Learn The Art Of Low-Carb, High-Fat Baking
By: Shannon Hennig
Tags: Keto, Diet, Baking, Health, Food

Sugar Alternatives and Replacements

Sugar and the sweetness it provides to all baked goodies is difficult to replicate, but there are a variety of natural alternatives and replacements on the market. Now these don’t taste exactly like sugar and some have a strange aftertaste if you use too much, but they provide the sweetness necessary to feel like you’re eating a favorite treat.

Not all sweeteners touted as sugar replacements are low-carb friendly: honey, maple syrup, agave, nectar, and dates are all examples of sweeteners that you should just consider “sugar”.

After experimenting with many true sugar alternatives, adjusting their ratios in relation to other ingredients in a recipe, and playing with their textures, I’ve come to rely on three main products that consistently give me the best results.

Stevia

Stevia is a natural extract from the leaves of the Stevia rebaudiana plant found in South America. It’s much sweeter than sugar—as a result, you don’t need as much in your baked goods. It doesn’t impact blood sugar levels as it is carbohydrate free.

It can be found in most major grocery stores or online retailers and typically comes in a granulated/powdered form or as a concentrated liquid. The typical conversion ratio is 1 teaspoon liquid concentrate or 1/4 to 2 teaspoons extract powder to replace 1 cup of sugar. Check the packaging for specific recommendations.

Some brands suggest on their packaging they can be measured and used cup-for-cup, like sugar, I wouldn’t recommend this. Using too much stevia can lead to a very bitter aftertaste that will ruin your baked goods faster than you can blink. If a Stevia sugar replacement recommends this ratio, it is probably being mixed with something else.

Obviously, there is much less bulk to pure Stevia than sugar. But it has another impact on your recipes: the moisture levels, in conjunction with your other ingredients, won’t be the same as for white sugar. Typically if I use stevia in baking, I know that I’m going to need to increase both the amount of liquids and fats in my recipe in order to get the desired result.

Stevia also doesn’t caramelize or melt, so it’s not a viable replacement if you need those qualities.

Erythritol

Erythritol is a natural sugar alcohol, originally discovered as a chemical component of blackstrap molasses that has been fermented by yeast. It has since been commercialized and is regularly used as a food additive. It is a zero carb, zero calorie sweetener that is about 70% as sweet as sugar.

There are mixed feelings in the low-carb, high-fat community about sugar alcohols—they can cause stomach upset and even intolerances in some if used in excess. But for baking, this is one of my favorites to use, as it has a similar granular texture to white sugar, and can also be found in powdered form for use in more delicate baking where texture is important.

Like stevia, erythritol doesn’t melt or caramelize, and it doesn’t it lose it’s granular texture when it’s mixed with wet ingredients the way sugar does. When using it for cakes or cupcakes, I put it into a coffee grinder that I use only for baking ingredients to turn it into a powder. You can also buy it in powdered form but this tends to be more expensive. The other thing to keep in mind is that erythritol can have a strange aftertaste when used in excess; it creates almost a cooling sensation in your mouth that’s really difficult to describe.

To reduce the chance of a strange aftertaste I like to test mix sweeteners in different ratios. Often I’ll put erythritol together with stevia (usually to taste, there is no magic ratio that works with every recipe) and together these make for a perfectly sweetened baked good without the bitterness or cooling sensations of using these sweeteners by themselves.

Monk fruit extract

The extract of monk fruit, grown in Southeast Asia, is 150–200 times sweeter than white sugar. The juice from the monk fruit is extracted, dried, then ground for use in baking, juices, sodas and other foods where you’d typically find white sugar. It can have a bit of a fruity taste to it if used in excess, but I prefer it to stevia in baked goods.

Monk fruit will dissolve when mixed with wet ingredients, so it’s often used in sugar substitutes at your local coffee shop. And once again, it doesn’t melt or caramelize like sugar—in general, don’t plan to make a creme brulee with these sugar substitutes. Monk fruit extract is a relatively new product in North America, so it tends to be quite expensive and difficult to find.

If you do come across it on the grocery store shelf, it will often be mixed with erythritol, stevia or another natural sweetener. And there are multiple products at the supermarket that run under a variety of brand names that are a blend of all three of these sweeteners.

I don’t have a personal preference on these commercial blends and suggest if you want to use one, try multiple brands to decide what you like best. Make sure that you read the ingredients to understand exactly what you’re getting, as some manufacturers will also throw in artificial sweeteners and other stuff that you don’t want.