Substitute for Sugar

In baking, sugar is a structural ingredient as much as a sweetener. Its sharp crystals cut air pockets into butter during creaming, it holds onto water so cakes stay tender and keep, it slows the setting of egg and flour proteins, and it caramelizes into a brown crust. A replacement has to cover whichever of those jobs the recipe leans on, which is why granular swaps are easier than syrups.

Cookies and creamed cakes

Where butter and sugar are beaten together, stay with a dry sugar. Packed brown sugar goes in cup for cup, the swap all three extension charts list, and gives a chewier, darker cookie. Coconut sugar behaves like cane sugar in the oven; measure it by weight, or use about 1¼ cups per cup, because its loose crystals leave more air in the measuring cup.

Liquid sweeteners in a creamed cake are a gamble. King Arthur’s honey trial produced a moist cake that baked much darker with a flat top.

Muffins, quick breads and oil cakes

These batters are already wet and stirred rather than creamed, so syrups fit well. Honey goes in at ¾ cup per cup of sugar. Mississippi and Utah State extension charts both cut other liquid by ¼ cup and add ½ teaspoon of baking soda per cup of honey. King Arthur trims the liquid by 3 to 4 tablespoons instead and warns that honey scorches above 350°F. Maple syrup replaces sugar by equal volume with the same liquid cut. If the recipe has no liquid to remove, add about a tablespoon of flour for every ¼ cup of syrup.

Drinks, dressings and sauces

With no structure to protect, any sweetener works to taste. Honey, maple syrup and powdered sugar dissolve in cold liquids where granules stay gritty, which makes them better choices for iced tea, vinaigrettes and whipped cream.

When not to substitute

• Jams, jellies and fruit preserves. Sugar is what makes pectin set and keeps the jar from spoiling. Cutting or swapping it in a tested recipe can leave a runny or unsafe product; use a recipe written for low or no sugar instead.
• Meringues, caramel and hard candy. Each depends on sucrose specifically: meringue needs dry crystals to dissolve into the whites, and candy stages rely on its crystallization. Syrups make weeping meringue and sticky candy.

Common mistakes

• Pouring in cold maple syrup or honey. It chills creamed butter into hard lumps, and the batter never smooths out.
• Skipping the liquid cut. A cup of syrup carries several tablespoons of water; leave the recipe’s milk in and the batter runs and the center stays raw.
• Measuring coconut sugar cup for cup. Volume for volume it delivers less sugar, so the result is less sweet and drier.
• Using pancake syrup as maple syrup. It is mostly corn syrup, and King Arthur notes its sweetness fades during baking.