At times a pastry chef has to make desserts which address certain dietary needs. Sometimes the product needs to be without gluten, lactose, salt or it may require having high fiber content. Some people chose or by doctor’s order need to reduce their sugar intake.
Making ingredient changes in desserts can be easy or challenging. Something easy for example is preparing lactose free pastry cream. All we have to do is switch the dairy milk to soy or almond milk and we obtain good results. Recently I have done some research with an all natural product named SteviaCane, a combination of sugar and Stevia. It allows us to make desserts with half the amount of sugar, but with the same sweetening level outcome. If a recipe calls for let’s say 1 lb (450 g) of sugar you would only use 0.5 lb (225g) of SteviaCane. For people who want to reduce their sugar and consequently their calorie intake, SteviaCane is a great solution.
When working with SteviaCane I usually make a few adjustments to the recipe in order to obtain professional and good final results. Remember, by using SteviaCane instead of sugar, we are essentially reducing the sugar by 50% and thus also reducing the moistness level naturally provided by sugar. Therefore in order to produce good cakes, cookies, pie fillings etc it is important to bring in moisture in some other ways. Some moisturizing agents which have proven to be very effective include buttermilk, apple sauce and prune or raisin puree. If a recipe calls for 1 lb (450 g) of sugar, I would use 8 oz (225 g) SteviaCane and about 4-6 oz (120-180g) of any of the above mentioned moisturizers. If making a pound cake, I would use buttermilk, for brownies I prefer raisin puree, for apple pie, I use apple sauce. Like everything else, best results are obtained by testing and fine tuning.
For this cheesecake I found that simply adding milk was the best option to obtain a silky smooth texture.
Cheesecake with SteviaCane
| 4- eight oz packs | 2 lb | Philadelphia Cream cheese | 900 g |
| 1 Cup | 5 oz | SteviaCane | 150 g |
| 4 | 4 | Large eggs | 4 |
| 1 Cup | 7 oz | Sour cream | 210 g |
| ¾ Cup | 6 oz | Milk | 180 g |
| 1 Tbsp | 0.5 oz | Vanilla extract | 15 ml |
| 2-3 Tbsp | 1.5 oz | Amaretto | 45 ml |
| 4 Tbsp | 1 oz | Flour | 30 g |
- Allow the cream cheese to come to room temperature before mixing. On low speed blend the cream cheese and SteviaCane until blended and no lumps remain.
- Add the eggs one at a time waiting for the previous added amount to be fully incorporated. Scrape bowl often between mixing.
- Gradually add the sour cream and scrape, pour in the milk gradually. Add the vanilla extract and Amaretto. Pour the batter into silicone domes or finish as a standard cheesecake.
- Bake in a 325F (160C ) oven using a water bath. Bake until the cakes no longer trembles, about 40 minutes for small domes and about 60-70 minutes for a large cake.
- Chill and finish as desired. Picture shows the cheesecakes being coated with Cocoa gelée (see On Baking
To purchase SteviaCane online you can visit this store:
Perfect, Chef!
I am interested to try this! Is SteviaCane easy to find? Is that a brand name, or simply a product name? I ask because I’ve seen Truvia before, which is also a substitute made from the stevia plant. But I’ve never seen SteviaCane….
Thanks for posting this!! ;0)
Hilary,
In Texas, SteviaCane is available at HEB. I believe it will be available on Amazon pretty soon..
You can purchase steviacane online http://imperialsugarcompany.mybigcommerce.com/
Happy baking!
Great! I will take a look there!
Thank you, Chef!!
Yum, looks good! I love trying natural alternatives to sugar in recipes. Can’t wait to try this one! Thanks Chef Eddy!
I can’t wait to try this one!!! I am always looking for sugar substitutes, and new ideas!!! The presentation is gorgeous!! Great job as always Chef Eddy!!!
You are showing different styles chef eddy and It is a chocolate flavored chesscake. Impressive…
Great for people who have to watch their sugar intake.
With this sugar substitute does it give the cheescake a different flavor? Is this a semi-sweet cheese cake?
Chef could this be use as a diabetic dessert…
Hi Chef! I was just wondering.. if you wanted to make this cheesecake with a traditional graham cracker crust.. would you line the silicone baking domes with a melted butter crumb mixture? or would you need to wait and maybe just sprinkle the crumbs around after they are cooled?
Thanks!
Hi there Heather, for cheesecakes made in silicone domes, you can simply pour the mixture into the non buttered silicone domes and bake. When properly chilled (even partly frozen) unmold and place on a bed of prebaked crumbles.
My best, Eddy.
Good Morning Chef,
I noticed that the ingredients calls for an oz of flour but I don’t see where it is used in the procedure..At what point would we sift it in?
Thanks again!
this a good way to have a great dessert without thousands of calories
Good way to enjoy a dessert and not feel so guilty
I do a lot of sugar free baking, there are a lot of alternatives to achieve a diabetic friendly desert. But the problem is that either they are unhealthy, or they don’t allow for a rise. But by far the best is Xylitol! It is 100% natural, it’s a slow carb (safe for diabetics), and it bakes just like sugar! It’s equal replacement.
The only downside is I have only found it at health food stores and natural food markets.
This is great! I have family members who have to watch their sugar intake so this is a recipe that im going to try soon. How does adding sour cream instead of greek yogurt change the taste of it?
I didn’t know about SteviaCane, but it sounds good. My mothers is diabetic and sometimes she wants a piece of any dessert, but she can’t it them because of the sugar. Also, the cocoa gelee is a great idea for presentation because it gives a shine and fine cover to the dessert. In class we use the cocoa gelee for cover a chocolate mousse and the finish dessert looks great, but it looks better in a round shape, as the picture above, than in a square shape.
Chef this looks just beautiful and I am sure it taste just as good as it looks. I Would love to try this recipe. It just looks really interesting.