John Myers
Even if it should be nice and sweet, normal household sugar is not absolutely necessary – powdered sugar can be used as a substitute without any problems. We explain the differences between powdered sugar and sugar, the advantages of powdered sugar, and what you need to consider when replacing the two sweeteners in terms of quantity.
No more sugar
Would you like to bake or prepare a dessert and suddenly realize with horror that you have no more sugar at home? It goes without saying that something like this always happens when all the supermarkets have already closed and the otherwise helpful neighbor won’t open the door either. But don’t worry – you can replace ordinary table sugar with powdered sugar in any recipe without having to change anything in the recipe. You don’t have to worry about any loss of taste either.
Nice-to-know: In some areas of eastern Germany, as well as in Bavaria and Austria, powdered sugar is also known as powdered sugar.
Sugar vs. powdered sugar
Powdered sugar is nothing more than refined, white household sugar that has been ground so finely that its consistency is really reminiscent of powder – the name says it all. Sugar as such is made from sugar cane and sugar beet. It consists mainly of sucrose. While normal sugar is mostly used as an ingredient for all kinds of cake dough and also for biscuits, icing sugar is usually used as decorative sugar. For example, you can dust finished pastries or make a glaze.
There is no difference in taste between sugar and powdered sugar. However, powdered sugar can leave a much more pleasant mouthfeel than regular sugar with its much coarser crystals. This is less noticeable in well-stirred and then baked dough since the crystals have then dissolved. But if you want to serve a cold dessert like yogurt with fruit, you will feel the difference.
How much-powdered sugar?
Replacing powdered sugar with regular sugar does not change the number of grams given in the recipe. If you are supposed to use 200 grams of sugar for the cake you want to bake, you simply replace that with 200 grams of powdered sugar – almost a 1:1 exchange.
Tip: We recommend that you always weigh the icing sugar very carefully with a kitchen scale. A measuring cup with a division for sugar is not suitable, as the volume of table sugar and icing sugar is different.
Powdered sugar instead of sugar: advantages
Not only is it easy to swap out sugar for powdered sugar when baking, but the swap also has two benefits:
- Powdered Sugar Dissolves Much Faster: Unlike regular sugar, powdered sugar dissolves far more quickly than regular table sugar in any type of cake batter or anything else that needs to be sweetened. Powdered sugar is, therefore, easier to work into the dough and requires less effort and effort. Powdered sugar is ideal if you only want to mix cake batter with a spoon without a hand mixer or food processor. The same applies to biscuit dough, which should not be stirred for too long.
- It’s easier to taste: Because the absolutely finely ground powdered sugar dissolves so quickly and combines with the respective mass, you can tell by tasting immediately after mixing whether you’ve used enough sugar. Sometimes less sweetness than specified in the recipe is enough – especially when working with fresh, ripe fruit, it doesn’t always have to be quite as sweet.
Expert tip: How about Greek yogurt with seasonal fruits and a few nuts on top for dessert? If you sweeten the yogurt with powdered sugar instead of normal sugar, you can not only measure out the exact amount you need by tasting it directly, but you will also be happy about the pleasant feeling when eating – because nobody bites on sugar crystals that have not completely dissolved.
Make your own powdered sugar
If you would like to bake with powdered sugar in the future because of its advantages, you can easily make it yourself. Logically, this is not possible if you don’t have regular sugar in the house to take advantage of the low price of household sugar compared to ready-made powdered sugar, but it’s a great option and really easy. All you need is:
- granulated sugar
- a coffee grinder or blender
Simply put the required amount of sugar in the coffee grinder or blender and grind it until it has reached a very fine, almost floury consistency. Your powdered sugar is ready!
