If brown sugar isn’t quite what you need for your next baking project, here is a brief guide to some other popular types of sugar.
Granulated sugar is a highly-refined multi-purpose sugar. It is low in molasses and white in colour.
Caster sugar is a finer version of granulated sugar, and dissolves more easily.
Confectioners’ sugar is a powdered white sugar, used to make icing and frosting. It is also known as powdered sugar.
Pearl sugar is a white sugar with hard, opaque grains that is often used to decorate pastries.
Sanding sugar is another sugar used mainly for decorating. It has large grains and is available in various bright colours.
Cane sugar is an all-purpose sugar, made from sugarcane and minimally-processed. It is a pale golden colour with slightly larger crystals than granulated sugar.
Demerara sugar is a minimally processed raw cane sugar with large crunchy crystals and a sticky texture. It has a light brown colour and caramel flavour due to its higher molasses content.
Turbinado sugar is another minimally processed raw cane sugar. It has a similar caramel flavour to Demerara, but with slightly finer crystals and a dryer texture.
Muscovado sugar is either partially refined or unrefined. It has a high molasses content, which gives it its dark brown colour and strong flavour.
Rapadura sugar is an unrefined sugar from Central and Latin America. It is made by crushing and boiling sugar cane so none of the molasses is lost, and has a strong flavour and dark brown colour.
Can you substitute light with dark brown sugar and vice versa?
In most circumstances you can use light and dark brown sugar interchangeably, although you will notice some differences in flavour and texture. Dark brown sugar will give your bake a stronger flavour than light brown, while it’s higher acidity may cause a higher rise or wider spread.
If your recipe only calls for a small amount of sugar, these differences will be barely noticeable, but if brown sugar is a large part of the recipe they will be more pronounced. If you only have dark brown sugar and want to replicate the effect of light brown, you can try using half dark brown sugar and half granulated.
Recipes with brown sugar