Sugar is a crucial ingredient in baking, and, spoiler alert, it has many more responsibilities than simply sweetening a recipe.

I previously conducted sugar ratio experiments in sugar cookies (using my viral Soft & Chewy Sugar Cookies recipe) and more sugar experiments on my Control Cupcake Recipe, comparing the batches side-by-side with the original recipe. The results of each experiment were fascinating! 

I decided to take to the kitchen once more and experiment with my crazy-popular Best Ever Chewy Brownies recipe, to see how changing the sugar levels would impact the results of these perfectly chewy brownies.

Check out the experiment results below, along with some baking science insights into sugar’s surprising role in baking brownies.

Quick disclaimer: This post is intended to give insight into the science of sugar’s role in baking. It is not intended to serve as a guide for people who must reduce sugar intake due to medical diagnoses or for weight loss. Here at Handle the Heat, we use sugar, dairy, eggs, and wheat in the majority of our recipes and fully believe dessert is a delightful part of enjoying life!

Sprinkle of Science

Reducing Sugar in Brownies

What Does Sugar Do in Baking?

You might be thinking, “Sugar just sweetens” – but sugar actually does much more beyond simply sweetening your favorite recipes. Here are some of the other important factors sugar contributes:

• Moisture: Sugar is a key component in lending moisture to baked goods. It attracts and binds with the water content of your dough or batter to lock in moisture. This also helps extend shelf life, meaning your baked goods will stay moist and fresh for longer.
• Tenderness: Sugar helps provide a tender texture in baked goods.
• Leavening: When creamed with butter, sugar can also help leaven recipes like cakes and cupcakes for a light and fluffy texture. In some recipes, sugar also increases spread. This doesn’t apply to our brownie recipe, however.
• Caramelization: Sugar is crucial in the process of browning and caramelizing. This is how your baked goods develop their golden brown color and, in some cases, crisp exterior.

Sugar’s Role in Brownies

Sugar works with the other ingredients in brownies to contribute moisture, height, fudginess, and that crinkly crust on top, as well as providing sweetness. This is why altering the sugar in a recipe can have consequences beyond the sweetness of the bake.

Experimenting with Sugar Levels in Brownies

We took to the kitchen, armed with my Best Ever Chewy Brownies recipe, to demonstrate the effects of decreasing the amount of sugar in the recipe by 50% and increasing the sugar by 25%. The exact same recipe was used for each batch, baked at the same temperature, for the same amount of time, in the same pan – the only difference between batches was the amount of sugar used.

The control recipe was made exactly as written and baked for 30 minutes, yielding brownies that were chewy, slightly fudgy, chocolaty, and delicious. They had a decent height to them and a nice chocolate color. There was a beautifully thin and shiny brownie crust on top, which can only develop when there’s enough dissolved sugar in a brownie batter. These brownies were described by everyone in the studio as “perfect.”

What Happens if You Lower The Amount Of Sugar Called For in Brownies?

For this experiment, we decreased the sugar in the control brownie recipe by 50%.

The batter texture was thick and dark in color. The batter filled up less height in the pan than the control recipe, which makes sense with a lowered amount of sugar. 

50% Sugar Results: This batch was dry and very crumbly. They tasted like unsweetened chocolate, and they stuck to the roofs of our mouths while eating them. There was no shiny crust at all, so the texture remained the same throughout the bite. The middle pieces of this batch were significantly thicker than the other two, while the edges remained thinner. Not one of our taste testers enjoyed this batch!

What Happens if You Increase The Amount Of Sugar Called For In Brownies?

Here, we increased the sugar in the control brownie recipe by 25%.

This batter was lighter in color and filled up a taller height of the brownie pan.

125% Sugar Results: This batch developed the shiniest crust – but it was a thicker shiny crust, almost meringue-like in texture. They sank the most in the middle upon cooling, even caving in slightly at the center. These brownies had a very tender texture, were very soft and gooey, and the crust shattered as it was sliced. They were also, of course, the sweetest of the bunch, but they weren’t unpleasantly sweet to eat. The soft, tender, almost candy-like chewy texture with the thick crust made these a favorite among the younger taste-testers! 

Final Takeaways of Reducing Sugar in Brownies

Sugar is a crucial ingredient in baking, contributing so much to the taste and texture of baked goods. When the ratio of ingredients is correctly balanced, the texture, height, and flavor will be perfect. Reducing sugar in brownies will not only alter sweetness but their texture and appearance as well. Too much sugar and your brownies will develop a thick, meringue-like crust on the top, a super gooey center, and be very sweet. Too little sugar and your brownies will be super dry, dense, and bitter and won’t keep fresh for as long.

How Can I Reduce the Sweetness Without Lowering the Sugar?

Of course, you’re always free to experiment with reducing sugar in brownies as you wish – just consider our findings above, knowing that your final taste, texture, and appearance will change with altering the sugar content. I always recommend making a new recipe as written once so you have a baseline to compare to, and then make changes one at a time, little by little until you’re happy with the result.

Here are a couple of pointers for reducing sweetness while maintaining the sugar level:

• Salt: Increase the salt level to help balance the sweetness. Also, be sure you’re using the right type of salt in your brownies. Learn more about different types of salt here.
• Chocolate: Use bittersweet or dark chocolate chips instead of semisweet. 
• Use Dutch-process cocoa powder: This often has a smoother and richer chocolate flavor.

FAQs on Sugar Types in Brownies

• Can I use brown sugar in brownies? Yes! Brown sugar contains more moisture than granulated sugar, so this can alter the texture and appearance of your brownies. It can be more challenging to achieve that shiny crust on top with brown sugar. Make sure there are no lumps in your brown sugar.
• Can I use powdered sugar in brownies? Yes, I recommend checking out my How to Make Brownies with Shiny Thin Crust article for more details on this.

Have you ever experimented with reducing the sugar in brownies? Let me know how it went in the comments below!

More Science of Baking Articles:

• Sugar in Cookies Experiment
• Sugar in Cupcakes Experiment
• Baking Soda vs. Baking Powder
• How to Cream Butter & Sugar
• Butter vs. Oil in Baking

Photos by Joanie Simon.

The post The Function of Sugar in Brownies appeared first on Handle the Heat.

Although some of these things are important (I have a whole article dedicated to the differences between natural and Dutch-processed cocoa!), one thing matters the most – and this one thing is most often overlooked. In fact, most people aren’t aware of it at all!

The SECRET behind the BEST cocoa? FAT!

In this article, I’ll explain why the fat content is the #1 most important thing to know about cocoa powder, when this matters most in baking, and which cocoa brands I recommend.

Sprinkle of Science

The Most Important Thing to Know About Cocoa Powder: Fat Content!

The FDA stipulates that cocoa powder must contain at least 10% cocoa butter. However, cocoa butter is pricey, so you’ll find most grocery store brands contain just that amount. This leads to powder that tends to be starchy and chalky. Those starches zap moisture. In fact, they can absorb up to 100 percent of their weight in moisture!

This can lead to dry cakes, cakey brownies, crumbly cookies, and chalky or bland chocolate frosting. Overall, the less fat, the less chocolate flavor.

High-Fat Cocoa Powder is Magic!

High-fat cocoa powder contains at least 22% cocoa butter – more than double the amount of most grocery store cocoa products! This results in a richer chocolate flavor with cakes that are ultra-moist and tender in texture, brownies, and cookies that are chewy and fudgy, and ultra-smooth buttercream frosting. In fact, one of the secrets to my Best Chocolate American Buttercream recipe is high-fat cocoa powder!

Take a look at the images below. While you may not be able to plainly see in the photos alone, the high-fat natural and Dutch-processed cocoa powder cupcakes and brownies were significantly more moist and rich with chocolate flavor compared to Hershey’s cocoa, which contains only 10% fat.

How to Tell if a Cocoa Powder is High-Fat

• High-fat cocoa powder is often labeled as such and comes at a higher price point.
• Look at the nutrition label on the packaging to be sure: Look for 1 gram of fat or more (instead of .5 grams) per tablespoon (5 to 6 grams) serving.

Where to Buy High-Fat Cocoa Powder

High-fat cocoa is widely available online, but you can also find it at specialty stores such as Penzey’s. Ghirardelli and E. Guittard can sometimes be found at Whole Foods and Target. Links below.

