Living with Type 2 diabetes doesn’t compromise the Diabetic Pastry Chef, Stacey Harris’s creativity in the kitchen. After attending culinary school, Stacey taught herself how to make pound cake, pecan rolls, pies, muffins, cupcakes, and other baked goods with about half the carbohydrates in traditional bakery items.
If you’re feeling deprived of your favorite holiday treats because you’re living with diabetes, then check out this new recipe from our friend, Stacey.
From her tasty treats to her outlook on life, this pastry chef keeps things as sweet as can be as well as … sugar-free!
Diabetic Pastry Chef‘s Sugar-Free Apricot Brandy Pound Cake Recipe
Ingredients
1-1/2 cups butter, softened
3 cups sugar-substitute of your choice
6 eggs
1 tsp orange extract
1 tsp lemon extract
1 tsp almond extract
1/4 cup apricot brandy
3 cups cake flour, sifted
Directions
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube cake or bundt pan. Cream butter and gradually add sugar substitute. Continue creaming until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Blend in extracts and brandy. Gradually add the flour and beat until smooth.
Pour the cake batter into the tube pan. Bake for 1 1/2 hours or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean and the edges of the cake have come away from the sides of the pan. Cool for 20 minutes in the pan before unmolding. Cool completely. Add glaze and arrange apricots and mint on top.
Glaze Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar-free apricot preserves
1Tbsp. apricot brandy or leftover apricot nectar from the can
1 8-ounce can of apricot halves, drained
fresh mint for garnishing
Directions
Heat the apricot preserves until melted. Remove from heat and stir in brandy or nectar. Spread the warm glaze over the cake and sides. Garnish with the apricot halves, which can also be glazed, and garnish with the mint. Enjoy
Stacey Notes for the Best Results:
This recipe is revised from an old Ebony magazine recipe. It is a showstopper! It works well for holidays. I have made it as is. I have also made it using canola butter in place of whole butter. I have successfully made the cake by cutting the butter to 1 cup and adding 1/2 cup sour cream. I suppose yogurt would also work in place of the sour cream. You can read more about Stacey’s experience making her Sugar-Free Apricot Brandy Pound Cake recipe on her blog.
I generally mix my sugar substitutes to get the best flavor, baking properties, and health results. For this cake, I used 1 cup of Splenda, 1 cup of Stevia in the Raw, and 1 cup of Whey Low. Do not try to use Splenda alone unless you’re using Splenda for Baking.
If you’re interested in making over one of your holiday specialties with sugar substitutes, Stacey recommends using a blend of sugar substitutes in your recipe rather than just one for the best results.