The Baking Topic

[Meredith Quill]

A few more bakes from last year.

Two different colour schemes for some 2022 Father's Day gifts.

These were done in the colours of the recipient's fav football (soccer to you guys) team

These were colours I liked

Next, some early florals I practised

Tulips

Hydrangeas

A duo of roses, some of the first roses I did using two different nozzles/tips

[EtheltoTillie]

14 minutes ago, SilverStormm said:

I love pistachio flavour desserts and cakes. Sounds like you had some fun experimenting with it, should take pics! I've made strawberry and pistachio cupcakes before, they were delish.

I want to post a pic.  I have one on my phone.  I am having trouble.  The phone version of the program doesn't accept a direct post of the photo, says it's too big.  Do you know anything about this function? 

I'm trying to email the photo to myself and post from the computer.  Stay tuned.  I don't know why the mobile version can't work with photos from the mobile device. 

Here's a picture of the green cake.

[SuprSuprElevated]

13 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I don't know why the mobile version can't work with photos from the mobile device. 

All my cell photo files are too large to post here. It's annoying. I use shrinkpictures.com to reduce them, usually by the 50% option.  I've never posted here from my phone (they really should have an app, wait, do they?), so I send the photo to myself via email, then save to my PC drive, then reduce it, which creates a download file.  It's a lot of rigamarole.

Perhaps someone else has a less figgity way of accomplishing this task.

Edited January 17, 2023 by SuprSuprElevated

[Meredith Quill]

I virtually never use the mobile site, only desktop and have never encountered an issue posting a photo. So, I can't speak to posting photos from a phone myself as I've never attempted to. If you would like official guidance on this issue, you could post in the Bugs forum and then I'll get an answer from our dev about it. However, I can't say an answer will be forthcoming anytime soon as he's busy working in the background on all the update issues that are outstanding currently.

[EtheltoTillie]

19 minutes ago, SuprSuprElevated said:

All my cell photo files are too large to post here. It's annoying. I use shrinkpictures.com to reduce them, usually by the 50% option.  I've never posted here from my phone (they really should have an app, wait, do they?), so I send the photo to myself via email, then save to my PC drive, then reduce it, which creates a download file.  It's a lot of rigamarole.

Perhaps someone else has a less figgity way of accomplishing this task.

I'm doing the same thing, except not using shrinkpictures.  The email app reduces the size. 

There is no Primetimer app.  Just a mobile version of the web site that you have to view in a browser. 

1 minute ago, SilverStormm said:

I virtually never use the mobile site, only desktop and have never encountered an issue posting a photo. So, I can't speak to posting photos from a phone myself as I've never attempted to. If you would like official guidance on this issue, you could post in the Bugs forum and then I'll get an answer from our dev about it. However, I can't say an answer will be forthcoming anytime soon as he's busy working in the background on all the update issues that are outstanding currently.

Thanks, SilverStormm.  I will post a question on the bugs thread.  How do you get your photos from your camera to the desktop?  You also have to email them from your phone, right? 

[Meredith Quill]

2 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Thanks, SilverStormm.  I will post a question on the bugs thread.  How do you get your photos from your camera to the desktop?  You also have to email them from your phone, right? 

No. I use a Mac and have an iPhone, so my phone photos get saved to my Mac automatically.

[EtheltoTillie]

1 minute ago, SilverStormm said:

No. I use a Mac and have an iPhone, so my phone photos get saved to my Mac automatically.

Oh, that makes sense.  I use an iPhone and an iPad, but my desktop computers are PCs. 

[SuprSuprElevated]

4 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

You also have to email them from your phone, right? 

I actually have an app (MS OneDriv) that is shared across my devices, but for som reason, it isn't updating >>transferring photos so that I can just get them from my PC.  If you don't have a cloud app like that, you can attach a USB cable from your phone to your PC and transfer them to your hard drive. 

And now I have officially gone over my head in this convo, so I hope someone will check me if I'm giving garbage info, lol.