What Are the Best Brands of Cocoa Powder?

This depends on personal taste preference! Below are some of my favorites including some of the cocoa products used in the photos throughout this article. As you’ll see, most Dutch-processed cocoa has far more fat content compared to natural cocoa. Learn more about Natural vs. Dutch-Processed Cocoa Powder here.

Dutch-Processed Cocoa Powder

• Bensdorp (24-26% fat)
  I love this cocoa! It makes amazingly rich, dark, and tender cakes, fudgy, moist brownies and cookies, and incredibly luscious frosting.

• Penzeys (22% fat)
  When I can’t wait for Bensdorp to be delivered, I’ll usually stock up on cocoa at Penzey’s because this particular one (as well as the Natural version listed below) are both great – though I will say the Dutch process Penzey’s seems to have less chocolate flavor.

• E. Guittard (22% fat)
  This is one of the more easy-to-find Dutch cocoa powders. I usually see it at Whole Foods, Sprouts, or Target, but it’s also easily available on Amazon here. It makes for really chewy brownies with a slightly less sweet more refined chocolate flavor for adult palettes. Not to mention very tender and fudgy cake!

• Droste (20% fat)
  I haven’t used this brand, but it’s Cook’s Illustrated pick so I’m sure it’s fantastic!

• Valrohna (20% fat)
  This brand can be difficult to source, but it’s easily available on Amazon here. It’s an amazing chocolate company used in many high-end professional kitchens and bakeries.

Natural Cocoa Powder

Please note that Natural and Unsweetened Cocoa Powder are the same thing – however, always check the ingredient label when purchasing or using cocoa powder because some packaging is not always clear. Any ingredient mention of “alkali” or “Dutch” means it’s Dutch-processed and not natural. If it’s natural, the ingredient should simply be “cocoa.”

• Penzeys (22% fat)
  I find Penzey’s Natural High Fat Unsweetened Cocoa Powder provides a classic clean and pure chocolate flavor and ultra-moist texture. The added fat lends a richness that can reduce chewiness in recipes like brownies but it lends fudginess instead. I use this for just about anything, especially for special occasion treats since it’s more expensive.

• Ghirardelli (20% fat)
  This is my favorite grocery store brand of natural cocoa powder. I use it for everything! It has a surprisingly high fat content and provides a bold chocolate flavor. It’s also available on Amazon here.

• Nestle Toll House (11% fat)
  Nestle is actually what I typically test my blog recipes with when I want to make sure they work with easily accessible ingredients. I don’t want to give myself a leg up when I test recipes for publication. That doesn’t seem fair to expect that everyone must use difficult-to-find or expensive ingredients. Nestle is a great basic product, but if I’m struggling with dry cakes or cakey cookies, I’ll use one of the above options instead.

• Hershey’s (10% fat)
  Hershey’s Natural Unsweetened Cocoa Powder is the quintessential mild chocolate flavor of American childhoods. It’s homey and familiar, but it can result in brownies and cookies that are a little more crumbly than moist but still chewy. I would not recommend it for cake or frosting.

Recipes Using Cocoa Powder:

• Brown Butter Brownies (Dutch-Process Cocoa Powder)
• Best Ever Chocolate Buttercream Frosting (Dutch-Process Cocoa Powder)
• Chocolate Brownie Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting (Natural Cocoa Powder)
• Cosmic Brownies (Unsweetened Cocoa Powder)
• Gooey Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls (Unsweetened Cocoa Powder)

This post was originally published in 2021 and has been updated with additional tips and baking science information. Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.

The post The Most Important Thing to Know About Cocoa Powder appeared first on Handle the Heat.

Browning butter elevates a recipe. It adds a slight nuttiness to any baked good or dish, for an utterly divine richness.

Browned butter makes the most incredible cookies (check out my social media famous Browned Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies here) and when combined with fresh herbs and vegetables (think sage and squash), it makes a delicious pasta sauce. 

The actual process for browning butter is very simple, but it is possible to under-brown or over-brown your butter or to use the wrong equipment.

I’ve included some step-by-step instructions and tips below to help you perfectly brown butter, as well as some Baking Science information about using browned butter in recipes.

Sprinkle of Science

How to Brown Butter

What is Brown Butter?

Browning butter adds an incredible depth of flavor to a baked good or savory dish. It is made by simply melting butter, but by continuing to cook the melted butter, you toast and caramelize the milk solids in the butter, creating a rich, nutty butter that’s darker in color and beautifully fragrant. 

Do I Need Any Special Equipment to Brown Butter? 

I highly recommend using a stainless steel sauté pan for best results. This works better than a saucepan for browning butter because there’s more surface area for the brown bits to develop. Whatever you do, never use a nonstick pan for browning butter. Nonstick prevents the butter from browning completely and prevents you from being able to visually see how browned it’s getting. Same as the dark color of cast iron. Something with a wider surface area, like a sauté pan instead of a saucepan, encourages browning more quickly. Just note the more shallow the pan, the more splatter clean up you may have on your stove.

Aside from the pan, you need a utensil, such as a spatula. Be sure to use a heat-proof spatula, like these, for gentle stirring as the butter cooks. 

Under vs. Over-Browned Butter

Under-browned butter won’t carry as much flavor, and won’t bring that lovely nuttiness to your bake. It will look lighter as you’ll see in the photo below.

Over-browned butter will taste bitter or even burnt, and be darker brown in color, as you can see in the photo below. This is why you should never step away from the pan while browning butter – it can go from perfect to burnt in seconds. 

Perfectly browned butter should be deep amber in color and have a nutty fragrance, with darker milk solids visible on the bottom. Check out the side-by-side photos below!

Can I Use Brown Butter in any Recipe, Even if the Original Recipe Doesn’t Use Browned Butter? 

Not without some experimentation. Here’s why:

• Brown butter contains less moisture. American butter is about 80% butterfat and 20% water on average, depending on the brand of butter and whether or not it has salt and other additives. European-style butter is higher in butterfat but still contains water. The process of browning butter evaporates the water content in the butter, so the resulting brown butter weighs less and contains less moisture. Some recipes rely on that water content for important chemical processes, so you’ll either need to add back in additional water or find a recipe already formulated to use brown butter.
• Melted vs. creamed butter. Browned butter cannot be substituted in a recipe using creamed butter/sugar because melted, hot butter won’t cream. It can’t form or hold onto those tiny air bubbles that normally occur during the creaming process. More on this below.

How to Adapt a Regular Recipe to a Brown Butter Recipe – Substituting Browned Butter

This can be complicated due to the reasons outlined above, so just note that this may require experimentation. Here are some starting points for converting a recipe to use browned butter: 

• Melted butter recipe: Try adding one tablespoon of water or milk per 4-ounce stick (113 grams) to your hot browned butter.  
• Creamed butter/sugar: Follow the suggestion above, but chill your browned butter to cool it back to cool room temperature, about 67°F, before creaming.
• Use more butter: Alternatively, you can start the process with about 20% more butter than the recipe calls for and weigh once you’re done browning the butter, to ensure you have the correct weight needed for the recipe. Just note that this method still means that you’re working with less water than the recipe originally intended, so this can change the chemistry of your recipe. 

Can I Use Any Type of Butter to Make Brown Butter? 

I always recommend using unsalted butter in baking (learn why here), but there is also typically a difference between brands. I recently experimented with different brands of butter and how they compare when browned – check out Part 1 here and Part 2 here. 

Should I Use the Browned Specks in Brown Butter?

YES! Those little flecks of brown you see in your browned butter are toasted milk solids. They’re FULL of flavor, so be sure to scrape them all in with your browned butter. 

How to Store Brown Butter

As with any butter, once it cools it will re-solidify. Transfer to a heatproof airtight container and store in the fridge for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 2 months. 

