[Dagger]

i bought this book since last time i tried baking with Splenda it failed and figured i could find some information on how to fix recipes. The book reads well and the author understands the problems Splenda has in baking and how she adjusted for it. I do have some questions that maybe some of you can answer. Like the reviews on Amazon said Splenda works fine in Cheese cake which I'm guessing is because Cheese Cake isn't really cake but custard and doesn't need any rising that regular cake does. Splenda simple doesn't do this as i found out. In her Cheese cake recipes it always calls for 8 oz. Cottage Cheese, 8 oz. tube style cream cheese and 8 oz. regular bar cheese. What I'm wondering is why the tube style and not the bar cheese? Second cookie & cake recipes some call for 2 tbs prune Puree, can you even buy this and why?

[Dagger]

I don't Follow these directions, can you explain

pureed prunes = prune puree = prune lekvar = lekvar = prune butter To make your own: Simmer for ten minutes one cup pitted prunes plus one cup water, then puree strained prunes plus1/4 cup cooking liquid OR mix in blender or food processor 1 1/3 cup pitted prunes and 6 tablespoons water until prunes are finely chopped. Substitutes: apple butter OR Lighter Bake (a mixture of pureed prunes and apples)

[qahtan]

What on earth is tube style cream cheese.. qahtan

[Mezzaluna]

I think Dagger may have meant "tub-style" cream cheese:

[ADayInTheLife]

Yeah, I buy the tub style cream cheese all the time (I replace some of the butter in a recipe, with either no fat or low fat cream cheese, if I want to make it lower in fat). I think it's supposed to be more spreadable than the kind that comes in the block.

[m brown]

You can make tub style cream cheese by paddling it out on the mixer.
(airation or as in creaming butter and sugar).

Splenda does not caramelize nor does it help the egg whites or fats to keep the air once whipped or creamed as sugar does.

[Dagger]

Yeah i'm pretty convinced that Splenda just doesn't work when baking. Everything other than cheese cakes just will not rise and come out gummie. I figure there has to be some kind of cross with the amount of sugar used in a recipe that can be cut with Splenda.

[scott123]

Yes, Dagger, your suspicions are on the money. About the only thing that works okay with splenda is cheesecake, and even that is not as good as what can be achieved with other sweeteners, especially those that provide sugary texture.

Sugar isn't just vital for sweetness, it's essential for texture. Without the right sugary texture, cakes don't rise correctly, aren't moist, cookies aren't crunchy/gooey/cohesive, etc. etc. Sugary texture means everything in baking. Splenda only provides sweetness, not texture. If you check the splenda website, they talk about this quite a bit. Their solution? Using "splenda for baking" a 50/50 sugar/splenda blend. For those of us that need to drastically cut sugar from our diet, the blend is not an acceptable compromise.

Sugar alcohols can provide sugary texture to baked goods, but they can also be laxating and spike blood sugar. If chosen carefully and used discriminately, they can be extremely low glycemic and gut friendly. Other than sugar alcohols, polymerized sugars such as polydextrose and inulin are excellent for mirroring the texture of sugar with very little glycemic response. Beyond sugar alcohols and polydextrose/inulin, there aren't many ingredients that mirror the texture of sugar. Soluble fiber gums can have a slightly sugar-like texture in some applications. The best for this purpose is acacia. Expert foods sells a baking aid called Thickenthin Notsugar that's acacia based.

Prunes are dried fruit. Dried fruit is a concentrated form of sugar. By adding dried fruit, the author is 'slipping' sugar into the recipe unbeknownst to most readers. It's a shell game- removing one form of sugar that people know is bad and replacing it with one that people don't immediately recognize.