[EtheltoTillie]

10 minutes ago, SuprSuprElevated said:

I actually have an app (MS OneDriv) that is shared across my devices, but for som reason, it isn't updating >>transferring photos so that I can just get them from my PC.  If you don't have a cloud app like that, you can attach a USB cable from your phone to your PC and transfer them to your hard drive. 

And now I have officially gone over my head in this convo, so I hope someone will check me if I'm giving garbage info, lol.

I think it's just easier to email the photos to myself from the phone. 

[SuprSuprElevated]

Because I'm a bit too lazy to research in addition to inexperienced about such things, I can't say if these substitutions make sense, but I thought I would share nonetheless.  A couple seem they would change flavor profiles, but as to the seeds, I don't know.

Edited January 18, 2023 by SuprSuprElevated

[Meredith Quill]

I've seen tables like this before. I think I'd prefer to test using either the coconut yogurt or unsweetened apple sauce ideas for egg alternatives, along with a little baking powder for good measure. If there's enough demand for me to add vegan cupcakes to my sales list in the future that is.

[Meredith Quill]

Even earlier practice bakes and trying out various colour combinations. Not the best shots but learning curve and all that.

Strawberry & pistachio flavour

Pear + macadamia nut flavour

Gingerbread flavour

Close up

Almost caught up; I have a couple more bakes from last year to post, then it'll be whatever bakes I do this year!

[CheshireCat]

31 minutes ago, SilverStormm said:

Even earlier practice bakes and trying out various colour combinations. Not the best shots but learning curve and all that.

Absolutely loving the red and yellow cupcakes, both the color combination and the decoration. I also think the hydrangeas from the previous post look incredible!

31 minutes ago, SilverStormm said:

Strawberry & pistachio flavour

 

Pear + macadamia nut flavour

 

Gingerbread flavour

I'm enjoying your flavors. Far too often all you get is the standard vanilla and chocolate. Maybe strawberry if you're lucky. If I lived in the UK and close enough, I'd definitely order from you just to taste the flavors 😃

 

On 1/18/2023 at 10:02 AM, SuprSuprElevated said:

Because I'm a bit too lazy to research in addition to inexperienced about such things, I can't say if these substitutions make sense, but I thought I would share nonetheless.  A couple seem they would change flavor profiles, but as to the seeds, I don't know.

I've used banana and applesauce in baked goods before to substitute eggs but I have no idea about the amount. I do remember that I could taste the banana, subtly, kind of like in a banana-pumpkin or banana-chocolate bread. The applesauce was more flavor neutral.

Just as an FYI, I'd not recommend substituting eggs in cookie dough. If they're drop cookies, one might get away with it but cookie dough is more dependable on the fat-moisture ratio than cupcakes or cakes. If one changes the ratio, one changes the dough's consistency and when the dough has too much moisture in it, one could end up with a dough that's stretchy, almost like a yeast dough, and it'll shrink and distort in the oven. Not good when one wants to roll out cookies (yup, I'm speaking from experience ;-))

[Meredith Quill]

2 hours ago, CheshireCat said:

Absolutely loving the red and yellow cupcakes, both the color combination and the decoration. I also think the hydrangeas from the previous post look incredible!

Thanks, that's good news because I really enjoy piping hydrangeas, heh. They're fairly easy and it's easy to use dual colours with them and the results are good. On this journey one thing I've discovered so far is I love either muted & pastel colours or vibrant ones the best. Anything inbetween is okay just not my fav. But that's just my personal preference, naturally, I'd produce whatever colour combo the client requested!