Recipes Using Brown Butter:

• Browned Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Brown Butter Rice Crispy Treats
• Brown Butter Carrot Cake
• Brown Butter Brownies 
• Brown Butter Coffee Cake
• Brown Butter Dulce de Leche Cookie Cups

Print

Brown Butter

Brown butter is an easy way to add a ton of flavor to any sweet or savory recipe – but how do you make brown butter? I’ll show you just how easy it is (and what NOT to do) with my step-by-step instructions, photos, and baking science explanations.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Author Kiersten @ Handle the Heat

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter

Instructions

• Cube your butter. Starting with cubed butter helps it to melt more quickly and evenly.
• In a medium stainless steel sauté pan or skillet set over medium heat, melt the butter.
• Swirling the pan occasionally, continue to cook the butter. It should become foamy with audible cracking and popping noises.
• Once the crackling stops, stir the mixture occasionally until the butter develops a nutty aroma and brown bits start to form at the bottom. Don’t swirl the pan too often; we want to encourage those nice brown bits on the bottom to continue to form, and stirring constantly will prevent that. However, sometimes it’s difficult to tell how browned the butter is without stirring.
• Once the bits are amber in color, about 2 to 3 minutes after the popping stops, remove from heat. Use as the recipe indicates. Be sure to scrape out those little flecks of brown in the bottom of the pan—they are toasted milk solids and are FULL of flavor.

Video

Notes

Check out the Tip Box (above the recipe) for storage information, under vs. over-browning, and tips on substituting browned butter in recipes using melted or creamed butter. 

Photos by Joanie Simon.

The post How to Brown Butter appeared first on Handle the Heat.

I am frequently asked about sugar, its role in baking, and whether or not lowering the sugar in a recipe is possible.

I previously conducted experiments using my viral Soft & Chewy Sugar Cookies recipe, where I reduced the sugar by 50% and also increased the sugar by 25%, comparing the batches side-by-side with the original recipe. The results were super interesting!

So, I decided to take to the kitchen once more and experiment with my control cupcake recipe, to see how changing the sugar levels would impact the results.

Check out the results below, along with some baking science insights into sugar’s surprising role in your favorite recipes.

Quick disclaimer: This post is intended to give insight into the science of sugar’s role in baking. It is not intended to serve as a guide for people who must reduce sugar intake due to medical diagnoses or for weight loss. Here at Handle the Heat, we use sugar, dairy, eggs, and wheat in the majority of our recipes and fully believe dessert is a delightful part of enjoying life!

Reducing Sugar in Baking

Why is Sugar Important in Baking?

You might be thinking, “Sugar is the sweetener. THAT is sugar’s role in baking.” … but that’s not the whole story. Here are some of the other important factors sugar contributes:

1. Moisture: Sugar is a key component in lending moisture to baked goods. It binds with the water content of your dough or batter to lock in moisture. This also helps extend shelf life, meaning your baked goods will stay moist and fresh for longer.
2. Tenderness: Sugar contributes to the tender texture of baked goods.
3. Leavening: When creamed with butter, sugar can also assist in leavening recipes like cakes and cupcakes, for a light and fluffy texture. In some recipes, sugar also increases spread.
4. Caramelization: Sugar is crucial in the process of producing caramelized tastes and textures. This is how your baked goods develop their golden brown color and, in some cases, crisp exterior.

Sugar’s Role in Cupcakes

When baking cupcakes, sugar works with the other ingredients to contribute moisture, caramelization, height, lightness, and fluffiness, as well as sweetness. This is why altering the sugar in a recipe can have widespread consequences!

Experimenting with Sugar Levels in Cupcakes

We took to the kitchen, armed with my control cupcake recipe, to demonstrate the effects of decreasing the amount of sugar called for by 50% and also increasing the sugar by 25%. The exact same recipe was used for each batch. The only difference between batches was the amount of sugar used.

The control recipe was made exactly as written and baked for 15 minutes, yielding cupcakes that were soft, tender, and described by everyone in the studio as “perfect”.

What Happens if You Lower The Amount Of Sugar Called For in Cupcakes?

For this experiment, we decreased the sugar in the control cupcake recipe by 50%.

The batter texture was light and fluffy, but the batter taste was more flour and butter forward. This batch needed 3 minutes longer than the control batch (18 minutes total) to fully bake through.

Results: This batch of cupcakes was, of course, less sweet than the control batch – but they were also significantly drier, denser, bland, and doughy. Brendan, our food stylist, said these cupcakes reminded him of a Kringle cookie in texture. Emily, from Team HTH, said they reminded her of the biscuit part in strawberry shortcake – slightly dense but still light in mouth-feel, and they lacked flavor. These cupcakes didn’t stick to the liners at all. It was also interesting to note that decreasing the sugar yielded 2 fewer cupcakes.

What Happens if You Increase The Amount Of Sugar Called For In Cupcakes?

Here, we increased the sugar in the control cupcake recipe by 25%.

In this batch, the batter was smoother and more aerated, and the sugar was more visible in the batter than in the other batches. These cupcakes needed 5 minutes longer than the control batch (20 minutes total) to fully bake through.

Results: This batch of cupcakes was sweeter and developed a crunchy top and edges, where they were also the sweetest – almost as if all the sugar went to the top and edges! The cupcakes were slightly more speckled on top and sank slightly in the middle once cooled. These cupcakes stuck to their liners. Interestingly, this batch did not yield any additional cupcakes.

The Bottom Line

Sugar is a crucial ingredient in baking. It contributes so much to baked goods, and when the balance of each ingredient is correct, the texture, height, and flavor will be perfect. Too much sugar and your cupcakes may develop a thick, sweet crust on the top and sides and lack a balance of flavor. Too little sugar and your cupcakes will be dense, bland, and unpleasant to eat. Reducing sugar in cupcakes will not only alter sweetness, but texture too.

How Can I Reduce the Sweetness Without Lowering the Sugar?

Of course, you’re always free to experiment with reducing sugar in cupcakes as you wish – just take the above into consideration and know that your final taste and texture will change as a result. I always recommend making a new recipe as written once so you have a baseline to compare to, and then make changes one at a time, little by little until you’re happy with the result.

Here are a couple of pointers for reducing sweetness while maintaining the sugar level:

• Salt: Increase the salt level to help balance sweetness. Also, be sure you’re using the right type of salt in your recipe. Learn more about different types of salt here.
• Chocolate: In any recipe using chocolate chips, use dark chocolate, bittersweet chocolate, or even unsweetened chocolate to help balance the sweetness.
• Acid: Balance with ingredients that lend bitterness or acidity, such as citrus zest or buttermilk. Never substitute those ingredients, and look for recipes that use them for a better depth of flavor.

Have you ever experimented with reducing the sugar in cupcakes? Let me know how it went in the comments below!

More Science of Baking Articles:

• Baking Soda vs. Baking Powder
• How to Cream Butter & Sugar
• Kosher Salt vs. Sea Salt vs. Table Salt
• How to Prevent Cakes & Cupcakes From Sinking
• Cake Flour 101

Cupcake Recipes You’ll Love:

• Best Yellow Cupcakes
• The Best Chocolate Cupcakes
• Lemon Cupcakes
• Mint Chocolate Cupcakes
• Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Photos by Joanie Simon.

The post Reducing Sugar in Cupcakes appeared first on Handle the Heat.

In baking, the decision between natural and artificial colorings is determined by much more than perceived health benefits – and it’s more complex than simply switching out the type of dye used.

You all know I love a good side-by-side challenge, so we headed to the kitchen to determine how natural food coloring would perform in my Red Velvet Cupcakes!

I’m not sure who decided that Red Velvet had to be a vibrant red color, but traditionally, we add a decent dose of red gel food coloring to achieve that brightness and appeal. So when we decided to experiment with natural food coloring, I knew that red velvet was the perfect place to start.

Below, I go over some of the important information about both artificial and natural food colorings and then dive into the baking science involved in adapting a recipe to use natural coloring.

Note: We’re not here to debate the negative health issues potentially associated with artificial food coloring, of which there appears to be little to no conclusive evidence. We are simply determining if using a natural alternative can produce an equally bold color and delicious result in home baking.

Natural vs. Artificial Food Coloring

What is Artificial Food Coloring?

Artificial food coloring, also known as food dye, is typically made from a synthetic chemical designed specifically to add color to foods. Food dyes are used to boost appeal and attractiveness. Artificial coloring can be commonly found in candies and breakfast cereals, among countless other things. Home bakers use it to add festivity to frostings and various baked goods. These colors are predictable, stable, and stand up well to baking.

