Here is some interesting information about substituting sugar when baking with a natural sweetener from Sparkpeople.com:

Honey, made by bees from the nectar of flowers, is a ready-made sweetener that contains traces of nutrients.

Cooking notes: To replace 1 cup sugar with honey in baked goods, use about 3/4 cup of honey and lower the oven temperature 25 degrees and reduce liquids by about 2 Tablespoons for each cup of honey.

Maple syrup comes from the sap of maple trees, which is collected, filtered, and boiled down to an extremely sweet syrup with a distinctive flavor. It contains fewer calories and a higher concentration of minerals (like manganese and zinc) than honey. Don’t be fooled by ”Maple-flavored syrups” which are imitations of real maple syrup and contain many artificial ingredients. To easily tell the difference, read the ingredients list on the nutrition label. True maple syrup contains nothing but “maple syrup.”

Cooking notes: To replace 1 cup sugar with maple syrup in baking, use about 3/4 cup of maple syrup and lower the oven temperature 25 degrees and reduce liquids by about 2 Tablespoons for each cup of maple syrup.