2 hours ago, CheshireCat said:

I'm enjoying your flavors. Far too often all you get is the standard vanilla and chocolate. Maybe strawberry if you're lucky. If I lived in the UK and close enough, I'd definitely order from you just to taste the flavors 😃

Yeah, vanilla & choc are the most common here too, and my standard box/bouquets will come in those two flavours. I do plan to offer a flavour menu for my luxury tiers, where the client can choose 1, 2 or 3 flavours from the list:

1. Madagascan vanilla
2. Chocolate
3. Strawberry & pistachio
4. Strawberries & cream
5. Lotus biscoff* (biscoff sponge with biscoff sauce filling)
6. Pear & macadamia nut
7. Gingerbread
8. Apple & cinnamon (cinnamon sponge with apple compote filling)
9. Chocolate & black cherry (choc sponge with black cherry conserve filling)
10. Lemon & raspberry (lemon sponge with raspberry conserve filling)

I'll probably expand the flavour choices eventually, but for now that's going to be all.

*If you're unfamiliar; Lotus biscoff biscuits (aka US cookies) are a caramelised cinnamon biscuit, which has become an uber popular flavour here, they're extremely yummy and very moreish. They also do a spread, ice cream and filled version of the biscuits too plus lots of other sweet treats.

 

[emma675]

@SilverStormmyou may have mentioned it, but how did you learn how to pipe and create those icing flowers and designs? I took a cupcake decorating class last summer and it was so much fun, but I was not great at making mine look pretty. It was hard!

[Meredith Quill]

56 minutes ago, emma675 said:

@SilverStormmyou may have mentioned it, but how did you learn how to pipe and create those icing flowers and designs? I took a cupcake decorating class last summer and it was so much fun, but I was not great at making mine look pretty. It was hard!

I watched free online tutorials and - so far - one paid for, online tutorial. I do plan to pay for some more online tutorials to level up my skills this year. More than half the battle is having the right piping tip for the job (and getting your buttercream consistency correct) + lots of practice!

[CheshireCat]

14 hours ago, SilverStormm said:

Thanks, that's good news because I really enjoy piping hydrangeas, heh. They're fairly easy and it's easy to use dual colours with them and the results are good.

I'd say!

14 hours ago, SilverStormm said:

Yeah, vanilla & choc are the most common here too, and my standard box/bouquets will come in those two flavours.

If you apply for a food license in Virginia, you have to have every single recipe approved. I'm guessing, a limited choice of flavors may have something to do with that. (From what I understand, there's no extra charge but it's still a hassle to always have your recipes approved).

 

14 hours ago, SilverStormm said:

I'll probably expand the flavour choices eventually, but for now that's going to be all.

They all sound delicious!

I do a strawberry-vanilla-chocolate cookie, inspired by the fairly popular Neapolitan ice cream. No idea if the ice cream is popular in the UK as well but maybe that's something you could play around with :-)

[Meredith Quill]

11 hours ago, CheshireCat said:

If you apply for a food license in Virginia, you have to have every single recipe approved. I'm guessing, a limited choice of flavors may have something to do with that. (From what I understand, there's no extra charge but it's still a hassle to always have your recipes approved).

Oof, none of that. Other than a hygiene certification of the premises and public liability insurance, the only requirement here for a home-based baker is to have an allergens information sticker on food product packaging, such as:

11 hours ago, CheshireCat said:

They all sound delicious!

Thanks - I have tested them all - for science ofc - and can confirm they are 😉

11 hours ago, CheshireCat said:

I do a strawberry-vanilla-chocolate cookie, inspired by the fairly popular Neapolitan ice cream. No idea if the ice cream is popular in the UK as well but maybe that's something you could play around with :-)

Yeah, Neapolitan has been an ice cream flavour here for as long as I can remember. It's not all that popular this side of the pond as far as I can tell, most people I know seem pretty 'meh' on it. Thanks for the suggestion though.