Some studies have claimed to show carcinogenic links and evidence of hyperactivity in children. The results of such studies have been inconclusive and inconsistent. There is evidence to suggest some people may have an allergic reaction to food dyes, though it is rare. Some countries have banned certain types of artificial food dyes. The U.S. has not yet imposed such bans though the government does regulate food colorants.

What is Natural Food Coloring?

Natural food colorings are derived from naturally occurring sources, like plants, animals, or minerals. These are used in place of artificial food dyes as they’re often perceived as healthier, safer alternatives (though that may not always be the case since many natural alternatives are less rigorously tested and regulated).

Converting a Recipe From Artificial to Natural Food Coloring

Issues with Using Natural Food Coloring in Place of Artificial Food Dye

Some issues arise when converting a recipe to use natural food coloring in place of an artificial dye:

• Color: Oftentimes, a great deal of natural coloring needs to be used to achieve a similar color – and the colors will often be less vibrant than using artificial dye.
• Unintended flavor: Many sources will recommend using ingredients like paprika, carrot powder, or turmeric to color your frosting or baked good – but who wants a paprika-flavored frosting? It can be difficult to mask these unintended flavors.
• Chemistry: This gets tricky. Some natural colors interact with recipe ingredients to give you colors that differ from what you expected. They can also have unintended textural consequences, such as cakes not rising, or rising too much.
• Stability: Some natural colors will change over time, increasing or decreasing in intensity as the coloring interacts with the other ingredients in your bake, especially when exposed to light, oxygen, or heat.

Using Beetroot Powder in Red Velvet Cupcakes

After much research on the best alternatives for red dye, we used Beetroot Powder in this Red Velvet Cupcake experiment. Many articles tout this as the best natural alternative. It can be difficult to source in stores, but it’s available online here.

What is Beetroot Powder?

Beetroot, aka beets, contain betanin, which is what gives them their distinctly bright color. Once the beets are peeled, sliced, and cooked, they are then dried and pulverized to create beetroot powder. As you may suspect, beetroot powder does carry some of that earthy beet flavor, so to help mask that earthy undertone, it’s important to only use beetroot powder in baked goods with other bold flavors.

Replacing Red Gel Food Coloring with Beetroot Powder

We discovered a lot of unexpected issues with switching the dyes that aren’t straightforward, both aesthetically and chemically.

• We needed to change the quantity of the food coloring. My standard recipe calls for 1 ½ teaspoons red gel food coloring, but that wasn’t nearly enough to color these cupcakes using natural food coloring. However, using too much altered the texture (because it’s a drying ingredient) and also gave the cupcakes a strong beet flavor.
• Leavening agents have some negative reactions with beetroot powder. My Red Velvet Cupcakes contain both baking powder and baking soda, which means you get a murky brown colored cupcake instead of a vibrant red. Some sites will recommend skipping the baking powder/baking soda completely – which is a terrible idea if you want an edible cake/cupcake! Learn more about why leavening agents are crucial to baking here.
• Acid. Beetroot powder can oxidize too fast and turn brown if there’s not enough acid in the recipe – but I wasn’t worried about that in my Red Velvet Cupcakes as they contain buttermilk and distilled white vinegar, so plenty of acid!

Experimenting with Artificial vs. Natural Food Coloring in Red Velvet Cupcakes

We took to the kitchen with my Red Velvet Cupcake recipe to determine how natural food coloring would alter the taste and texture of the baked cupcakes.

The Experiment

Alongside a batch of my original Red Velvet Cupcakes, we tested a batch of naturally-colored cupcakes.

• We added 3 tablespoons (30 grams) of beetroot powder to the dry ingredients, making no other alterations to the recipe.
• The cupcake batter had a dark pink coloring to it.
• The batter tasted like beets.
• Surprisingly, even with the additional 3T powder, the batter resulted in 11 ½ cupcakes! I assume the beetroot powder’s starch content absorbed some of the liquid, resulting in less batter.

Results: The Control Recipe

The Red Velvet Cupcakes using artificial red gel food coloring are moist and tender. The texture is beautiful and spongy, with a fine crumb. The flavor is perfectly sweet, with noticeable light chocolate and vanilla flavors.

Results: Red Velvet Cupcakes Using Natural Food Coloring

The Red Velvet Cupcakes using beetroot powder are light, crumbly, with a slightly coarse crumb, and a taller and slightly more domed appearance. The flavor is earthier and more muddied, with a noticeably less sweet finish. We didn’t love the earthy flavor, and the red color somewhat baked out, leaving these cupcakes with a fairly brown hue.

Conclusion

While it is possible to replace artificial food coloring with natural food coloring, the results won’t be as attractive and potentially not as pleasant to eat. You will also need to experiment with the recipe you’re using, as different ingredients will react differently to different natural colorings. It is possible to do, but you will need to play with your recipe a few times to get the flavor, texture, and appearance right.

If you’re looking to make Red Velvet Cupcakes that don’t contain artificial food coloring, I recommend simply skipping the red gel coloring in my Red Velvet Cupcakes, for cupcakes that will still be delicious and simply be a lighter brown color, rather than vibrant red.

More Baking Science Articles:

• Everything You Need to Know About Sugar in Baking
• Kosher Salt vs. Sea Salt vs. Table Salt
• How to Measure Flour
• Natural Cocoa vs. Dutch Process Cocoa Powder
• How to Cream Butter and Sugar

The post Artificial vs. Natural Food Coloring in Baking appeared first on Handle the Heat.

One of the questions I’m asked most frequently has something to do with the different kinds of baking flours on the market. What are they and why are they used for certain recipes?

Possibly the most important ‘specialty’ flour to understand is cake flour.

In fact, there are a couple recipes that I’ve made and some that I’ve published on the site that absolutely require cake flour. Using all-purpose flour instead will actually fundamentally damage the final result of the recipe. A good example of this is Angel Food Cake or even my Old-Fashioned Sour Cream Doughnuts.

Why is this? What is cake flour and how does it work?

In order to answer these questions for you, I went crazy in the kitchen baking up multiple batches of cupcakes with the specific intent of creating visuals that illuminate the science of this special flour in an easy-to-understand way.

Don’t get me wrong, sometimes it pains me to intentionally make batches of anything that I know aren’t going to come out exactly right, but the photos are so valuable. They actually show you how different ingredients and techniques impact your favorite treats. Sometimes the differences are shocking!

Quick side note: check out the HTH Science of Baking Headquarters for lots more delicious and fascinating kitchen experiments.

I don’t know about you, but I’m such a visual person that the best way I can learn about the magic and science of baking is by seeing it in action.

So, I not only experimented with different brands (and styles) of cake flour, but also how cake flour substitutions work.

Let’s get into the experimenting!

Sprinkle of Science

Cake Flour 101

What is Cake Flour?

Cake flour is very finely milled from soft wheat from the heart of the wheat endosperm. This helps to give cake flour its very fine silky soft texture. That fineness is actually why cake flour should be sifted before use as it’s more likely to clump together.

What’s the Difference Between Cake Flour and All-Purpose Flour?

The primary differences are that each flour is made from a different variety of wheat, milled to a different texture, and contain different amounts of protein vs. starch.

Cake flour has the lowest protein content of most flour products available:

• Bread flour: 12-15% protein content
• All-purpose flour: 9-12% protein content
• Pastry flour: 9% protein content
• Cake flour: 6-8% protein content

Protein content differs by brands and even styles of flour under the same brand. To figure out the protein content in any flour, divide the number of protein grams per serving by the number of total grams per serving.

This lower level of protein means cake flour also has more starch. Overall, the use of cake flour in a recipe will discourage gluten formation compared to a higher protein flour product. Lower levels of gluten equal more softness and tenderness in a baked good. Think of something that has a really high level of protein, like steak. It’s tough and chewy. When we want the opposite of that texture, we want lower levels of protein to achieve a soft and delicate crumb.

By contrast, this is why bread flour has more protein than all-purpose flour and certainly more than cake flour. Breads require that extra protein to form strong gluten webs that shape the backbone of a loaf and create that slightly chewy, bready texture.

Is Cake Flour Bleached or Unbleached? (This is important!)

