Cups of Brown Sugar in a Pound – One pound of brown sugar (light or dark) contains approximately 312 cups when loose and approximately 214 cups when packaged in measuring cups ($15, Target). In the majority of recipes, brown sugar is asked for in its packed form.
How much light brown sugar is in a cup?
A ‘packed’ cup of brown sugar in my kitchen and America’s Test Kitchen is 7 ounces/200 grams. I periodically request a cup that is loosely packed and weights 6 1/2 ounces/185 grams.
Swapping Light and Dark Sugar – Although substituting light brown sugar for dark brown sugar will not harm a recipe, it will alter the end result. You may anticipate your baked goods to be substantially deeper in color and to have a more robust flavor.
- The more light brown sugar a recipe asks for, the more probable it is that you will notice a difference if you substitute dark brown sugar.
- Consequently, you may maintain a 1:1 ratio of dark brown sugar to light brown sugar.
- In recipes that call for baking soda, the distinction between light and dark brown sugar will be most apparent.
This is due to the reaction between the acidic moisture in brown sugar and baking soda. If you replace dark brown sugar for light brown sugar in a dessert recipe, you are adding more moisture. As a result, you may anticipate the cookies to expand somewhat more or the cake to rise slightly higher, although the change may be fairly small.
If a recipe asks for brown sugar but you do not have either light or dark brown sugar on hand, you may create a brown sugar replacement by combining white sugar and molasses. For recipes that call for light brown sugar, just substitute white sugar with an equivalent quantity of molasses per cup of sugar.
If you need to replace dark brown sugar with white sugar, use the same method but increase the molasses to 1/2 cup every 1 cup of white sugar. According to the Martha Stewart website, it is advised not to substitute raw sugar for brown sugar since the grain size would affect the texture.
Does light brown sugar equal sugar?
You likely have a big list of products that must always be supplied in your home: Coffee, toothpaste, shampoo, coffee, eggs, beer, bandages, coffee, hand sanitizer, laundry detergent, TOILET PAPER It is normal that you might not always have both light brown sugar and dark brown sugar on available whenever the need to bake arises.
Having even one is a win! However, different recipes call for light and dark ingredients. The good news is that light and dark brown sugar may be substituted for one another. You will not damage your cookies, crumble, or banana bread by substituting one for another. However, let us take a step back: What is brown sugar even? Unlike raw brown sugars such as turbinado or muscovado, refined brown sugar is essentially white sugar with molasses added.
And the amount of molasses differentiates pale brown (with less molasses) from dark brown (more). Dark brown sugar contains nearly twice as much molasses as light brown sugar (6.5% against 3.5%), giving it a more intense caramel flavor. While light brown sugar and dark brown sugar can be used interchangeably, they are not perfect equivalents.
- Using dark brown sugar in a recipe that asks for light can impart a more powerful flavor, a darker hue, and may somewhat alter the texture.
- Since acidic molasses interacts with baking soda, substituting dark brown sugar for light may result in a greater rise and/or a greater spread.
- This is usually something you won’t see unless you compare two batches side by side, but it might be the reason why your cookies don’t turn out precisely like the ones in the photo.
Notably, the greater the amount of brown sugar a recipe calls for, such as a whole cup as opposed to a few tablespoons, the greater the influence a substitute will have. If you’re preparing a marinade with simply light brown sugar, it’s no big deal. However, if you’re creating a crumb cake that asks for a whopping 134 cups of dark brown sugar for the streusel, you’ll likely want to use the correct sugar, since the additional molasses will provide so much flavor.