Wednesday 5 March 2008

Diabetic blueberry cupcakes

When I was pregnant with my first daughter, on the week 17th I got really sick and turned out I got Diabetes Mellitus type 1. Of course after that I have to watch what I eat. It's a hereditary disease. I knew I would get it because my father and all his siblings have them and we are not a kind of family who will watch what we eat. We love good food and we eat a lot.

Lots of people I know have this perception that Diabetes is caused by eating too much sugar or sweet things, especially in Indonesia. Doctors in Indonesia (mostly) don't feel they have to give the right information about diabetes, so lots of diabetic patients don't have the right diet or taking their medications properly.
Diabetes medication is really expensive in Indonesia, so if the doctor don't tell the patients the right thing, some of them think it's okay to stop the medication or keep eating fatty food as long as they avoid sugar. Many of them get complications and need even more expensive medications and even surgery, but still they don't understand or got enough information about the disease at all.

I'm lucky (in a bad situation ha ha ha) that I got my diabetes in Ireland. The doctors never hide any information and easy to get informations too. For long time illnesses like diabetes, all the medications are free.

Okay, I'm burbling enough about my illness. What I'm really want to talk about is this cupcake.
I found this recipe from Crazy Cupcakes.

















Blueberry (sugar free) Cupcake


Ingredients:
175 gm--1 1/2 cups--6 oz plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
75 gm--3 oz--1/2 cup butter or margarine
14 tablespoons of Splenda low calorie sweetener
100 ml--5 fl ozs milk
2 tablespoons of honey
1 egg
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
110 gm--4 ozs--1 cup either blueberries, washed and chopped fine.

Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 210C--gas 6
Put paper cases into baking tray. This makes 9 cupcakes in muffin size paper cup cases. I do not over fill but prefer smaller cupcakes so I have room for a topping.
Sieve the flour and baking powder together and put into a separate bowl.
In another bowl beat the margarine or butter with the Splenda and honey until light and fluffy.
Add the vanilla essence and the egg and beat well.
Add half the flour mixture to the other mixture and all the milk. Stir well. Add the rest of the flour mixture.
Add the fruit of your choice and fold in gently.
Spoon the batter -mixture into the cup cases.
Put into the oven in the top half of the oven.
Cook for 15 minutes. Do not open the oven until this time or the cupcakes will collapse.
Check to see if they are done.
Stick a wood cocktail stick in if it comes out clean they are done . If you touch the surface of a cupcake and it is springy to the touch it is done. If not leave longer in the oven. Depending on the size they can take 15 to 20 minutes.
Remove. Cool on a wire tray.

I topped the cupcakes with natural yoghurt and fresh blueberry.
I love the way the yoghurt complement the cupcakes, it gives a tangy freshness. The cupcake itself is light and fluffy. The only think I will change about the recipe is the amount of Splenda.

The cupcake is a bit too sweet for my liking. After being a diabetic for about 4 years, my sweet buds are very sensitive, I can taste sweetness on everything very strongly.

Even though Splenda is sugar (with much less calorie), it still give the after taste like other sweeteners. In a small amount it won't be too noticeable but in a big amount, it will.
The honey gives enough sweetness already. So next time I will just reduce the Splenda by half and get the sweetness from the honey and the fruits.

1 comment:

Thistlemoon said...

Have you ever tried using Stevia - it is an herb that is very sweet and has been used in South America for centuries - it is a natural product that you can get in granules or liquid and it is very sweet but it is not sugar and it is not a chemical - like splenda, which is not very good for you either. I think you would like it!

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