[Meredith Quill]

On 1/22/2023 at 2:45 PM, SilverStormm said:

1. Madagascan vanilla
2. Chocolate
3. Strawberry & pistachio
4. Strawberries & cream
5. Lotus biscoff* (biscoff sponge with biscoff sauce filling)
6. Pear & macadamia nut
7. Gingerbread
8. Apple & cinnamon (cinnamon sponge with apple compote filling)
9. Chocolate & black cherry (choc sponge with black cherry conserve filling)
10. Lemon & raspberry (lemon sponge with raspberry conserve filling)

My only debate is whether to stick with vanilla or chocolate frosting across all of them or offer complimentary frosting flavours also. Obviously it would be easier and more cost efficient to do only vanilla or choc, and I'm unsure where to draw the line with having the best price vs indulgence. Gah. Maybe offering complimentary frosting flavours at the highest tier is the way to go?

Currently when baking for family and friends I use the following frosting flavours for each of the above.

1. Vanilla - no brainer heh
2. Chocolate - duh
3. Strawberry
4. Strawberry
5. Biscoff
6. Slightly salted caramel or vanilla
7. Gingerbread
8. Slightly salted caramel
9. Chocolate
10. Raspberry

[EtheltoTillie]

@SilverStormmeven your preliminary efforts look fantastic.

Can one ever practice piping with a non-food alternative?  Or do you actually have to mix up buttercream each time? 

[Meredith Quill]

1 hour ago, EtheltoTillie said:

@SilverStormmeven your preliminary efforts look fantastic.

Can one ever practice piping with a non-food alternative?  Or do you actually have to mix up buttercream each time? 

That's very kind, thank you.

I guess you could try with pre-made frosting from a tub, however, the consistency may not be ideal? Same with any other alternative, the consistency of what you want to pipe with is uber important to learn how to pipe the designs you want to pipe. If that makes sense? For example, piping flowers requires a slightly stiffer consistency than you would use for piping swirls etc. And room temp/warm hands obviously affect the consistency of buttercream as well.

[Mondrianyone]

That's interesting to know, @SilverStormm. Is it possible to alter the consistency of premade frosting, say by adding confectioner's sugar to stiffen it up or maybe milk to thin it out?

[Meredith Quill]

1 hour ago, Mondrianyone said:

That's interesting to know, @SilverStormm. Is it possible to alter the consistency of premade frosting, say by adding confectioner's sugar to stiffen it up or maybe milk to thin it out?

I've never tried that myself but I don't see why not. I never use milk bc it reduces the shelf life of the buttercream. I use water or syrup or whatever else that isn't a milk or cream product instead.

[CheshireCat]

4 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Can one ever practice piping with a non-food alternative?  Or do you actually have to mix up buttercream each time? 

In addition to what Silver said, it might also be a good opportunity to practice making buttercream and figure out which consistency works best (and also which temperature).

There are also five kinds of buttercream (that I know of), American, French, German, Italian and Swiss. I don't know if they all work for decorations but they differ in sweetness and taste, so mixing up a batch each time could be an opportunity to see what works, what tastes best etc. 🙂

On 1/23/2023 at 9:43 AM, SilverStormm said:

My only debate is whether to stick with vanilla or chocolate frosting across all of them or offer complimentary frosting flavours also. Obviously it would be easier and more cost efficient to do only do vanilla or choc, and I'm unsure where to draw the line with having the best price vs indulgence. Gah. Maybe offering complimentary frosting flavours at the highest tier is the way to go?

That's what I would do. Maybe even list all the cupcake flavors that you do and all the frosting flavors that you do and allow people to choose if they want a chocolate cupcake with strawberry or a chocolate cupcake with raspberry? (If that's feasible for you).

One thing I would recommend doing is specifically state how many days/weeks in advance people have to order and by when orders have to be finalized. (I can do cookies without a food license but that doesn't allow me to have a proper website, so I don't have a place where I can say orders have to be in so and so many days in advance and that's led to some really last-minute orders).

On 1/23/2023 at 9:28 AM, SilverStormm said:

Oof, none of that. Other than a hygiene certification of the premises and public liability insurance, the only requirement here for a home-based baker is to have an allergens information sticker on food product packaging, such as:

I wish it were that easy here! Another thing you have to do here is list where you get your ingredients from (which makes no sense for a home baker as they don't tend to have a whole seller but buy whichever store they're at and/or where they get the ingredient and/or where there's an offer for the ingredient).
I know that in Pennsylvania, you have to have a separate fridge and storage area for the goods that you sell.

