Sugar in baking

It’s never a good idea to drastically reduce sugar amounts in a recipe (especially when baking) as it will affect the finished result. Sugar does a lot more than just provide sweetness in recipes – it also performs the following functions:

Moisture

Sugar is hygroscopic, which means it attracts and holds moisture, and so will change the finished dish when added. When baking cakes, this helps prevent the crumb from drying out. Also, sugar is essential to stabilise the mix when making meringues – it binds with the water in the egg white to create structure and so prevents the meringue from collapsing or leaking when baked.

Tenderising

Sugar impacts on the structure of cake batter, stopping gluten and proteins forming, and helping to make the cake tender rather than chewy (cakey rather than bready). This is also why adding sugar to a bread dough will give you a softer crumb.

Caramelisation

Sugar changes character when heated, adding both colour and flavour when baked into a cake. Moisture evaporates from the surface of cakes when baking, creating browning and helping form a crunchy crust on higher-sugar recipes like brownies and biscuits. Equally, sugar, when heated on its own, will turn into a golden liquid – changing in character from a simple sweetness into a complex and rich caramel.

Leavening

The reason so many cakes start with a butter and sugar creaming process – beating the sugar with the butter lightens the mix (you’ll actually see it change colour and texture) and creates trapped air pockets which expand

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