Core guide
Invert sugar in baking and pastry: uses, moisture and crystallization
Invert sugar is a mixture of glucose and fructose produced by hydrolysing sucrose.
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Sugar, sweeteners and salt
Professional explanations of sweetness, water binding, foam stabilization, browning and sugar's effect on structure, plus sweeteners and the role of salt in flavor, fermentation and gluten.
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Key content in this topic
Recommended reading
How to Use Salt in Desserts: Amount, Type, and Timing
Salt in dessert is not only about making food taste salty. In a small, accurately measured amount it can balance sweetness, reduce the dominance of some bitter sensations, and make…
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Caramel without crystallization or bitterness: dry and wet methods
For reliable wet caramel, dissolve the sugar completely in water before boiling and do not stir the boiling syrup with a spoon.
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Explore this topic in more depth
How sugar stabilizes sponge cake and helps preserve volume
Sugar does not create the air in sponge cake. Dissolved sucrose raises the viscosity of the liquid phase and can slow drainage from egg foam; during baking it also delays protein setting and starch…
How to bake a light sponge cake with coconut sugar
Coconut sugar can be tested as a 1:1 replacement by weight for white sugar, but it is not functionally identical in a very airy sponge.
Moist cake with less sugar: how to keep the crumb soft
Sugar helps retain water and tenderize cake, so reducing it can make the crumb drier.