To my surprise, one of the people with whom I almost always share a serving or two of anything I bake and whose birthday is today, told me that he’s not a fan of sugar! He asked that I make his birthday cake with less sugar. By coincidence, the other person whose birthday was Friday, thus part of the weekend, asked me for the same thing so that she could share it with her diabetic husband. (I’m posting on Sunday, having handed over their cakes on Friday.)
Since both of them like lemon but wanted something without frosting, I chose to make lemon pound cake with slightly less than half the usual amount of sugar but the full amount of lemon zest and lemon juice. I didn’t know how the cake would turn out with less sugar, but the volume of highly whipped butter and eggs with the reduced sugar looked fine as did the completed batter. They don’t look different than “ordinary” pound cakes now that the bake is over, so four of us will judge the taste.
I made two mini-bread pan sized cakes to share with neighbors not having a birthday and for me to sample the low-sugar difference. I did not neglect the lemon syrup brushed on while the loaves were still hot nor the drizzle of lemon glaze when they cooled a bit, and I’d added some tart dried cherries for color and taste. (The minis were tasty with the syrup and glaze.)
Ms Chef in Seattle 