Cake flour is typically bleached, which further weakens the proteins and prohibits gluten formation. Bleached flours in general soak up more water and produce thicker batters.

In the photos below, I actually tested Swans Down Bleached Cake Flour vs. King Arthur Unbleached Cake Flour to show you just how important this one detail can be! But before we get there, let me clear up some common misconceptions about bleached flour.

The bleached flour you buy at the supermarket does NOT contain chlorine in the final product. When flour products are chlorinated, manufacturers treat the flour with an extremely low level exposure to chlorine gas to provoke a chemical reaction. That chemical reaction not only changes the flour’s characteristics (more on that below) but it changes the chlorine itself. The chlorine turns into several other compounds: chlorite (which occurs naturally in unbleached flour), hypochlorous acid (found in our own immune cells), and chloride (an electrolyte found in a product like Smart Water). However, this is just one method of bleaching flour. You can learn more about flour bleaching here.

Bleached flour actually allows more moisture to be absorbed in a batter or dough to make dough less sticky and easier to handle. This can also help prevent excess spread in baked goods (think cookies). It improves the structure and height of cakes. It can make taller, sturdier breads. It also makes the flour more shelf stable and will not kill yeast.

There are tons of sources on this in scientific publications; here’s one on the safety of consumption.

Are Cake Flour and Pastry Flour the Same?

Where cake flour has a protein content of 6-8%, Pastry Flour is around 9% and has less starch than cake flour. Pastry flour is also typically unbleached unlike cake flour, so it will absorb less liquid in a recipe compared to cake flour. If you’re in a bind and only have pastry flour for a recipe that calls for cake flour, it’s better to use the pastry flour than all-purpose flour if you’re in a pinch.

Testing Cake Flour Substitutions

Tools & Ingredients Used for Experimenting

• I made every effort to replicate each batch as perfectly as possible, using the same exact tools and ingredients whenever applicable.
• I used a kitchen scale to measure ingredients to ensure 100% accuracy.
• Each batch was baked separately but in the same oven at the same temperature for exactly 20 minutes.
• I used Bleached Gold Medal All-Purpose Flour for the control batch and DIY cake flour.
• The two brands of cake flour I tested were Swans Down Cake Flour, which is bleached, and King Arthur Cake Flour, which is unbleached.
• Lastly, I baked the batches in my Wilton Cupcake Pan, using a large spring-loaded scoop to fill each cavity evenly with batter.
• All the cupcakes were baked on the same day to be photographed together. Before I reveal some of those photos, let’s cover the basics you need to know.

Pre-Experiment Thoughts & Predictions

The fact that cake flour is made from a different variety of wheat, milled differently, and is often bleached, makes it behave very differently than all-purpose flour in terms of how it affects the chemistry of a recipe. This also means it’s impossible to recreate cake flour exactly at home using “DIY” substitutions. That’s why I was so eager to compare side-by-side cake flour vs. all-purpose flour vs. DIY cake flour.

I had a suspicion of how this experiment would turn out, but I wanted to be 100% sure. I know many of us don’t always have cake flour in our pantries so it’s kind of an annoying ingredient when you see it called for in a single recipe! Yet, because of all of the baking experiments I’ve done, I know one small, seemingly insignificant change can have drastic results in baking.

Control Recipe with All-Purpose Flour

The cupcakes I baked were based on my standard cupcake recipe you can see at the bottom of this article. I re-made the same recipe each time, simply changing out the flour for each batch you see below.

These control cupcakes were soft yet sturdy with a slightly open crumb. They weren’t super tall and had some cracking on top that I think visually reflects the slight chewiness they had. Basic yet delicious and full of vanilla flavor.

Experiment 1: DIY Cake Flour

Using the DIY cake flour technique just below, these cupcakes turned out visually more like the control / all-purpose flour cupcakes than the cake flour cupcakes. Their texture was another story. These were more crumbly and had an almost gritty texture which I’m attributing to the cornstarch. They almost felt like they dissolved in your mouth, which honestly, I didn’t care for. I won’t be using DIY cake flour in my baking… even if it’s a total pain to run to the store to grab cake flour!

How to Make DIY Cake Flour

Although I would NOT recommend using DIY cake flour based on our experiment results, here’s how I did so:

1. 1 cup minus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour + 2 tablespoons cornstarch
2. Then I sifted this flour + cornstarch mixture 5 times with a fine mesh strainer.

Comparing Brands of Cake Flour: Which is the Best?

Experiment 2: Swans Down Cake Flour (Bleached)

I used the same amount of Swans Down Cake Flour in place of the all-purpose flour in this batch. These cupcakes baked up pale and tall with a spongier and softer texture. The softness actually reminded me slightly of a more commercially produced cupcake – but not necessarily in a negative way. They were so soft and delicate that I don’t think they’d hold up well to a heavy or generous frosting or filling. They also had a slightly less pronounced vanilla flavor than the all-purpose flour cupcakes.

Experiment 3: King Arthur Cake Flour (Unbleached)

I was SO excited to see the comparison between the Swans Down and King Arthur Flour cupcakes to see what impact bleaching had on the final result, among other variances between the two brands.

Although I love King Arthur as a brand, the cupcakes made using KA’s flour were noticeably less flavorful than the all-purpose cupcakes. Compared to the Swans Down cupcakes, the King Arthur cupcakes had an almost cornbread texture. I’ll be sticking with Swans Down when I need to use cake flour.

Cake Flour vs. Substitutions Final Comparison

Personally, I tend to prefer cupcakes made with all-purpose flour instead of cake flour. However, for some recipes like Angel Food Cake or certain cakes formulated to use cake flour, it helps to create that fine and delicate crumb characteristic of that style of recipe. In those cases, it really shouldn’t be substituted!

I think visually, these comparisons do a good job of proving the belief I’ve always held that nothing is quite as good as the real thing.

Can Cake Flour be Substituted?

It shouldn’t be. Recipes that use cake flour are typically more delicate and finicky and require the exact ingredients called for.

In fact, 90% of substitutions you make in baking will alter the taste and texture of the final result. Sometimes substitutions are necessary, and I understand that. However, the Handle the Heat method of baking recommends that you always follow the recipe exactly as it’s written… at least the very first time you make it, so you know how it’s supposed to turn out. Then you can experiment with substitutions and alternatives as needed once you have that baseline.

Does Cake Flour Go Bad?

Luckily, since cake flour is refined and bleached, it will keep in your pantry for a long time. If stored in a cool and consistently dry and airtight place, it should last at least 6 months if not up to a year. So why not have some on hand for those few recipes that use it so you can really take your baking to that next level?

Recipes Using Cake Flour:

• Funfetti Sheet Cake (instructions included for making as cupcakes!)
• Old-Fashioned Sour Cream Doughnuts
• Best Yellow Cake

More Baking Science Articles:

• How to Prevent Cakes & Cupcakes From Sinking
• Buttermilk 101
• Baking Soda vs. Baking Powder
• Best Baking Pans
• Ultimate Guide to Chocolate Chip Cookies

Print

Control Cupcakes

Diving into Cake Flour 101 – A fun visual guide to cake flour including what cake flour is, how to substitute cake flour, and side-by-side comparisons so you can see how it works in action!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 12 cupcakes

Author Tessa Arias

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups (191 grams) all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
• 1 stick (113 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons whole milk

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the sugar and butter until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Scrape down the bowl again. Add the dry ingredients and milk alternatively, starting and ending with the flour, beating well after each addition. Continue beating for one minute. Using a spring-loaded scoop, divide the batter between the cupcake cups, filling each about 2/3 full.
• Bake for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes

Control recipe from my Ultimate Cupcake Guide.

Photos  by Joanie Simon | The Bite Shot

The post Cake Flour 101 appeared first on Handle the Heat.

Pies are notoriously finicky bakes, especially when it comes to the crust. I have a whole post dedicated to making flawless pie crusts, and countless delicious pie recipes – but if you follow me then you already know that the materials used in baking are often just as important as the ingredients!

I love researching and experimenting to determine how changes in ingredients, temperature, and materials will affect the outcome of your baking (as you can see in many articles here).

Even after over ten years of blogging, I’m still surprised!