On 1/23/2023 at 9:28 AM, SilverStormm said:

Thanks - I have tested them all - for science ofc - and can confirm they are 😉

😅

[Meredith Quill]

36 minutes ago, CheshireCat said:

There are also five kinds of buttercream (that I know of), American, French, German, Italian and Swiss. I don't know if they all work for decorations but they differ in sweetness and taste, so mixing up a batch each time could be an opportunity to see what works, what tastes best etc. 🙂

Yup, I've tried Swiss Meringue and didn't like it as much and haven't tried the rest; there's also Korean buttercream. I like trusty old American buttercream most for piping and for taste.

36 minutes ago, CheshireCat said:

That's what I would do. Maybe even list all the cupcake flavors that you do and all the frosting flavors that you do and allow people to choose if they want a chocolate cupcake with strawberry or a chocolate cupcake with raspberry? (If that's feasible for you).

One thing I would recommend doing is specifically state how many days/weeks in advance people have to order and by when orders have to be finalized. (I can do cookies without a food license but that doesn't allow me to have a proper website, so I don't have a place where I can say orders have to be in so and so many days in advance and that's led to some really last-minute orders).

My concern is getting too in the weeds with diff designs/colour/flavours in one order... holy piping bags & tips, batman! heh.

Oh yes, I will definitely only be taking advance orders! I'm working on a website but that's a long way off yet, I've bought the domain name though. 👍

36 minutes ago, CheshireCat said:

I wish it were that easy here! Another thing you have to do here is list where you get your ingredients from (which makes no sense for a home baker as they don't tend to have a whole seller but buy whichever store they're at and/or where they get the ingredient and/or where there's an offer for the ingredient).
I know that in Pennsylvania, you have to have a separate fridge and storage area for the goods that you sell.

Triple yikes, that's crazy! 😲 

Luckily, I already have a separate fridge freezer, not because it was necessary by law but out of convenience; we refurbished our kitchen last year so our previous one has been repurposed as my baking-only one 🥳

[Mondrianyone]

1 hour ago, SilverStormm said:

I've never tried that myself but I don't see why not. I never use milk bc it reduces the shelf life of the buttercream. I use water or syrup or whatever else that isn't a milk or cream product instead.

I didn't mean to try this on any finished products. Just to practice different piping techniques without going to the trouble of making buttercream from scratch and using up expensive ingredients. As you can see, I'm both lazy and cheap.  😉

[Meredith Quill]

Bit of a funny-almost-wasn't-funny-but-is-now-funny story, and to switch things up, not cupcakes this time, heh.

Daughter requested this specific cake (see first pic) for her birthday last autumn and as I have extremely limited experience with celebration cakes (I'm going to practice more this year but that's another story), I ordered her cake from a lady online who lives locally and who had been recommended to me. 

Pic sent to baker a la "please make one of these cute and whimsical cakes"

When we collected it, this is what we saw when we got home

I mean, sure, it's a nice enough cake but I knew this interpretation wasn't what daughter had in mind; cue SS panic. Luckily, we had collected the cake a day early, so I had time to go out the following day and buy supplies to do what I could.

After an afternoon frantically decorating to add whimsy back into the design

Perhaps doesn't look like too much changed (candles and paper decorations etc notwithstanding) but among other things, I added some little flowers and icing dots and I had to replace all the little mushroom people's heads as the original ones were a really strange shade of red (like a rusty red) vs a red red (if you know what I mean). So while I take no credit for the cake itself or the basic decoration, daughter was v happy with the end result - all's well that ends well, phew.

Thought this would make a change from cupcakes, hee.

ETA: The moral of this story is, by this autumn I hope to have had enough practice to make her birthday cake myself!

