STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

bumblebee · Coach

sugar free cake mix? does this exist?

LA Gal · Kenneth Cole

i don't think this is exactly what you're looking for, but if you go to allrecipes.com, there are lots of recipes that use splenda in place of some, usually not all, of the sugar that the recipe calls for. just look for recipes that are submitted by Splenda (under search, choose "by submitter"). here are some samples:

http://cake.allrecipes.com/az/76275.asp

http://cake.allrecipes.com/az/76252.asp

http://bread.allrecipes.com/az/76267.asp

kisa · Dooney & Bourke

I've read that splenda/aspertame is really really bad for you and causes things like brain tumours.

Have you ever heard of stevia powder? It's derived from a plant in paraguay and has been used to sweeten for thousands of years. (it's like 500x sweeter then sugar) It's also used in place of aspertame in Japan. There are stevia cookbooks online, I'm sure there's a cake recipe.

ETA: Actually I found one:
chocolate cake

-- Edited by kisa at 19:23, 2005-12-22

Elle · Hermes

Splenda and Aspartame are different animals all together - no incidences of cancer or tumors has been found at all in studies of Splenda, as it is actually sugar with just one piece of it's molecular makeup removed so your body doesn't recognize it as having calories. As for aspartame, you would have to drink the equivalent of 17 sodas per day to get enough aspartame in your system for cancer to even be a remote possibility. The only people who its truly dangerous for are people with a specific genetic disorder.

I haven't actually seen a boxed cake mix made with Splenda - they should totally make it if they don't though! I've had good results just replacing sugar with Splenda in regular recipes though, or you can always substitute just 1/2 or 3/4 of the sugar. If you want to bake a cake from scratch, that is .

Edited to add link:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3840760/

-- Edited by Elle at 11:50, 2005-12-23

lynnie · Chanel

thats a good idea- i totally bet its on the way. i see splenda made things more and more these days.

jen · Kate Spade

I've heard splenda is safe but aspartame is questionable. That being said, let us know if you find it-my mom is diabetic and it would be nice to have.

kisa · Dooney & Bourke

Sorry I got confused. I thought that sucralose was aspartame. Sucralose is splenda, and nutrasweet is aspartame.
Anyways, on to the facts:
"...the testing of sucralose, even at less than the level demanded by FDA rules, reveals that it has been shown to cause up to 40%shrinkage of the thymus: A gland that is the very foundation of our immune system. It also causes swelling of the liver and kidneys, and CALCIFICATION of the kidney."
Dr. James Bowen M.D.

“Sugar-free cookies often have the same number of carbohydrate grams as regular cookies, which means they’re not any better for people with diabetes – or those looking to shed some pounds. They’re also not better for budgeters, often costing considerably more than regular cookies.”
Tufts University

"Is there anything then to criticize about sucralose? Perhaps some of the marketing approaches that have hyped the safety of this compound by referring to the fact it is made from "natural sugar." What a substance is made from is irrelevant; what matters is what the final product is. Its properties are determined not by its ancestry but by its molecular structure. Hydrogen gas, for example, can be made from water but it would be absurd to suggest it, therefore, has the same safety profile. It's a different substance, just like sucralose is different from sugar. Incorporation of three chlorine atoms into the sugar molecule converts it into a totally new substance."
Joe Schwarz, McGill's University's office for Science and Society

"In a simple sentence, you would just as soon have a pesticide in your food as sucralose because sucralose (Splenda) is a chlorocarbon. The chlorocarbons have long been known for causing organ, genetic, and reproductive damage."
Dr. Janet Starr Hull

and aspartame:

"The 92 health effects reported to the FDA are: abdominal pain, anxiety attacks, arthritis, asthma, asthmatic reactions, bloating/edema, blood sugar control problems (hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia), brain cancer (Pre-approval studies in animals), breathing difficulties, burning eyes or throat, burning urination, inability to think clearly, chest pains, chronic cough, chronic fatigue, confusion, death, depression, diarrhea, dizziness, excessive thirst or hunger, fatigue, feel 'unreal', flushing of face, hair loss (baldness) or thinning of hair, headaches/migraines, hearing loss, heart palpitations, hives (Urticaria), hypertension (high blood pressure), impotency and sexual problems, inability to concentrate, infection susceptibility, insomnia, irritability, itching, joint pains, laryngitis, "like thinking in a fog," marked personality changes, memory loss, menstrual problems or changes, muscle spasms, nausea or vomiting, numbness or tingling of extremities, other allergic-like reactions, panic attacks, phobias, poor memory, rapid heartbeat, rashes, seizures and convulsions, slurring of speech, swallowing pain, tachycardia, tremors, tinnitus, vertigo, vision loss, and weight gain."
Wikipedia

As for the brain cancer. It is widely noted that pre-approval studies indicated brain cancer in rats.

Elle · Hermes

Meh. You can't bake with aspartame anyway , and I hardly think that the amounts an 'average' person would consume is near the amount that rats consumed in testing. If the consequences were really that high, it wouldn't be on the market at all. Not saying that it's the best thing for you, but some of the 'symptoms' reported after eating aspartame sound more than a little out there, and nowhere do they mention the amounts consumed or the health of any of the participants. Besides, most people would suffer many of those same symptoms after eating too much actual sugar. I'm not sure how they could prove that someone got arthritis from aspartame ?

Splenda is a pesticide? Sounds extreme at best. Saying that chlorocarbons are bad for us therefore Splenda is bad because it's a chlorocarbon is like saying carbon monoxide is a gas and it's bad for us, so oxygen must also be bad because it's also a gas. The reasoning just doesn't seem particularly sound. Again, I don't think anyone is going to be experiencing calcification of their kidney after eating a single slice of cake made with Splenda, and the only alternative for some people is to go completely without sugar at all. Of course eating tons of Splenda everyday wouldn't be good for you - neither would eating tons of butter, lard, regular sugar, nuts, etc. The studies don't really apply to the average joe eating these substances in moderation .

Hope you found a satisfactory recipe, bumblebee .

-- Edited by Elle at 16:38, 2005-12-24