Thanks to the results revealed in past experiments, I have very strong opinions about baking brownies in metal vs. glass pans. I also have very strong opinions on the best baking pans for cookies. While I already had my favorite pie pans, I hadn’t yet conducted side-by-side experiments yet.

Some of the results were pretty surprising! Check out all my experiments on pie dishes and how they perform below.

The Best Pie Pan

Everything pictured here features my Best Ever Pie Crust, blind baked at the same temperature, for the same amount of time. The only difference between each crust is the pie pan it was baked in.

Pie pans typically come in three materials: glass, ceramic, or metal. The most important distinction is that each of these materials conducts heat very differently. I’ll discuss this more below.

Each pie may look pretty similar from the top, but the bottom of each tells a different story! Keep reading for unexpected results.

Glass Pie Pans

For the Glass Pie Pan experiment, we used Pyrex. I’ve also used OXO glass pie pans in the past.

• The best glass pie pans are made of borosilicate glass (essentially a type of tempered glass). This means it’s safe to use in the oven and it’s safe to go between temperature extremes, such as freezer to oven, without shattering.
• Do not bake a frozen pie with non-borosilicate glass pie dishes. Regular glass will shatter if it experiences such drastic temperature changes. If your pie pan doesn’t specify it’s safe for the freezer to oven, assume it is NOT.
• You can also microwave borosilicate glass dishes.
• With a glass pan, you can monitor the browning of the sides and bottom of the pie crust as the pie bakes. No other pan can give you this option!

Glass Pie Pan Experiment Results

• The pie crust baked in the Pyrex glass pie dish wasn’t super sturdy, and felt quite delicate when removed.
• For texture, it was most comparable to the crust baked in the ceramic pan.
• Glass takes a long time to conduct heat compared to metal, so you may not achieve as much browning on the bottom and sides of your crust. This is exactly what we found with this crust – minimal browning occurred.

Ceramic Pie Pans

For our Ceramic Pie Pan experiment, we used a pie dish by Cordon Bleu. I also LOVE my Emile Henry pie pans (they can go from freezer to oven!), but they’re an investment. Ceramic pie pans can be stoneware or porcelain, each baking a little differently based on material, thickness, and quality.

• The pan’s thickness will have a direct impact on its efficiency in heat conductivity.
• It’s pretty and impressive to serve a homemade pie in a ceramic pie pan. Perfect for your Thanksgiving dessert table!
• Using a fluted or ruffled ceramic pie dish is a great option if you’re not confident in your pie crust crimping skills, as the shape of the pie pan naturally helps create a beautiful finish without added work.
• I love how deep this pie pan is!
• Ceramic pie pans are often more expensive than glass or metal pie pans.

Ceramic Pie Pan Experiment Results

• Although ceramic is not a great conductor of heat, we found this pie browned very nicely on the bottom.
• I attribute the browning on this pie to the material used in manufacturing. Though the Cordon Bleu brand material is not specified in the product listing, Emile Henry uses Burgundy clay for “superior even-heat diffusion and heat retention properties.”
• Despite the nice browning, this pie crust was still surprisingly delicate.

Metal Pie Pans

For our Metal Pie Pan experiment, we used Williams Sonoma’s Gold Pie Pan. I typically prefer to bake in light-colored metal pans (especially when baking brownies, quickbreads, or cakes) but those proved to be harder to source.

• Using a dark metal pie pan can conduct heat too well, resulting in over-browned bottoms, so be aware of that when selecting a metal pie pan.
• Most metal pie pans are fairly shallow, and this one is no exception.
• Metal pie pans are durable and safe to use between extreme temperatures as they won’t shatter.
• Be cautious of cutting your pies while still sitting inside a metal pie pan, especially pans such as the Williams Sonoma’s Gold Pie Pan, as you don’t want to scratch or ruin the nonstick coating.

Metal Pie Pan Experiment Results

• This pie browned a lot less than I expected! Because metals conduct heat more efficiently than glass or ceramic, I anticipated this crust browning well on the bottom.
• In the past, I’ve had issues with cookies getting too browned on the bottom of my gold baking sheets. I’m at a loss for why this pie crust didn’t brown more in this experiment!
• Despite the lack of browning, this was a very sturdy pie crust.

Disposable Pie Pans

It’s always a win to skip the dishes, right? Though not necessarily the most earth-conscious choice, Disposable Pie Pans are an easy option – especially if you’re gifting a pie or taking it somewhere for a party – no need to ask for the pan back!

• Despite being a type of metal, aluminum is actually a very poor heat conductor compared to the aluminized steel of the metal pan used above.
• Disposable pie pans are typically even more shallow than metal pans.
• Heavyweight, sturdier disposable pie pans like these pie pans are my recommendation here!

Disposable Pie Pan Experiment Results

• This crust leaked the most butter
• Much to everyone’s surprise, this pie crust was the most stable / sturdy of all the experiments!
• This pie crust also browned the most on the bottom, but I attribute that to the butter leakage and thinness of the pan.

Final Thoughts & Best Pie Pan Recommendations

Glass, Ceramic, Metal, or Disposable Pie Pan – Which is Best?

There were definitely differences in the texture and browning between each of these pies, but all of the pie crusts we made turned out well and would have made excellent pies.

Had we made complete pies, none of them would have resulted in mushy soggy bottoms, which is ultimately the goal with any pie.

Regardless of the kind of pie pan you currently use, it’s still completely possible to make a deliciously showstopping pie. As long as you’re par-baking or blind-baking when necessary (learn how and why here) and you’re baking your pie long enough, you can make do with any pie pan material.

That being said, if you’re in the market for a new pie pan, I recommend a ceramic pan. The pan itself is pretty for table presentation and the brownness and shape of the pie were the most perfect of our experiments!

If you’re a beginner pie baker, a glass pan may be the best choice to gauge the level of browning most easily.

A Few Pie-Baking Tips:

• For the crispiest bottoms, bake pies on top of a preheated baking stone on the bottom rack of your oven.
• Place the pie on a rimmed baking sheet and then on the baking stone,if your pie pan is on the shallow side and/or you’re worried about spillage. Honestly, I almost always do this because I hate cleaning burnt butter or filling from my oven!
• For many more pie-baking tips, check out my Best Ever Pie Crust post and see the pink tip box (above the recipe) for loads of tips, tricks, and information to ensure you bake the perfect pie!

Other Science of Baking Articles:

• Glass vs. Metal Baking Pans
• Butter vs. Oil in Baking
• Everything You Need to Know About Sugar in Baking
• How to Measure Flour
• Oven 101: What You NEED to Know

Pie Recipes You’ll Love:

• Best Ever Pie Crust
• Caramel Apple Streusel Pie
• Blueberry Pie
• Brown Butter Maple Pecan Pie
• Thanksgiving Apple Pie

Photos by Joanie Simon.

The post Best Pie Pan appeared first on Handle the Heat.

You think you’ve nailed the recipe. You’ve spent time and money on mixing up the batter. You’re excited to decorate your pretty, perfectly-level cake or beautifully shaped cupcakes, and BAM! Suddenly your cake or cupcakes have a big ol’ crater in the middle.

You’re left wondering, “Why? What happened? What went wrong?”

In this article, I’ll explain eight of the most common reasons why your cake or cupcakes may have sunk and the science behind why this happened.

I will also teach you how to prevent sinkage and give you some great options for salvaging your sunken cakes and cupcakes, so it’s not a total loss.

More Baking Science Articles:

• How to Convert Cake into Cupcakes (and Cupcakes into Cake!)
• How to Prevent Cupcake Liners from Sticking
• How to Cream Butter and Sugar
• Baking Soda vs. Baking Powder
• How to Measure Flour

Photos by Joanie Simon.

The post How to Prevent Cakes & Cupcakes From Sinking appeared first on Handle the Heat.

I had suspicions about what the differences would be, but wanted to know for sure. Mostly I wanted to taste test the differences. So I took to the kitchen, armed with my crazy-popular Chewy Brownie Recipe and two sets of ingredients.

The first set of ingredients were the cheapest ingredients I could find at the local grocery store. The second set of ingredients were the most expensive ingredients I could find.

