Banting flour and sweetener swaps

Short answer: swap cake flour for almond or coconut flour, and sugar or honey for xylitol, erythritol or pure stevia. These alternative flours and sweeteners are for occasional low-carb bakes and treats — they shouldn’t replace real whole foods at daily meals.

Net carbs means total carbs minus fibre (or “Glycaemic Carbohydrate” on South African packaging). All raw food numbers below use per-100g values from USDA FoodData Central.

Flour swaps: net carbs per 100g

The gap tells the story. A cup of cake flour blows your 50g net day in one bowl. A cup of almond flour spreads about 25g net across a whole tray of rusks. Coconut flour sits in the middle on paper, but you use far less of it, so the per-slice carbs stay low. Remember that in Banting, baking should remain an occasional treat so your tastebuds reset from sweet cravings.

Shelf check: almond flour and coconut flour at Woolworths, Checkers and Pick n Pay. House brands at Checkers and Pick n Pay were the cheapest on the shelf that week. Stock moves, so read the bag. Some “almond” packs mix in rice flour to cut cost, and that pushes net carbs straight back up.

Sweetener swaps: net carbs per 100g

The star matters. Sugar alcohols look scary on paper because the label counts them as carbs, yet your gut treats them quite unlike sugar. Erythritol passes through mostly unused. Xylitol is part-used, around half the kilojoules of sugar, and it can run your stomach in big serves. Don’t eat half a tray of xylitol brownies to test this. You’ll regret it.

Stevia’s catch is the filler. Pure drops are near zero-carb. Shop sachets often bulk the tiny bit of stevia with maltodextrin or dextrose, and then one sachet can carry near a gram of carbs. For honey, the answer stays no for daily use. We lay that out in is honey banting friendly?.

Baking gotchas South Africans learn fast

Coconut flour drinks liquid. Start with a quarter of the wheat amount and add an extra egg or two, then let the batter sit five minutes. It thickens while you wait. Skip that rest and you’ll add more flour, then more milk, then wonder why the muffins bounce.

Almond flour has no gluten, so bread won’t stretch. It makes soft muffins, rusks and biscuit bases. It burns quicker too, thanks to the fat. Drop the oven by 10-15°C and check early. Your nose knows before the timer does.

Xylitol cools your mouth, a bit like mint without the mint. Nice in peppermint fridge tart, odd in custard. Keep it away from dogs, even crumbs. It’s safe for you in normal bakes and can kill a small dog.

Erythritol recrystallises as it cools. Frosting goes gritty by day two. Dissolve it well in warm cream, or blitz the granules to dust in a coffee grinder first. The crunch in a fresh pancake dusting is fine. The same crunch in fudge is not.

Stevia turns bitter when you push it. Use less than you think, then blend with a spoon of erythritol for bulk. One drop too many can sour a whole jug of iced rooibos.

I check new bags with the scanner in Banting Buddy when the label looks vague. All features are free with ads, with optional ad removal for 1, 3 or 12 months.

For the maths behind portions, see how to count net carbs. If the budget bites, Banting on a budget in South Africa shows where to save, and our oats question explains why oat flour isn’t the loophole it looks like.

Sources: USDA FoodData Central; shelf observations at Woolworths, Checkers and Pick n Pay.

General information only, not medical advice. If you take medication for diabetes or blood pressure, talk to your doctor before changing how you eat. Last updated 19 Sep 2026.