A Bitter-Sweet War: "Sugarless" Recipes from WW2

In the United Kingdom on the 8th January 1940, four months after the outbreak of the Second World War, rationing was introduced. The first foods to be rationed were: bacon, butter and sugar.  The typical sugar ration for one adult per week was 225g.

Last week I visited the Imperial War Museum in London, and had the opportunity to look through their archive material relating to food during the first and second world wars. The first thing that grabbed my attention (being pancreatically challenged as I am) were all the "sugarless" recipes. Great, I thought, I'd love to bake a 1940's cake that won't send me into DKA. To demonstrate why my excitement short-lived, here is one of the recipes I found from a newspaper clipping (Unknown Newspaper, 1942):

Another of [Tessa Vane Tempest's popular dishes] is a delicious sugarless chocolate cake:
3oz each margarine, good quality chocolate powder, S.R. flour, 3 desert-spoonfuls  of golden syrup, 3 desert-spoonfuls of hot water, 2 eggs (1 will do), 1 teaspoonful of cocoa powder -
Cream fat, chocolate powder, and golden syrup. Beat well or 5 minutes, adding hot water after 2 minutes. Add egg and a little flour. Beat well, add cocoa and rest of flour. Put in two small well greased sandwich tins, bake 20 mins. (Gas 5, 375 degF)
For the chocolate filling:
2oz margarine, 2 desert-spoonfuls syrup. 1 desert-spoonful cocoa powder, 2oz chocolate powder-
Beat, add a little hot water if too stiff. Sandwich cake with filling, use this also to rough with wet knife.

To me this recipe is far from sugarless. Useful if you're trying to negotiate the sugar ration, not so useful if you don't have a functioning pancreas.

As you can see, our understanding of the word "sugarless" has evolved since the 1940's. This recipe has given me a new-found appreciation for the time I live in, and the challenges that Type 1 Diabetics would have faced during this time.