[Mittengirl]

I have been thinking of making up and freezing some cookie dough to bake later.  I use cookie scoops and freeze the dough balls on a cookie sheet then into Tupperware when frozen solid.  I want to do snickerdoodles, but can’t decide whether to roll in cinnamon & sugar before freezing or wait until I am going to bake them.  Do you think the c&s would freeze alright or would it absorb moisture and go weird?

[CheshireCat]

48 minutes ago, Mittengirl said:

I have been thinking of making up and freezing some cookie dough to bake later.  I use cookie scoops and freeze the dough balls on a cookie sheet then into Tupperware when frozen solid.  I want to do snickerdoodles, but can’t decide whether to roll in cinnamon & sugar before freezing or wait until I am going to bake them.  Do you think the c&s would freeze alright or would it absorb moisture and go weird?

I've frozen baked and unbaked cinnamon rolls and they were fine. But would the cinnamon-sugar stick that well to a frozen cookie?

[Meredith Quill]

4 hours ago, Mittengirl said:

I have been thinking of making up and freezing some cookie dough to bake later.  I use cookie scoops and freeze the dough balls on a cookie sheet then into Tupperware when frozen solid.  I want to do snickerdoodles, but can’t decide whether to roll in cinnamon & sugar before freezing or wait until I am going to bake them.  Do you think the c&s would freeze alright or would it absorb moisture and go weird?

Test it out with one or two of them before freezing? Then you'll know for next time.

[Meredith Quill]

Final bakes from 2022.

Easter

Family birthday cupcake request for 'Apple & Cinnamon with a nude/neutral colour theme'

And that's all folks!

My next bake is going to be early - mid Feb; Valentine's themed to add to my cupcake images portfolio for the website (eventually). Consisting of a floral cupcake bouquet and a dozen boxed 'classic' style.

[CheshireCat]

@SilverStormm Those cupcakes are absolutely adorable! 😍

[supposebly]

On 1/30/2023 at 5:14 PM, SilverStormm said:

Final bakes from 2022.

Easter

Family birthday cupcake request for 'Apple & Cinnamon with a nude/neutral colour theme'

And that's all folks!

My next bake is going to be early - mid Feb; Valentine's themed to add to my cupcake images portfolio for the website (eventually). Consisting of a floral cupcake bouquet and a dozen boxed 'classic' style.

They look too pretty to eat.

[A. Dixon]

On 1/30/2023 at 3:14 PM, SilverStormm said:

Final bakes from 2022.

Easter

Family birthday cupcake request for 'Apple & Cinnamon with a nude/neutral colour theme'

And that's all folks!

My next bake is going to be early - mid Feb; Valentine's themed to add to my cupcake images portfolio for the website (eventually). Consisting of a floral cupcake bouquet and a dozen boxed 'classic' style.

These look too good to be eaten.

[SuprSuprElevated]

[Meredith Quill]

Me, whenever I look at my accumulated piping tips and tools stash:

Facts 🤣

[Meredith Quill]

Is anyone planning to do any Valentine's specific (or any other kind) of baking this weekend? I'm gearing up ready for a busy baking weekend!

[CheshireCat]

4 hours ago, SilverStormm said:

Is anyone planning to do any Valentine's specific (or any other kind) of baking this weekend? I'm gearing up ready for a busy baking weekend!

✋ Already started the baking yesterday. Mostly for Mardi Gras but also some Valentine's Day.

[Meredith Quill]

@CheshireCat Nice! Are you going to share some pics with us?

[CheshireCat]

On 2/10/2023 at 7:57 PM, SilverStormm said:

@CheshireCat Nice! Are you going to share some pics with us?

Sure, I can do that. 🙂

[Meredith Quill]

My first Valentine's Day bake (apple & cinnamon), roses, hydrangeas and two-tone tulips. I even made a short, heh.

Flat lay shot

Boxed duo close up

Vid!

Topper close up

Bouquet overhead shot

[Mondrianyone]

Gorgeous! The tulips are my new favorite!

