One-Bowl Molasses-Chocolate Cake Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What does molasses do in baking? ›

Molasses serve several purposes in baked goods such as: Sweetening: contributing to sweetness, although with lower intensity than sucrose. Its sweetness decreases as color darkens. Flavor: providing a broad and complex range of flavors, from caramel to bitter notes.

While brown sugar also absorbs moisture in the batter, it retains it during baking rather than drying out the cake like cocoa powder does. That's because brown sugar is more hygroscopic than white sugar, meaning it locks in moisture better.

Brown Sugar Lends Caramel Undertones And Helps Lock In Moisture. Incorporating brown sugar into your chocolate cake recipes can elevate them from good to unforgettable. Tasting Table's recipe developer, Molly Allen, demonstrates this beautifully in her elegant yet simple death by chocolate cake recipe.

Light molasses is the liquid that remains after the first white sugar is extracted from cane juice. The flavor is lighter and has more fruity notes to it, in the same way the first pressing of olives makes a lighter, fruitier olive oil. Light (sometimes called "fancy") molasses is ideal for baked goods and candies.

Molasses is best kept at room temperature between 10°C to 21°C (50 – 70°F). The shelf life of molasses is generally 18 months when kept below 21°C and under reasonably steady conditions of temperature and humidity. Refrigeration or freezing may crystallize the natural sugars and therefore is not recommended.

Since we're talking about cake and not yeast bread, we'll focus on chemical leavening. The reaction of baking soda or baking powder with the liquids in the batter releases carbon dioxide, which forms air bubbles to help your cakes be light and airy.

1 teaspoon baking powder to 1 cup flour. Baking soda makes things 'spread' and baking powder makes things 'puff'. This is handy to know when baking things like these cookies. Baking powder and baking soda do not create more bubbles, they enlarge existing ones.

Your cake is too dense A cake that is overly dense typically has too much liquid, too much sugar or too little leavening (not excess flour, as is commonly thought).

One common ingredient swap that is known to help make cakes remarkably moist is using milk instead of water. Try switching out any water in your recipe for full-fat milk or buttermilk for a moist, decadent texture. Another ingredient that can enhance the moisture of your cake is mayonnaise.

The molasses in brown sugar makes it thicker and gives it more moisture. When you're baking, that moisture transfers to softer chocolate cake with a less dry and crumbly texture. Besides just adding moisture to your cake batter, brown sugar is also hygroscopic.

What is the best sugar for moist cake? ›

Your cakes will still hold up if you use granulated sugar as both the flavour and water content are the same. Caster sugar, however, is much finer and dissolves much easier than granulated sugar which is coarser in texture.

How Is Sour Cream Used in Baking? Sour cream is one of the fattiest dairy products; the extra fat content (for example, adding sour cream to a cake instead of milk) will make the cake moister and richer, says Wilk.

In this case, the bitterness of coffee balances the sweetness of chocolate, keeping it from becoming cloying. At the same time, coffee adds another layer to the chocolate flavor, making it more complex and intense.

Baking soda in a chocolate mix not only counteracts the acid content in the baked cake but also improves the grain and colour of the cake. A darker and richer chocolate colour is produced if the acid level is sufficient to release all the carbon dioxide gas.

The flavor of molasses reminds many of gingerbread cookies, and that's because molasses gives gingerbread its characteristic color and flavor. If you tasted it off a spoon, though, you'd detect sweet burnt caramel notes, a hint of smoke and a prune-like aftertaste.

Many people use blackstrap molasses in place of refined sugars for health reasons. They're lower on the glycemic index than conventional sweeteners, which means they won't spike your blood sugar as much. This makes blackstrap molasses a great alternative for people working to maintain healthy blood sugar levels.

The Best Molasses Substitutes

"Other substitutes include Sorghum syrup, and Treacle, an English version of molasses, you may find at an international market." Honey, dark corn syrup, and maple syrup can also be used to replace molasses in recipes.