We previously performed the same experiment in my Cheap vs. Expensive Ingredients in Chocolate Chip Cookies – check out those side-by-side comparisons and my verdict here.

Disclaimer: We recognize the words ‘cheap’ and ‘expensive’ are relative and mean something different to everyone. Just being able to bake brownies is a privilege in itself – a privilege that none of us at HTH take for granted. We certainly aren’t trying to exclude anyone baking on a budget with this post – instead, we’re aiming to see if expensive really is worthwhile!

Cheap vs. Expensive Ingredients in Brownies: Which is Better?

Before we start to experiment with these ingredients, here are the predictions I made in advance before baking.

The Cocoa Powder

In most brownie recipes, either Dutch-process or natural cocoa powder can be used since they typically contain little to no leavening (learn about cocoa powder differences here).

So the fat content in cocoa powder becomes the key point of consideration in brownie baking:

• Most grocery store brands contain 10% fat
• Premium cocoas contain 22-24% fat!
• Cocoa is a starchy drying ingredient, so that extra fat reduces crumbly textures in favor of moist and fudgy ones as well as intensifying the chocolate flavor.
• Read more about fat in cocoa powders, and my recommended brands, in my full article here.

Prediction: I believe this will be the biggest factor in the Cheap vs. Expensive Ingredients experiment.

The Butter

I personally find that I don’t get the most *consistent* results using store-brand butter (hello Buttergate, 2020), so in my day-to-day baking and recipe testing, I always use my favorite butter, Challenge Unsalted Butter. It’s widely available here in Arizona and Walmart carries it nationwide.

• The main difference between unsalted butter products: butterfat content (sensing a theme here?)
• American-style butters = about 80% butterfat
• European-style butter = 82% and up (such as Kerrygold)
• This difference in water content and fat content can change the results of your baking. They are not always interchangeable, such as in my Homemade Toffee Bit Recipe.

Prediction: This could go either way in impacting our brownies. I suspect butter differences impact recipes like pastry, pie, and scones more than brownies.

The Vanilla

While you’ll usually see most food bloggers insisting that high-quality vanilla extract is the only vanilla you should ever use, I don’t believe that’s always the case.

• High-quality vanilla extract is important when it’s the star ingredient (like in my Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream, for example)
• In brownies, chocolate will outshine the vanilla so it’s usually not worth the splurge.

Prediction: I believe this will have little to no effect in our Cheap vs. Expensive Ingredients experiment.

The Flour

I use bleached Gold Medal Flour for all my recipe testing. It’s widely available, economical, and consistent.

• For this experiment, the cheapest flour was the Safeway store brand which was bleached. The most expensive was Bob’s Red Mill, which was unbleached.
• Bleaching weakens the proteins and prohibits gluten formation, often resulting in a more tender texture. Bleached flours in general soak up more water and produce thicker batters.

Prediction: There’s so little flour in my brownie recipe to maintain a fudgy chewy texture so I don’t think this will greatly impact our Cheap vs. Expensive Ingredients experiment. I’m curious to see if the ‘cheap’ batch made with bleached flour will yield a thicker batter.

The Chocolate Chips

High-quality chocolate is always going to outshine low-quality chocolate in a noticeable way.

• In brownies, chocolate choice is a matter of personal preference and the intensity of chocolate flavor you want.
• I find many lower-priced brands to be overly sweet and have an artificial aftertaste.
• I prefer Ghirardelli chocolate chips which are found at most grocery stores. But when I want something really special, I’ll splurge on Guittard or Valrhona.

Prediction: I believe this will have a big impact on our Cheap vs. Expensive Ingredients experiment. The most expensive chocolate chips at the store were Guittard and they make very large chips, so this will certainly impact the overall mouthfeel.

The Sugar, Oil, Eggs, Cornstarch, Salt, and Leavening Agents

In my experience, the brand of these pantry staples won’t make as big of a difference, if any. Here are some tips for these ingredients:

• Make sure your sugar isn’t overly coarse. I actually find some organic sugar products have much coarser granules so I usually opt for C&H Sugar or the store brand. Finer sugar granules help that shiny brownie crust to form.
• Never use oil with an off smell. Neutral oils (such as vegetable, canola, or avocado) can typically be used interchangeably. These oils can go rancid easily, which luckily can be sniffed out before using. That rancid taste and smell will ruin your entire bake.
• Use large eggs, about 56 grams in shell. White and brown eggshells reflect no quality difference and can be used interchangeably, but sizes can vary, especially for pasture-raised and farmer’s market eggs. Weigh the egg if you’re not sure to retain the correct brownie batter ratios.
• I prefer to use fine sea salt in all my baking, but table salt is fine too. Check out my article on all things Salt in Baking here.
• Make sure your leavening agents are not expired. Leavener isn’t as imperative in brownies compared to most baked goods, as there’s just a tiny bit in my Chewy Brownies to help lift them slightly. However, baking powder and baking soda can lose their effectiveness before the expiration date on the container – learn how to test for freshness here.

Prediction: I believe these ingredients will have little effect on the outcomes of our brownie experiments.

Cheap vs Expensive Ingredients in Brownies Experiment

Both batches used in the experiment shown here were made using the same recipe, baked in the same USA Pan 8×8-inch pan, and baked for the same amount of time at the same temperature. In fact, we baked them in the same exact oven simultaneously to control for as many variables as possible. The only differences were the ingredients used, as outlined below.

Ingredients Used For the “Cheap” Brownies

Ingredients Used For the “Expensive” Brownies

Brownie Experiment Appearance Results

Cheap: The batter was lighter in color with a more ‘gritty’ appearance. The crust on top was dull. These brownies were taller and more even.
Expensive: The batter was darker in color and significantly more smooth in appearance. The crust on top was insanely shiny. These brownies were shorter with a slightly sunken center, almost as if there was too much richness to hold onto the structure!

Brownie Experiment Taste Results

Cheap: More muted chocolate flavor, similar to box mix brownies.
Expensive: Richer and smoother chocolate flavor that made the brownies taste less sweet, even though they had the same amount of sugar!

Brownie Experiment Texture Results

Cheap: Drier, more crumbly, a little more starchy, with crispier edges.
Expensive: More moist, fudgy, and rich texture.

Final Verdict: Brownie Ingredients

Out of over seven taste testers (two being kids!), most of us preferred the more expensive brownies. However, BOTH were delicious. Yet both Joe and I found ourselves wanting seconds of the more expensive brownies.

The higher-quality chocolate chips were immediately noticeable and enjoyed by all. The texture of these brownies was fudgier and chewier, with a richer flavor – all of which I attribute to the high-quality, high-fat cocoa powder.

Where you should splurge vs. where you can save will depend on the recipe, but when making brownies:

• Splurge on the cocoa powder and chocolate, where it matters most
• Save with the rest

I hope you enjoyed my Cheap vs Expensive Ingredients in Brownies experiment here, and if you haven’t tried them before, give my Chewy Brownie Recipe a try – they’re super quick and easy! They’re my most popular brownie recipe for a reason.

Other Science of Baking Articles:

• Ingredients I NEVER Use In Baking
• Glass vs Metal Baking Pans
• Butter vs. Oil in Baking
• Everything You Need to Know About Sugar in Baking

Brownie Recipes You’ll Love:

• Chewy Brownies
• Peanut Butter-Stuffed Brownies
• Brown Butter Brownies
• Ultimate Fudgy Brownies
• Copycat Cosmic Brownies
• Raspberry Brownies

Photos by Joanie Simon.

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Whether it’s due to food allergies or intolerances or lack of availability or convenience, I know it’s not always possible to have or use every ingredient on hand for a recipe you might want to try out.

Answering specific substitution questions becomes challenging, however, when I haven’t tested a particular substitution for a particular recipe. It makes me uncomfortable to answer these types of questions because I simply don’t have 100% confidence to say whether a substitution will definitely work or not.

That’s actually why I created my Baking Substitutions guide. It’s a super handy resource for those times when you don’t have a particular ingredient on hand; however, even though it took me weeks to make that guide, I still haven’t tested every substitution instance or done in-depth side-by-side comparisons.

