The Root Problem of All ProblemsOsho, Tilopa's song continues: "If one sees naught when staring into space; if with the mind one then observes the mind, one destroys distinctions and reaches buddhahood. The clouds that...
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Yes, wheat starch. I got that for when I made a birthday cake for a child with Coeliac disease. Soft Icing Mixture (used for a smoother, less firm setting icing) is good because it is blended with wheat starch but you can't use that for gluten intolerant people. You could use pure icing sugar for a gluten free icing if you wanted but that would have resulted in a harder 'finish' than I wanted for this particular cake. (I get a lot of celebration cake making requests.) Sometimes for a better pure white (stay-soft) fluffy frosting or for icing requiring a 'truer' colour using paste/oil based colours I use 'Solite' instead of butter (which is available at places like cake decorating centres.) It's basically fat with the crap whipped out of it but it gives a gorgeous bright, white, soft result and takes the paste colours beautifully.
I think I've probably only used it a couple of times in/on something cooked (I think it was on the top of a particular sort of muffins that when sprinkled on top, along with crushed walnuts or hazelnut meal prior to baking caramelises well in high temps yet retaining a certain 'bite/crunch') but my hubby seems to prefer raw sugar in his coffee so we always have it. Raw sugar is sometimes called for in certain biscuits that have less processed items such as oatmeal and wholemeal flours. It has a slightly lighter 'honey' flavour than Demerara and is lighter/nicer when mixed into crumbled toppings for apple based desserts not being quite as strong.
Strangely enough with all my damn sugars I don't eat much of it myself as I find sugars too addictive for me.
Demerara (to me) has too much of a mollbuttes flavour for coffee but many people like it. You can also get raw caster sugar but in the things I use caster sugar in, raw would be slightly too deep in colour for what I want so I don't buy that one.
CSR actually make "Coffee Sugar" (that has a light syrup coating to the grains with an ever so subtle coffee flavour to it) besides their "Demerara" but I can hardly tell the difference so I usually get whichever one of those two my hand reaches first on the supermarket shelf.
Yes you're quite right about the slices and I always use it for things that need a deep flavour and depth of colour such as Anzacs, fruit cakes and deep spicy cakes, muffins, buns. Great for caramel sauces and things. My husband uses brown sugar in some sort of marinade sauce thing for he mixes with Sake and Japanese Soy and something else for abalone. I wouldn't know what that's like cos I don't like abalone. He uses the light brown sugar in some stir fry dishes and palm sugar in some of his (Austral)Asian cooking.
I remember my mother used to have 'Treacle' she'd use for something but I can't remember what. I imagine that's somewhere between the Mollbuttes & Golden Syrup stage.
L.