[Meredith Quill]

I'm not sappy as a rule but I am a romantic at heart...

Love,

Love,

Love,

Love is all you need.

Red velvet, it had to be you. 😂

[Gramto6]

Those are gorgeous!! Almost too pretty to eat...Almost!!

[BooksRule]

I had some big plans to make some heart-shaped sugar cookies with pink, white, or red frosting to take to work for Valentine's Day, but other stuff got in the way.  I did want to take something to work, so I put a pan of Chocolate Cherry Cream Cheese Brownies in the oven (brownie mix, and a filling of cream cheese, sugar, egg white, little flour, and some chopped maraschino cherries and juice).  I've made them before and didn't think they had enough cherry flavor, so I added a few more cherries this time.  Hopefully, they'll turn out good enough to offer to others. 

[wilsie]

On 2/13/2023 at 7:13 PM, SilverStormm said:

I'm not sappy as a rule but I am a romantic at heart...

Love,

Love,

Love,

Love is all you need.

Red velvet, it had to be you. 😂

So beautiful!

[WendyCR72]

On 2/13/2023 at 7:13 PM, SilverStormm said:

I'm not sappy as a rule but I am a romantic at heart...

Love,

Love,

Love,

Love is all you need.

Red velvet, it had to be you. 😂

These are a work of art. Bet they taste as wonderful as they look! And now...I want cupcakes. Hee.

[EtheltoTillie]

@SilverStormm we are seeking your opinion.  I posted about "brownulated" brown sugar in the Pet Peeves thread.  I don't know if you have it in the UK.  It's easy pour brown sugar.  I have used it for baking because it's easier to deal with than the usual sticky brown sugar.  I haven't really noticed any difference, but professionals might.  What is your opinion? 

[Meredith Quill]

8 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

@SilverStormm we are seeking your opinion.  I posted about "brownulated" brown sugar in the Pet Peeves thread.  I don't know if you have it in the UK.  It's easy pour brown sugar.  I have used it for baking because it's easier to deal with than the usual sticky brown sugar.  I haven't really noticed any difference, but professionals might.  What is your opinion? 

Non-centrifugal sugars are more of an epicure product here; organic whole cane sugar known as Panela but sold under the brand name Sucanat, seems to be the most common. My understanding is that it can be used in place of white, raw, brown or coconut sugar but may not be suitable for some baked goods, such as meringue, due to the molasses, higher water content and coarse texture. Nutritionally, there is minimal difference to other sugar choices.

I use caster sugar for baking sponge cakes and muscovado sugar in fruit cakes and compotes or anything that would be enhanced by the molasses flavour. Really, as long as you bear in mind the different properties of demerera, muscovado and unrefined cane sugars, such as crystal size, water content, flavour etc, you shouldn't run into any problems.

As for storing regular brown sugars, to keep them moist I recommend using one of these:

Hope that helps.

[CheshireCat]

8 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

@SilverStormm we are seeking your opinion.  I posted about "brownulated" brown sugar in the Pet Peeves thread.  I don't know if you have it in the UK.  It's easy pour brown sugar.  I have used it for baking because it's easier to deal with than the usual sticky brown sugar.  I haven't really noticed any difference, but professionals might.  What is your opinion? 

I had never heard of it so I googled because I wondered how they achieve a drier texture (apparently, it's spray-dried, whatever that is). What the website also said is that it makes the baked goods drier but they were baking cookies.

 

7 hours ago, SilverStormm said:

 muscovado sugar in fruit cakes

I've been making the birthday cake for the children of friends and a few years ago, they asked me to do a cake from the Great British Bake-Off. It called for muscovado sugar and there is exactly one store that sells it in the area. And we have 8 different ones, 10 if you include Walmart and Target and even more if you include that there are a few of the same that we could go to.

Do you get it softened with the examples you provided? (Here, at least, it's hard and more or less impossible to crumble up by hand. I put it in a food processor).