How is dark soft brown sugar used in baking? 

Dark soft brown sugar is crystalline sugar ingredient recognisable by its moist texture, fine grain size and deep molasses-like colour. A staple baking ingredient, dark soft brown sugar has many functional properties that make it ideal for use in cakes, puddings, tarts, pastries and cookies, including its ability to deepen both flavour and colour.  

In this blog, we explain the function of dark soft brown sugar in baking and what this crystalline brings to a range of baked goods.  

Ragus manufactures and supplies dark soft brown sugar for the baking industry. This sugar’s particular characteristics and functional properties make it ideal for baking: 

Dark soft brown sugar influences and deepens the colour of any baked goods it is added to, more so than a lighter-hued crystalline like soft brown light sugar. As the higher amount of natural molasses from the sugarcane is still present in the darker variety, its colour is almost as dark as black treacle.  

Baked goods like treacle puddings, cookies, Parkin, biscuits and gingerbread benefit from having a deeper, more intense colour.  

The higher molasses content of dark soft brown sugar intensifies the colour but also the flavour of baked goods such as Christmas pudding, fruit cakes and brownies. It has a rich, strong and slightly bitter flavour that permeates whatever it is added to. For this reason, dark soft brown sugar may be preferred over white and lighter brown crystalline sugars in many recipes.  

Dark soft brown sugar has a higher moisture content when compared to white granulated sugar, for example, which means it gives baked goods like cookies, brownies and flapjacks a softer, chewier texture.  

The higher moisture content also helps prolong the shelf life of baked goods like Christmas cake. Christmas cake, and other dried fruit-based baked goods, typically have a longer life due to the dried fruit content and inclusion of other ingredients, such as ground almonds.  

In these cakes, the dark soft brown sugar does not make the mixture too moist, but instead complements the chewy texture and moist aspect of the dried fruit while preventing the cake from drying out. This is essential, as fruit cakes should have a longer shelf life when compared to other cakes. The tannins in the fruit alter the cake’s composition and enhance the flavour over time, and so there is benefit to the consumer in not eating a fruit cake straight away. Dark soft brown sugar enables this by prolonging shelf life. 

In many cases, a lighter sugar can be substituted for dark soft brown sugar in baking if the aim is to have a more robust molasses flavour and deeper colour, but the darker sugar can affect the texture and nature of a product.  

Not only will dark soft brown sugar make baked goods moister, but it can also increase the spread and rise. This is drawn from greater acidity, which comes from the higher molasses content. The acid reacts with ingredients like baking soda to give a higher rise, which results in a lighter crumb and a wider spread.  

For baking manufacturers, dark soft brown sugar will remain an essential ingredient in baking, especially given the fact that it provides some nutritional value due to its natural molasses content.  

Ragus manufactures a range of speciality pure syrup and crystalline sugar ingredients for the baking industry. To learn more, contact our Customer Services Team. For more sugar news and updates, browse SUGARTALK and follow Ragus on LinkedIn.