Clementine Cake With Maple Syrup

Asked by Sharon I. Answered on 3rd May 2015

Full question

Can I substitute 1 cup of Maple Syrup instead of granulated sugar or would that make the cake too moist? How about substituting xylitol for sugar? Thanks.

Our answer

Nigella's Clementine Cake (from How To Eat and on the Nigella website) is a very popular cake as it is gluten free. It is made with a combination of cooked and pureed fruits, sugar, eggs and ground almonds (almond meal). We would not particularly recommend the substitution of maple syrup (or honey) for the sugar. Firstly maple syrup and honey both have distinct flavours and these are likely to mask the flavour of the clementines in the cake.

Second sugar provides both sweetness and structure to cakes. Both maple syrup and honey are sweeter than sugar so should be used in less quantity, which could affect the cake. Also they are hygroscopic, which means that they attract water, and as mentioned in the query this could make the cake too wet. Xylitol is a sweetener and as we have not used it in baking we regret that we are unable to advise on its use in this cake.