Is it Possible to Reduce Sugar in a Baking Recipe? (2024)

I’m all for baking with alternative, natural sweeteners, but another option for baking with less sugar is to, well, cut down on the sugar. But how does cutting back affect the final product? And how far can I cut back before my dessert turns into an inedible mistake?

Ovenly's Secretly Vegan Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies
Perfect Chocolate Cake

To test this, I took two Food52 recipes (the Ovenly's Secretly Vegan Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies and the Perfect Chocolate Cake, made into cupcakes) and prepared them using three-quarters, one-half, and one-quarter of the recommended sugar—plus no sugar! The results were both surprising and—mostly—delicious.

Using Three-Quarters the Sugar

For both the cookies and the cake, using three-quarters of the total amount of sugar made for totally delicious baked goods. The raw cookie dough tasted amazing (I had to try it for science) and the baked cookie had a crisp exterior and a soft, moist middle.

The cake also turned out as if I was using the full amount of sugar—the top was glossy, with a nice rise, and the interior was moist and chocolaty. All in all, you would not notice that missing sugar.

Using Half the Sugar

These cookies weren’t nearly as sweet tasting as the cookies with three-quarters the sugar and were slightly crumblier and dry. They lacked a crisp exterior and had much less of that fudgy doughy middle you’d want from the cookie, but they were still good cookies. I would happily eat them with a cup of tea.

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Top Comment:

“Any and all sugar does this so honey, granulated, dried fruit all will perform the action of attracting water in the baked good and making it moist and tender. It doesn't matter much what kind of sugar as long as it is well dispersed in the baked good. Sugar like salt also brings out the flavor in cooking. Less sugar less taste. Too much sugar and only one taste. Sugar is about balance. ”

— Laura415

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The cake, on the other hand, didn’t turn out quite as well. While it still had the shiny top, the texture was dry and spongy. It really needed fresh fruit and cream to be enjoyable.

Using a Quarter of the Sugar

Because of the molasses in the brown sugar, the cookies got lighter in color and drier as sugar was reduced. So using one-quarter the sugar made for a crumbly dough that tasted of the acrid leaveners. Luckily, once baked, the taste of the baking powder and soda disappeared. The cookie was edible but lacked the soft chewy middle, a brown top, and an evenly spread out shape.

Unlike the cookies, which lost their baking powder taste, the cake with a quarter the sugar did not. More so, the texture was affected to the point of being rubbery and bouncy. While the three-quarter-sugar cake would compress and give under pressure, the one-quarter-sugar cake would spring back with dryness.

Using No Sugar

Whereas cookies with a half and a quarter the sugar were crumbly, the no-sugar dough was straight bready and hard to mix. While the dough didn’t taste very appetizing, the baked cookies tasted fine but didn’t spread or brown. While they were the last cookies to go, they still got eaten nonetheless. Not great, but definitely not awful. This was a surprise to me!

Removing the sugar from the cake batter was less successful and created a light colored mix with a higher rise and a tunnel interior. The cake was rubbery and dry and acrid in flavor. Left at room temperature for a couple of hours, it dried out completely and became incredibly hard. Not a success.

Overall

Sure, the reduction of sugar in the cookies made for a drier, crumbly, and less fudgy cookie, but they were still enjoyable. For the cake, reducing sugar had a much greater effect on the final product, to the point where it was unpalatable. I would conclude that you can safely reduce the amount of sugar called for in a baking recipe to three-quarters without noticeably affecting taste and texture.

If you want to take it even further, sugar can be reduced by half, but the texture and taste will start to become affected—but not to a point where the dish is no longer enjoyable. This might work best in a recipe that contains a lot of natural sweetness from other sources—like a fruit muffin or a cookie with chocolate chips. Reducing the sugar beyond half starts to get a little scary.

That said, my survey only involved two recipes—one cookie and one cake—so there’s a lot more investigating to do. If you have experience cutting sugar in baking recipes, I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

Is it Possible to Reduce Sugar in a Baking Recipe? (2024)

FAQs

Can you reduce sugar in baking? ›

The chemistry of sugar attracts water molecules, so cutting it out can make your baked goods too tough and dry. If you really want to cut back, sugar can usually be reduced by about a third without seeing a major difference in texture.