That’s also why I love to do these kinds of baking experiments. It’s so hard to judge the taste and texture of a substitution without testing it directly next to the original, or the “control.” And since buttermilk is an ingredient I get asked about a lot, I thought a Buttermilk 101 post would be a perfect reference for your own baking experiments!

If you like these kinds of posts then you’ll LOVE The Magic of Baking online course + community. It dives deep into baking science in a fun, visual, & approachable way so you can enter the kitchen with complete confidence.

Tools and Ingredients Used

I made every effort to replicate each batch as perfectly as possible, using the same exact tools and ingredients whenever applicable. I used a kitchen scale to measure ingredients to ensure 100% accuracy and used an oven thermometer to gauge exact baking temperatures. Each batch was baked for exactly 13 minutes.

Here are the base ingredients and tools I used for reference:

• Gold Medal Bleached All-Purpose Flour
• Simple Truth Organic Butter
• Clabber Girl Double Acting Baking Powder
• Liquid measuring cup
• OXO Steel Blade Pastry Blender
• Nordic Ware Natural Aluminum Sheet Pans
• Unbleached Parchment Paper

What is Buttermilk?

• Essentially, buttermilk is fermented milk.
• Originally, buttermilk was the leftover liquid produced following the churning of cream into butter. When butter was made at home, that leftover liquid was left out overnight to ferment.
• Modern buttermilk is now made by adding lactic acid-producing bacteria to milk (usually low-fat milk) to “culture” it in a controlled environment.
• The acid affects the casein proteins’ ability to come together by lowering the pH of the milk, and that’s what produces the thick texture of buttermilk.
• Buttermilk is used primarily for its pleasant tangy flavor, but it can also help tenderize and leaven certain baked goods.

Testing Buttermilk Substitutes

When it comes to buttermilk, the most common question I get is how to best substitute it.

I get it, most of us don’t have “real” buttermilk in our fridge all of the time, and running back to the grocery store for one or two things can be such a hassle. However, since I know from all of my Ultimate Guides, one small change in a baking recipe can have significant results. So I decided to put the most common buttermilk substitutions to the test.

Control Recipe

1 cup store-bought buttermilk

All of the biscuits I baked were based on my go-to biscuit recipe found at the bottom of this post. I re-made the same recipe each time, simply changing out the buttermilk for each batch.

These control “real” buttermilk biscuits were exactly as I anticipated: tangy, buttery, tall, appealingly craggy, with a coarse open crumb – as traditional buttermilk biscuits should be. These represent why I love buttermilk so much! The flavor was fantastic.

DIY Buttermilk + How to Make Buttermilk

1 scant cup whole milk + 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

I combined the two and let sit for 5 minutes before mixing into the dough. The mixture was definitely thinner than actual buttermilk, and the dough was much wetter and stickier, which made it more difficult to work with.

I was super excited to do a direct taste test with these “homemade buttermilk” biscuits compared to the “real” buttermilk biscuits. When I pulled these out of the oven, I was impressed by the lovely brown color they had developed. Unfortunately, the DIY buttermilk noticeably lacked the complex tangy flavor of the control buttermilk biscuits and instead contained a sharp sourness. They also had a finer crumb which I found to be more similar to store-bought or fast food biscuits.

Buttermilk Powder

1 cup water + 4 tablespoons buttermilk powder

I used the Saco brand of cultured buttermilk powder that I found at my grocery store and followed the substitution directions listed on the packaging. I used filtered water. The package’s instructions directed me to blend the powder into the dry ingredients, which is what I did.

Where the control biscuits were pleasantly tangy, these biscuits were strangely sour. They also baked up flatter than any of the other batches. The package directions also said to store the powder in the refrigerator after opening, which to me doesn’t make it all that much more convenient than actual buttermilk, especially for the amount of flavor you’re giving up to use this.

Whole Milk

1 cup plain milk

These regular milk biscuits turned out craggy and nicely golden, and had an intense buttery flavor. They tasted the most buttery of all the batches, which makes sense considering there was no excess acidity here to cut through the fat and richness. These also had a finer crumb similar to the DIY buttermilk biscuits, which was interesting. The finer crumb reminded me again of fast food biscuits or premade store-bought biscuits.

Plain Yogurt

1 cup thinned plain yogurt

I thinned the yogurt considerably with water until it was pourable, before adding into the dough. Surprisingly, these biscuits ended up being my favorite behind the control batch. They had good flavor and a tall, even shape. The only downside was that, like the DIY buttermilk biscuits, these had a finer texture similar to fast food biscuits (think KFC). However, because I know some people enjoy that texture, using plain yogurt might be a great option for you! You could even try a similar experiment with sour cream.

Vegan/Dairy-Free Buttermilk Substitute

1 scant cup full-fat canned coconut milk + 1 tablespoon distilled vinegar

I combined the two and let sit for 5 minutes before mixing into the dough. I did *not* substitute the dairy butter in this batch because I wanted a direct comparison against the control batch and because this post is all about buttermilk. Check out my biscuit comparison with butter vs. shortening here if you’re interested.

I was curious to see if I could make a dairy-free substitute this way, thinking that coconut milk is rich and thick, unlike other non-dairy milks like almond milk or soy milk. The consistency ended up being very similar to real buttermilk, which made me excited. However, the resulting biscuits had a completely different flavor profile from all of the other biscuits and were way more crumbly. These were definitely not my favorite.

Final Comparison

It’s funny because I feel like the biscuits appear to look very similar, but there were definitely noticeable differences in taste and texture.

Looks like I’ll be sticking with store-bought real buttermilk for the foreseeable future, since homemade buttermilk substitutes just didn’t yield the same results.

I also have tested a standard muffin recipe with whole milk vs. buttermilk to see how it impacts a different type of recipe:

The buttermilk muffins had a more craggly open-crumb texture than the whole milk muffins and were SUPER moist and flavorful. I absolutely loved this batch and don’t think I’ll make muffins without buttermilk again. You can see my full Ultimate Guide to Muffins post here.

So as you can see, real buttermilk is the BEST choice. But since I know it’s not always easy to keep buttermilk on hand, I created the below video on How to Freeze Buttermilk so you always have some ready to use (and so you don’t waste any).

How to Freeze Buttermilk

More Baking Science Articles:

• Cake Flour 101
• Best Baking Pans
• Baking Soda vs. Baking Powder
• How to Measure Flour the RIGHT Way
• Ultimate Guide to Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipes with Buttermilk:

• Blueberry Cobbler
• Buttermilk Pancakes
• Chocolate Chip Muffins
• Best Homemade Waffles
• Peach Cobbler Recipe

If you need more help with baking substitutions and swaps, check out my free guide:

Print

Basic Buttermilk Biscuits

Diving into buttermilk 101 – A fun visual guide to buttermilk including what it is, what it does in baking, and exploring side-by-side substitute comparisons.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 10 to 12 biscuits

Author Tessa Arias

Ingredients

• 2 cups (254 grams) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon fine salt
• 6 tablespoons (85 grams) unsalted butter, very cold
• 1 cup buttermilk, chilled

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 450°F.
• In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using your fingertips or a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal. You can also do this in a food processor. The faster you do this the better, you want the fat to remain cold. Stir in the buttermilk until just combined. DO NOT overmix, the dough will be slightly sticky.
• Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and dust the dough with flour. Gently pat the dough out until it’s a 1/2-inch in thickness. Use a 2-inch round biscuit cutter to push straight down through the dough to cut out circles, try not to twist the cutter. Place the biscuits on the baking sheet, spacing 2-inches apart. Reform the scrap dough into 1/2-inch thickness, being sure to work with it as little as possible, before cutting out more circles.
• Bake the biscuits until golden brown, about 12 to 15 minutes.

Video

Buttermilk 101 Article Credits:

• Written by Tessa Arias
• Edited by Jessie Bruce, Master’s of Public Health Nutrition and Dietetics Candidate at UC Berkeley

Sources:

• Amendola, J. (2002). Understanding Baking: The Art and Science of Baking (3rd Edition). Wiley Global Education US. https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9781118558713
• Figoni, Paula. How Baking Works: Exploring the Fundamentals of Baking Science, 3rd Edition. 3rd ed., John Wiley and Sons, 2010.
• McWilliams, M. (2016). Foods (8th Edition). Pearson Education (US). https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9780134204666

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