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Baking is such an elaborate form of cooking that you can spend ages trying to know each and every recipe. However, a few ingredients like icing sugar are of high importance as they hold the power to make or break your recipe. Icing sugar, also known as powdered sugar, is a baking essential that adds sweetness and charm to any baked good, making it a delight.
If you have a sweet tooth, you must know the role of dusted icing sugar on top of the desserts. But apart from frosting, icing sugar, one of the best friends of a baker, has many more uses. If you are stepping into the baking world and are intrigued by the prices of packed icing sugar, here is everything you should know about how easy it is to make and the many ways you can use it to enhance your desserts.
What Is Icing Sugar?
Icing sugar is just a fancy word for powdered sugar. The reason it’s so popular among bakers is that the ultra-fine powder dissolves easily into liquids without leaving any crystals behind. This gives the frosting or whipped cream a smooth texture. Also, to make icing sugar, a little cornstarch is added to the powdered sugar to prevent the baked goods from caking or clumping.
How To Make Icing Sugar?
Even though icing sugar is available in almost every grocery store, making it at home is a better option as it is free of any preservatives, cheaper, and fresher. Plus, the process is really simple. All you need to do is take some sugar and grind it in a food processor or with an electric mixer to get a fine powder. Then, add one teaspoon of cornstarch to every cup of granulated sugar and blend them together. Once you get a fine powder, you can store it in an air-tight container till the time you want to use it.
How To Use Icing Sugar In Desserts?
Frosting: Icing sugar is most popularly used to make creamy and smooth frostings. From vanilla cupcakes to chocolate ganache, icing sugar dissolves faster and gives the frosting a seamless texture.
Glazed Dessert: The shiny coats that you see on desserts like croissants, tarts, or pastries are made with icing sugar. With some water and icing sugar mixed with a flavour like vanilla or lemon, you can make a sweet sauce to glaze the desserts.
Dust: Dusting desserts with icing sugar adds to the beauty of any dessert. While decorating a chocolate cake or coffee cookies, you can dust some icing sugar before serving and take them to the next level.
Whipped Cream: Since icing sugar is easy to dissolve, you can add it to heavy creamy and whisk to make soft whipping cream to add to your desserts. You can also add cocoa powder and natural colours to further decorate your cakes, cupcakes, doughnuts, etc.
Fillings: Desserts like pies, tarts, and doughnuts require a sweet and savoury filling. You can use icing sugar to make a smooth filling and then bake the dessert to perfection.
