Family. Ya gotta love 'em. What would we do without them?
I was blessed (or sentenced, depending upon how look at it, LOL) to be born into a large family, the last of 5 siblings. The age gap between my older siblings and I was large enough that they really were too old to be my playmates. In fact, I think I was more an object for their entertainment by harassing and torturing me for their own evil pleasure. All of them but my brother Michael. He was never mean to me. He never stung me with rubber bands, beat up my teddy bear, or forced me to look at skeleton pictures. He never scared me with a vampire face, or tricked me by wrapping rocks to look like candy just to see me cry from disappointment. He never talked on the phone late at night when I was trying to sleep, pulled me off the desk chair to do "college work", or eat all the fresh cherries at the beach so I got none. Nope, not Mike. (You others know who you are and what you have done. I wonder how you sleep at night.) Michael does not have a mean bone in his body. I don't think I have ever heard him utter a cross word. He taught me to play chess, did word Jumble puzzles with me, and took me on vacation to the Grand Canyon. He is the most gentle, kind and selfless person I know.
Left to right: John, Mike, Janice, Barbara, and me.And he's good to me still to this day. Whenever my PC gets all bogged down with junk and viruses, and starts to run badly, I can always take it in to him for a full clean out and tune up. He gets it running fast and clean for me again. Just like he did this week. So how do I thank him for his help? By doing the only thing I know how to do: bake!
Mike can't have sugar, so I make him sugar free cakes. Gives me a chance to try out some new recipes. He seems to like anything though; he is not picky.
This recipe I had saved on my PC, and I do not know the source to give credit. The cake was a tad dry to me, but I may have baked it a little bit too long. I would advise to take it out the oven before the toothpick comes out fully clean to prevent over baking. The icing was delicious. Squirt-the-piping-bag-right-into-your-mouth delicious. And yes, I did do that. 3 times. But not until I was finished with the cake.
Sugar-free Chocolate Cake
2 cups flour
1½ cups Splenda (granular no calorie sweetener)
3/4-cup non-dairy creamer powder
¼ tsp salt
1 ¼ tsp baking soda
½ cup + 2 Tbsp cocoa
¾ cup applesauce or vegetable oil
1 cup + 2 Tbsp milk
2 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
1 ½ tsp vanilla
Measure the dry ingredients into a bowl reserving ¼ cup Splenda. In another bowl mix the applesauce (or substitute ¾ cup vegetable oil),Milk, vanilla, and 3 egg yolks. Beat the egg whites until fluffy, slowly adding the remaining ¼ cup of Splenda. Whisk together the dry ingredients with the liquid making a smooth batter. Beat for 2 minutes until color lightens. Then fold in the egg whites. Bake in two greased and floured 8 –inch cake pans, at 350 degrees about 20 – 30 minutes. When Baking with Splenda, products bake quicker so test to see when cake springs back or when a toothpick comes out clean. They also do not rise very much. Each layer was about 1-1.5 inches tall, so I torted them and filled.
Sugar-free Chocolate Frosting
1 Large box Vanilla or chocolate instant sugar free Jell-O pudding mix
1-cup low fat milk
2 cups heavy cream
In a mixing bowl pour the milk. Measure out the heavy cream and open the pudding box. Quickly pour the pudding into the milk beating just until absorbed, add the heavy cream and continue to beat until light and fluffy.(I doubled this recipe to fill and ice my cake as shown.)
It made a nice cake and I would make it again. Janice is the real sugar free baker in the family. She doesn't know it yet, but I am going to recruit her to contribute to my blog when she tries out all her new recipes. It's the least she can do after all that childhood misery she caused me. I know how much I love sweets and cannot imagine not being able to have them because of dietary restrictions. So from time to time I will post some sugar free recipes.
What mean things did your sibs do to you?
Happy Baking!
Sharon,
14 comments:
What a great looking cake!! And a nice story about your brother! Hmmm not sure I want to divulge the mean things my older brothers did LOL.
Sounds like a cake I need to try! Thanks for posting the recipe. I'm slightly insulin resistant.
As for mean things my siblings did, well...I am the oldest...heh heh heh!! But as soon as my brother and two sisters grew taller then me, it was trouble for me!
Cake looks sooo yummy! Well, I must confess, that I destroyed my older sister' dolls, by either cutting their hair off or beheading them! It did not happen too often - ONLY when I did not get my own way! LOL
wow this looks great and its sugar free too !!! yeahhhh
Beautiful as always!
My siblings used to tickle me until I was literally sick...then tell my mom they had no idea what was wrong with me.
I'd like to see a dvd made of you piping those fancy borders in bc. hehehehehehehehehe
great looking cake, lovely story, i'm the oldest so i did the mean things.
Oh Sharon bless your heart for sharing this and the recipes. My sister in law can only have sugar free. They have been trying to find a great recipe, that will taste great also. Thanks so much for sharing this, the cake not only looks beautiful but also very yummy.
I really enjoy reading your story and it made me remember those days of growing up with my brothers and sisters. I was the oldest of 2 sisters and 2 brothers, but I was the one who they all ganged up on lol. They thought I was bossy, because I had to watch over them while our Mother worked, and see to it that they got supper, homework done, bath and into bed.
I too am from a family of 5 siblings. I am the middle. When we were young,we used to play house, my oldest sister would make mush from crackers and water and make us eat it! The next oldest (who today is my best friend) used to always put me up to things. I think she liked seeing how much trouble she could get me into with our parents! She told me to stick my head through a wrought iron fence. Of course I did, and of course I couldn't get my head back out because my ears were in the way!!! lol.
That cake looks really good. I will definitely be passing the recipe on to my sister. She does alot of baking with Splenda.
Thanks Sharon!
oooo that cake looks delicious! i may have to try it out, not that anyone has sugar restrictions in my fam but it's always cool to bring something and then tell them it's "healthy".
as for mean stuff being the eldest of two boys my little brother didn't do anything to me that was mean. until he got sneaky and recruited my older cousins. lets just say to this day i'm still plotting my revenge, muahahahahaha!
The cake looks good! My siblings would always steal my candy. I guess it's my own fault for not eating it fast enough.
I like Mike!!
My FIL is diabetic and I too have found tht the Splenda only recipes have come out on the dry side. :(
Hi Sharon,
You have done it again as always! I tried this recipe once for a Godson who because diabetic at 3. Everyone LOVED the cake, especially him and they did not believe it was Sugar Free, Love you, Love you,
Dorothy said ......the cake turns out just like it the picture shows it. It was so good !!!!!!!! My husband can not have sugar and lot of family members too so I will always make this .thanks
Dorothy said ......the cake turns out just like it the picture shows it. It was so good !!!!!!!! My husband can not have sugar and lot of family members too so I will always make this .thanks
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