust with sugar-free confectioners’ sugar and enjoy!

Stacey Harris aka The Diabetic Pastry Chef shares her recipes in a fabulous book so that people with type 2 diabetes and others looking for sugar-free treats can make their own lower-carb versions of baked goods at home. She also started her own online bakery that ships homemade treats all across the country. The most common thing she hears from customers is, “I don’t even miss the extra sugar!”

Stacey Harris, The Diabetic Pastry Chef, guests on Divabetic’s Diabetes Late Nite podcast with music from Gladys Knight & The Pips. Our musical inspiration, Gladys Knight doesn’t have diabetes, but the disease is as close to her heart as the memories of her mother, Elizabeth Knight, who died of complications from the disease in 1997. The five time Grammy Award winner never misses an opportunity to use her voice to encourage early detection and treatment of diabetes.

LISTEN