Artificial sweeteners have tradeoffs when baking

Trying to stay slim, you might be using artificial sweeteners in your coffee or tea. Now they come in versions for baking. Can they taste as good as sugar? The editors of ShopSmart magazine, produced by Consumer Reports, tried out 13 in yellow-cake and sugar-cookies recipes.

The results: All the sweeteners have tradeoffs. Estee Fructose was the only sweetener that left no artificial aftertaste, but it wasn’t sugar-free as fructose is a sugar. Estee and another sugar-blend product, Domino Pure D’Lite, had almost as many calories as sugar and was almost five times as expensive. Other sweeteners had fewer calories but didn’t do as well in the baking tests.

Best for cakes: Domino Pure D’Lite Sugar Blend. The cost per equivalent of 1 cup of sugar was 67 cents, while the calories saved were 26 per slice. Runners up: Estee Fructose, which costs $1.43 per equivalent of a cup of sugar, and saved 5 calories per slice; Splenda Sugar Blend for Baking, cost equivalent was 68 cents and saved 39 calories per slice. Avoid: Equal Granular, which made the cake not sweet and as flat as a biscuit, the editors said.

Best for cookies: Domino Pure D’Lite Sugar Blend. Cost per equivalent of a cup of sugar was 67 cents. Calories saved per cookie were 4. Runner up: Estee Fructose, which cost $1.43 per equivalent cup of sugar and saved 5 calories per cookie. They both produced tender cookies, said the editors. Avoid: Great Value Altern from Wal-Mart (artificial after taste) and Equal Granular (cookies not sweet enough).

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— With Journal wire reports