What is the function of reducing sugars in baking? ›

Baking with reduced sugar lessens browning

Caramelization and the Maillard reaction are two chemical processes that help baked goods brown; sugar is involved in both. Reduce the sugar in your baked goods, and you reduce their potential to brown.

What happens when you reduce sugar in cookies? ›

The lower the sugar, the less cookies spread, the drier/more crumbly they are. Cookies with less sugar taste less sweet, of course. But beyond that, their flavor also becomes flat; sugar is a flavor enhancer much like salt is.

How to reduce sugar content in dishes? ›

  1. Reduce the amount of sugar called for in the recipe.
  2. Use a sugar substitute such as honey, maple syrup, or natural applesauce.
  3. Use spices like cinnamon and nutmeg to give the recipe a sweetness without added sugar.
  4. Reduce the amount of sugar-containing ingredients in the recipe, such as syrups, jams, and jellies.
Jan 20, 2023

How to replace sugar in a recipe? ›

As far as liquid sugar substitutes go, the list is long, but some easy pantry staples you probably already have include honey, agave, maple syrup, and molasses. Keep in mind that each has a different flavor profile (or lack thereof—agave is the most neutral), and that it should complement, not clash with your recipe.

Does sugar matter in baking? ›

It actually contributes a moist and tender texture to many baked goods. When creamed with butter and sugar, it can also assist in leavening recipes like cakes for a light and fluffy texture. Sugar is also involved in the processes of caramelization and Maillard browning which impact both flavor and texture.

What happens if I put less sugar in a cake? ›

The sweetness of the cake will be reduced, so it may not taste as sweet as a cake made with the original amount of sugar. Additionally, reducing the amount of sugar can cause a change in the texture of the cake. Without enough sugar to create structure, cakes can become dense and heavy.

Can you reduce the amount of sugar in a cake? ›

Honestly, don't be afraid to cut back the sugar in your favorite cake recipes. Start with a simple 10% reduction: 5 teaspoons scooped out of each cup of sugar. If you like the results (and you're not baking an angel food-type cake), remove more sugar the next time.

What happens when sugar is reduced? ›

Cut added sugar and you could lower calories and body weight, which could improve your cholesterol. But it's not just the weight loss. Even at the same weight as others, people who got less than 20% of their calories from added sugars tended to have lower triglycerides.

What cancels out sugar in cooking? ›

How to Make Food Less Sweet. Add an acid or seasonings such as vinegar or citrus juice; chopped fresh herbs; a dash of cayenne pepper; or, for sweet dishes, a bit of liqueur or espresso powder.

What cancels out sugar in food? ›

If your food is too sweet...

Add an acid or seasonings such as lemon juice, lime juice, or vinegar; chopped fresh herbs, citrus zest, or a dash of cayenne for savory dishes, liqueur or instant espresso for sweet dishes.

How to reduce sweetness in cookie dough? ›

Double the recipe: Another option is to double the rest of the recipe, excluding the sugar. This will help dilute the sweetness throughout the dough. Keep in mind that this will result in a larger batch of cookies, so make sure you have enough ingredients and baking sheets [1].

What cancels too much sugar? ›

Sour: The general go-to here would be lemon juice, although lime will also work. Orange juice will only add more sweetness as will some kinds of vinegar.

What is the rule of sugar in baking? ›

Sugar helps baked goods retain moisture.

This happens because sugar bonds with liquid in the recipe and retains that liquid. That bond helps keep baked good more moist (I know) for a longer period of time, increasing the shelf life of your baked goods!

What happens if you use too much sugar in baking? ›

However, if too much sugar is added (these simple vanilla cupcakes had twice as much as they should have), then not only do they rise to the extreme but the structure takes so long to set (these were baked for 15 minutes longer than a normal batch) that they then collapse dramatically towards the end of baking.

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