Help with T2 Diabetics and Cake flavourings

I'm pleased you've made efforts so far. I dŕead ever having to go into a home or a hospital be because of the poor food options.
True low carb baking isn't cheap as not only do sweeteners cost a lot more than sugar, but most t2 prefer to avoid flour, and ,margarine amd spreads are also off the list to be replaced with pure butter
Flavours I bake are coffee, chocolate, cinnamon and ginger
This site may be useful to you.

I find I can adapt most non diabetic cake recipes by using almond flour; reduce the weight by 10%. Then reduce the butter by 25%. (Yes! 25%,) I use erythritol and use the same amount as there is sugar in the original recipe. Have made quite a few and not had any disasters. I bake at the same temperature as the recipe and generally check about 10 minutes before the recommended time.

HawkTenRose said:

For context, I work in a care home kitchen, I am Type 1, and some of our residents have T2 Diabetes that are diet and medication controlled.

As a T1, I am the go-to person on "can we feed this to our T2 diabetics?" I do a good job of it, generally speaking. However, I've recently run into a slight roadblock and I'm hoping to get your opinions/advice.

Situation: My kitchen manager has been making diabetic-friendly cakes. The issue is the T2 Diabetic residents are now requesting a broader variety of flavours, she's come to me for ideas, and I'm a bit unsure where to go from here.

As someone who's immune system has unalived my insulin producing cells, I can eat whatever I want provided I use the correct insulin for it. I'm now struggling to find other options for flavourings.

I've already thought of berries (blueberry or raspberry most likely, as I've never seen blackberry cake and they have strawberry jelly (sugar free) and strawberry "ice cream" (its strawberries and unsweetened Greek yogurt blended and then frozen. About 5-6grams carbs for two scoops of "ice cream" ) and lemon/almond/orange extract.

Anyone got any other ideas for cake flavourings? I'd appreciate any advice, please and thank you.

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Hi and welcome,

Kudos to you! Producing cakes suitable for T2s is more expensive than I would expect a care home to be willing to spend!

Switching the wheat flour to almond (ground almonds), coconut and other nut flours isn't cheap.
Nor is swapping sugar for xylitol or erythritol, or stevia, and so on.
There can also be additional eggs, butter and cream used.
Please use butter instead of some horrible cheap veg margarine or similar. Coconut oil is OK.

Well worth the effort though, since eliminating the vile cheap veg oils, flour and sugar will do a fab job to help their blood glucose and overall health.

As for new cake flavours, how about ginger, coffee, cocoa (obv not milk choc, but 70% cocoa dark choc is excellent), lemon, mint, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries (all real fruit not some horrible food flavouring).

If you want some fab low carb recipes, then a google search for 'keto black forest cake' or 'keto lemon drizzle' or 'keto whatever cake' will yield a fabulous selection.

There are also a zillion different Keto Mug Cake recipes, which you could serve individually, or adapt for larger quantities.
Here is a link, if you want to see what I mean:


They only take a minute to prepare, can be cooked in the oven, and could be served in the individual mugs or little dishes.

If you are already making yogurt ice cream, then you could reduce the carbs further by making it with cream instead of yoghurt


Like @MrsA2 it is a worry of mine that I may one day end up trapped in a hospital or care home that doesn't understand how important it is to eliminate flour, bread, rice, potato, pasta, sweet fruit, sugar and starchy root veg from my diet.
The thought that your kitchen is willing to go the extra mile and create foods suitable for T2s that don't have those ingredients... well, I am very impressed. I can only hope I find somewhere that does the same, when/if my time comes!

I use natural flavourings such as these:
https://groceries.morrisons.com/products/morrisons-the-best-valencia-orange-extract-351596011
or this:

Cream and berries I finds is a winning combination. Chocolate (dark or dutched cocoa) or lemon works well. you can use mascarpone and lemon zest/juice, a little bit of sweetener to make a great no bake cheese cake with a nut base.

I’m not a fan of sweetener, so tend to make desserts where you only need a little, so using some natural sources of sweet and/or things which bring out relative sweetness are good. ‘Sponge’ is often dense and dry as well (because nuts instead of flour), so having liquid, like dairy, helps.