I have an american cake recipe which includes 'granulated sugar', would this be uk caster sugar? It is for the stage when you beat in with the butter?
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I'm not familiar with the naming conventions for sugar in the UK so I apologize if I become patronizing. Granulated sugar is the every-day table sugar here. It's what I grab a spoonful for my cereal and such, and it is the kind used in almost all of the baking I've done. Is caster sugar what you usually have around? Caster sugar is called "super-fine" sugar in the States. It is finer that granulated sugar but not as fine as powdered sugar (icing sugar for the UK right?). Honestly, I can't say that I've ever bought any as I usually only see granulated and powdered, but Wikipedia tells me that "Castor sugar can be prepared at home by grinding granulated sugar for a couple of minutes in a food processor." That being said, if you're just beating it into butter than I would think the caster sugar should be perfectly reasonable for the job. Though I agree with bikeboy that you should go by weight if you use a substitue. Running around This Site, I found that there are aprrox 7oz(200g) per cup granulated sugar, and 6.5oz(190g) per cup caster sugar. So you would actually need more sugar if using caster sugar, as it is less dense. Obviously not a lot though (200/190=1.053). |
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yes usually you would use castor sugar when beating in with the butter as it is finer than uk 'granulated sugar' |
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Australian here. I believe "granulated sugar" is what we call raw sugar. We often use the British terms for stuff, so that may be it. It's crunchier than brown sugar (and not as brown, but not white either) and, well, granulated (it's made up of granules). It's not as "fine" as white sugar (which is not as fine as icing sugar, which I think Americans call powdered sugar, as it is powdered). |
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Caster sugar is also known as superfine sugar. Superfine sugar is ground finer and resembles sand in an hourglass. It is particularly good for applications where it needs to dissolve quickly and thoroughly (e.g. meringues). Superfine sugar has come to my area in the past six months and while it is better, I also got excellent results with regular granulated sugar even when the recipe called for superfine. You can make superfine sugar by putting it in a food processor but I found it was not worth the hassle. |
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Surprised you mention it's an American recipe. Granulated sugar in Britain is coarse white sugar used for tea/coffee etc - usually loads sold in white packs with blue colouring. Caster sugar is basically the same stuff just ground finer, usually sold in white packs with orange colouring it's what you would use for baking (warning if you use this for hot drinks it's much sweeter - because it's finer). Icing sugar - usually sold in white packs with pink colouring - is used for making butter cream and icing for cakes/buns/cupcakes and again is the same stuff just ground up even finer into a powder.Apologies if this does sound patronizing but it's one of those things if you don't bake you won't know. Happy baking. |
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