"Adventures" in Diabetic Baking

So today, I decided I need to test the diabetic recipes I have picked out for my Grandmother's upcoming birthday party. She loves her sweets, even though she will swear up and down that "she does not have a sweet tooth." When she was first diagnosed with diabetes, or even just warned to watch her sugar, at her house would always be an Entenmann's cake or something delightful under her cake dome and a bag of Snickers minis in her refrigerator. "They are just so damn good!" What could you do but smile and shake your head? Well, as time has gone on she's become more careful about her sweets and watching her sugar. Her 90th bday is coming up in January, and I figured what could possibly be a better cake than a Snickers inspired cake? Then I thought portion control and ended up with Snickers cupcakes.
I have never baked with anything other than real sugar before. Ok, once I did...with Splenda for a diabetic coworker. They were the driest brownies ever. He was really nice about it, but I was hoping he didn't eat it and just threw it away!
I have an amazing chocolate cake recipe that turns out perfect every time. After finding a diabetic chocolate cake recipe online, I decided to go with my recipe and exchange the sugar for the Splenda Sugar Blend I had picked up. The cake actually turned out decent. Moist and sweet. In fact, I think next time I'll cut back the sugar substitute a little more. I made 12 cupcakes for the Snickers cupcake test run, and one 8 inch cake with added cayenne pepper and cinnamon as an attempt at a Mexican Chocolate cake.
I started coring the cupcakes. The vision being this:
Core cupcake
Add a few whole Roasted Peanuts
Fill with Dream Whip/Brown Sugar Substitute concoction
Put the cupcake top back on
Frost
Sprinkle with chopped Roasted Peanuts

I got to the frosting point and decided hey I'll try out my frosting recipe and sub the sugar again since the cake worked out so well. Not such a great idea. I'm not a chemist and I don't know what properties changed but the Splenda ruined stuff. The cream/sugar based never congealed with the butter/cocoa mix. I had to taste it just to see how bad it was, and actually it tasted really good. But in the trash it went.


It was a good thing I had picked up the Pillsbury Sugar Free cake mix and frosting at the grocery store while I was there today. It was honestly just for comparison sake, but ended up being a good backup. I really don't care for the frosting but I was in a pinch and frustrated. Got out my pastry bags and started decorating the cupcakes. The way I frosted them, I went through one "can" of the store bought frosting for 12 cupcakes. It was too sweet for my taste, so I sprinkled some sea salt on the top for good measure, and finally sprinkled the chopped roasted peanuts. They look pretty, but we'll see how they taste as a whole tonight at a friend's house. Fingers crossed!!
I sure am glad I decided to do a test run...my last resort Plan Z is to go get some sugar free cupcakes at the bakery in the next town over. Let's hope that doesn't happen.
Time to figure out some normal frosting for my Mexican Chocolate cake.