Sugar

A cake can be baked without flour, but without sweetness it no longer qualifies as dessert. It is sugar that sweetens every cake in this book. The four types of sugar I have used for these recipes are superfine cane sugar, turbinado sugar, light brown sugar, and dark brown sugar. Refined superfine sugar results in the finest texture and most neutral flavor, adding sweetness that balances and accentuates other ingredients. Granulated cane sugar can be substituted for superfine sugar. In some recipes I specify turbinado, or raw sugar, for the extra flavor it offers because of its slightly higher amount of molasses. For components such as crumb toppings, I use part light brown sugar for still more intensity.