In daily life, we eat foods containing sugar every day. In supermarkets, you can also buy many types of sugar: rock sugar, soft white sugar, coarse sugar, icing sugar (or powdered sugar), etc. . These sugars are made up of different ingredients, and the sweetness and taste they bring vary greatly. I believe that many people cannot tell the difference between white sugar and granulated sugar even after eating it for many years. So how do you choose the right sugar to make a dessert? If you don’t have caster sugar and only have white sugar on hand, can you use it when making cakes? This is a question that everyone often encounters. Today I will talk about what to pay attention to when choosing sugar.

First of all, because rock sugar has larger particles and has the effect of moistening the lungs and relieving coughs, it is often used in drinks and is rarely used in desserts. What is easily confused by everyone is soft white sugar and white granulated sugar.

White sugar is a sucrose crystal made from sugar cane or beet, which is processed through extraction of sugar juice, cleaning treatment, boiling and crystallization, and honey separation. There are coarse sugar and fine sugar according to different grinding degrees. granulated sugar.

Coarse sugar has larger particles, is transparent and crystal clear, and is often used as a decoration on biscuits or bread. In addition, coarse sugar is a natural preservative, which is very good for making jams and syrups~

Fine sugar is the most commonly used sugar in baking because the particles are finer and easier to blend into the batter. It is almost entirely composed of sucrose and has the refreshing sweetness of sucrose. At the same time, fine sugar has water-retaining properties, allowing the cake to lock in moisture and form a moist texture when baking. Do not reduce the sugar content of the protein in the chiffon cake easily. When beating the egg white, the sugar can better stabilize the protein state and make the protein less defoaming.

(With the participation of sugar, the wet foaming state of egg whites)

Icing sugar (or powdered sugar) is formed by grinding sugar into powder and adding a certain amount of starch. Desserts are slightly low, and are often sifted on the surface of bread or desserts as decoration, and can also be used to make icing cookies, etc.

(Mixing icing sugar with protein powder, lemon juice, etc. can make frosting-decorated cookies)

White sugar, also known as white sugar, is the most commonly used condiment in cooking. In addition to sucrose, it also contains a large amount of invert sugar. Invert sugar is a mixture containing equal amounts of glucose and fructose obtained by reacting sucrose with dilute acid or enzyme. , sweeter than sucrose, and the sweetness lasts longer, so the same amount of soft white sugar tastes sweeter than white granulated sugar.

Invert sugar has stronger water retention. When making sponge cakes, soft white sugar will taste more moist than granulated sugar. At the same time, under the action of invert sugar, the surface of the sponge cake made with white sugar becomes darker and can remain softer after baking.

Generally speaking, when making cakes, you can use soft white sugar instead of fine sugar. If you need to control the sweetness, you can slightly reduce the amount of soft white sugar~