If you ever thought that the role of sugar in cakes was just to impart sweetness to it, you are wrong. Sugar has a functional role that effects the cake in different ways apart from making your cake a sweet delicacy.
Say thanks to the chemical nature of sugar that makes it function in a lot of essential ways apart from adding sweetness to the dessert. Here, we present different roles that sugar performs:
1. Flavour
A cake without sugar has a raw, bland flavour but once sugar is added, the process of caramelization begins, giving cake its baked flavour.
2. Leavening
While beating the cake mixture, the addition of sugar helps cut the batter and create tiny bubbles. This makes the cake fluffy and light causing the cake to rise when baked.
3. Preservation
Sugar holds the moisture and water particles together. Therefore, this helps the cake from becoming stale and dry too soon, thereby increasing the shelf life.
4. Colour
Sugar provides delicious golden brown colour to the cake and it’s the process of caramelization provides a deep brown shade.
5. Moisture
Sugar attracts water molecules. This bond between sugar and water helps lock in moisture making the cake soft and tender.
Less Sugar? You Need A Fix!
When you add less sugar to the cake, the golden brown texture of the cake is not attained. Subsequently, it becomes difficult to figure out whether or not the cake is properly baked. This also means the right flavour of the cake shall not be attained.
Too Much Sugar? Blunder Again!
If you love your desserts extra sweet and wish to add a spoon or two more, think again! Because adding much sugar will make the crust too brown and leave the cake underdone.
Sugar Alternatives. Not Always!
Not all sugar alternatives are appropriate for baking. Sugar helps in breaking down the molecules triggering the process of caramelization and browning. In the absence of it, not all substitute sweeteners shall be appropriate for baking.
With the impact of sugar in baking being so essential, be thankful the next time you bake a cake.