Recently Tate and Lyle got in touch with me and asked me if I would like to recreate one of the recipes from their website. They offered to send me the relevent sugars so that I could make the recipe. The problem was that there are so many lovely looking recipes on the site it was hard to choose just one. Not only did I find the expected selection of cakes and other bakes, there were lovely looking sugar glazed chicken, ribs and salmon. There is also a range of drinks that look ideal for hot summer days as well as home made ice cream. I was sent a selection of the different sugar from the range and after much deliberation decided to make a raspberry and almond cake.

It seemed like a good choice as I am still trying to use up the raspberries from last year’s harvest. I have a number of bags of them still in my freezer. Looking at the way the raspberries are growing again I suspect I will have a lot more raspberries this year. I am always looking for good recipes to use them in and have created several. Why not try my chicken and raspberry salad or my lemon and raspberry possets, a dessert I recently made to celebrate Shakespeare. The raspberry and almond cake also looked delicious and easy to make.

What different types of sugar are there?

When I received the parcel of sugar from Tate and Lyle I began to wonder why are there so many types of sugar? What is the difference between the different sugar types? Some differences are obvious, brown sugar is brown and white sugar is white for example. Have you ever wondered why? Sugar is generally used to add sweetness to a recipe. Whilst it does sweeten many baked goods it also has a number of other uses. Sugar can be used to add flavour or texture. Often it is used in decoration, icing sugar is used to make stylish looking cakes. Spun sugar can be used to add interest to desserts. Meringues use sugar to provide stability. I decided to find out more. The different sugars I was sent included golden caster sugar, sugar with stevia, golden syrup, icing sugar and a range of brown sugars.

Common sugar types include:

Granulated Sugar – is a multi-purpose sugar made from sugar canes and sugar beets. It is the most common type of sugar used in baking, hot drinks and on top of cereal.
Caster Sugar – is more refined than granulated sugar with very fine crystals that dissolve easily. This makes it ideal for making meringues and syrups. Tate and Lyle’s golden caster sugar has a delicate honey flavour.
Icing Sugar – this is white sugar that has been finely ground to make a powder, making it ideal for icing and frosting cakes as it dissolves easily in liquid. I love the plastic container that Tate and Lyle supply, it makes it much easier to dust cakes.
Light Brown Sugar – Brown sugar retains some of the molasses syrup, which imparts a characteristic flavour. It comes from sugar cane and is ideal for sauces and preserves.
Demerara Sugar – Is minimally refined cane sugar. It has an amber colour and large grains. Use in tea and coffee or as a topping for cakes.
Muscovado Sugar – This is unrefined cane sugar which the molasses hasn’t been removed from. It can be either dark or light and has a sticky wet sandy texture. It is perfect for making barbecue sauces and marinades.

There are other types of sugar as well but these are the most commonly used ones.

How to make raspberry and almond cake

The raspberry and almond cake recipe is a very simple one to make. It is the sort of recipe I like, just add all the ingredients except the raspberries into the bowl and whisk. Once is it soft and creamy fold in the raspberries and bake. Forty five minutes later you have a tasty and delicious cake that looks like you have spent ages making it. You can use butter instead of margarine in the recipe, but you need to make sure it is very soft before you start. Maybe leave it out overnight.