By Edward David Mateo / Photography By Cryss Arrieta
What about sweets for those who are watching their sugar intake? There has been an increase in customers asking for sugar-free choices, and they want variety. It’s a good feeling to be able to provide customers with choices that can satisfy their cravings but also won’t spike their sugar levels.
I’d say 10 percent of the total production at my shop Royale Patisserie are sugar-free pastries. Even though baking with sugar substitutes cannot compare to actual sugar, there are ways to make it so the taster can hardly discern the difference.
Kitchen testing or recipe testing is really a must to identify which sweetener works best with a particular pastry, and which will have a better outcome for the item. At Royale Patisserie, we mostly use Stevia when substituting sugar. Its natural sweetness helps mimic sugar and lowers the risks of having the cake taste bland.
For me, cakes and pastries won’t be the same without its sweet distinctive taste, but less sugar content also means your tongue gets to concentrate on other flavors and textures, like the floral notes or the creaminess.
For those who still prefer real sugar, decreasing the sugar content of your pastries by simply using less is still the easiest way. My recipe below uses less sugar than standard cupcake batter and frosting but by using rose extract, the decrease in sugar is replaced by floral notes.
SPRING BLOOMS BOU-CAKE
- 2 cups sifted cake flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1-1/4 cups granulated white sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 tsp rose extract
- 1/2 cup chopped cherry
- 1/2 tsp white distilled vinegar
- 1/2 cup baking soda
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 227g cream cheese
- 1/2 tsp rose extract
- 1/2cup powdered sugar
- 1-1/2 cups cold heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 tsp of food color in pink, blue and yellow
1 Preheat oven to 350˚F (175-180˚C) and line 24 paper cups in a muffin pan.
2 In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
3 In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat the butter until soft. 4 Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and rose extract. Mix until combined, then add the chopped cherries.
4 With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with the flour.
5 In a small cup, combine the vinegar and baking soda. Allow the mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter.
6 Scoop first the mixture using #22 ice-cream scooper. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 18 to 23 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcakes come out clean.
7 Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove from pan. Let cool completely before frosting. Either spread the frosting with a knife of offset spatula, or use a large 1M Wilton open star decorating tip to pipe the frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
1 In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat the cream cheese
until smooth.
2 Add the rose extract and confectioner’s sugar and beat until smooth. Using the whisk attachment, gradually add the heavy cream and whip until the frosting is thick enough to pipe.
3 Add more sugar or cream as needed to get the right consistency. Then split the mixture into four to make different colored frosting.