Pour granulated sugar into a blender or food processor. Blend the sugar until it is a fine, fluffy powdered sugar. The more refined, whiter sugars make the fluffiest powdered sugars.

Icing sugar is made by grinding white sugar into a fine powder. Sometimes a little corn flour is added to ensure a fine texture. Icing sugar is a very versatile ingredient used often in making cakes and other bakery products; it is used for icings and frostings or dusted over desserts.

If you have run out of icing sugar or can’t find any to buy, you can make your own by whizzing granulated or caster sugar in a food processor, powerful blender, standard blender, coffee or spice grinder, or more laboriously, in a mortar and pestle.

If your concern is to avoid adding sugar, as the mixture is already sweet, you can try adding thickening agents from your kitchen. Use cornstarch, gelatin, cream cheese, cocoa powder, heavy cream, or butter to thicken the mixture. The last resort is putting the icing in the refrigerator for a few hours.

Icing sugar / Powdered sugar: It dissolves quickly so it’s perfect for use in icings, buttercreams and frostings as well as some candies and for dusting cakes and cookies after they’ve been baked.

Caster sugar Probably the most widely used sugar in baking, caster is especially great for super-light, refined sponges such as genoise, meringues or for cakes that have a low flour content (such as brownies) which rely on eggs and sugar whisked to a mousse to provide the structure.

Granulated sugar

Also, icing sugar has a very small amount of cornstarch so it won’t clump together since it has been ground into a fine powder. Confectioners sugar also dissolve into the batter quicker because the crystals are smaller and won’t incorporate as much air into the batter (more air = a drier cake I think…).

Instructions

1. Put all ingredients in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved.
2. Place your cake in a dish that has a rim — I cut mine into the right shape and used a small casserole dish — and pour the soak over it. Cover and let stand for at least 45 minutes.

The result of sugar’s presence is a “baked” flavor in cake. Tenderizing – Sugar essentially weakens structural agents in a batter; it slows and reduces protein-protein interactions such as gluten formation and egg protein solidification. Sugar can also slow starch gelation and increase bake time.

Sugar interferes with the coagulation of proteins. Adding more sugar to a cake recipe causes the proteins in the flour and eggs to form weaker bonds, creating a more tender, softer crumb. But more is not always better. Excess sugar could weaken a cake structure so much that it collapses.

Sugar alternatives. Try making cakes with ground almonds or grated vegetables. These add a more complex texture, keep cakes moist and boosting flavour with their natural sweetness. Natural sugars, such as honey or maple syrup.

Problem #3: Your Cake is so Tender it’s Falling Apart If you added too much sugar, shortening or leavening, or too few eggs, your cake might crumble too easily. Just be more careful next time.

In baking a cake, eggs are primarily used for two purposes—emulsification and structure. However, if you add too many eggs to your cake batter, then your end result could be spongy, rubbery, or dense. Like flour, eggs build structure in a cake, so they make a cake batter more bonded and dense.

Creaming simply means beating butter with sugar until light and fluffy, trapping tiny air bubbles. The air bubbles you’re adding, plus the CO2 released by raising agents, will expand as they heat up, and the cake will rise. A wooden spoon and elbow grease will do the job, but an electric mixer is your best bet.

Adding an extra egg won’t make much difference; however, adding two or more extra eggs may give you a dense, rubbery cake—not the fine crumb you’re after. It will also have an “eggy” taste.