Molasses
 

I am making a creole Christmas cake which I've made before.
I have failed to get molasses- I live in a bit of an outpost- Anglesey.
I have about one tablespoon left in the pot which I have but I need three tablespoons. What can I use instead? The recipe already has molasses sugar in it.
I'm thinking about syrup and also thinking that treacle would be too heavy.
Cooks everywhere?

Isn't treacle about the same as molasses?

Brown sugar would give a flavour closest to molasses. Otherwise golden syrup and more spices or even 3/4 cup white sugar and 1/4 cup water with extra spices.

I think treacle is sweeter than molasses, so you'd probably want to adjust the sugar.

This page has some substitutions for molasses:

http://homecooking.about.com/od/spec...lassestips.htm

Black treacle has a bitter taste which molasses doesn't. Molasses has a much spicier fuller flavour.

Dark brown sugar (not Demerara sugar) is made brown by adding molasses so would probably be the best substitute. 1 cup of molasses = 3/4 cup of brown sugar.

Frances - I think that i would just use what you've got and add a bit more sugar, the darker the better.

if you need to darken the colour, how about a bit of bisto? [only joking, i think!]

I'm not much of a baker (more of a cook), so that said, the science of the cake concerns me in that it may need syrup of the consitancy of molases for it to work. My understanding is that black treacle is same but more strong/bitter. i would use a 1/2 and half mixture witha corn syruo (such as Karo, if that is available)

How about Golden Syrup or honey or a mixture of the two, maybe with a bit of dark brown sugar? If molasses is a syrup, then I don't think sugar on its own would be right as you'd need the liquid to make the cake work.

I hope it all works out for you.

Kay

Fortyfive years ago when I was living in Ireland, and had to adept American recipes to Irish ingredients,I used treacle in place of molasses when I made gingerbread or gingercookies. It worked, but maybe treacle is different today.

I go with golden syrup or treacle. Treacle is darker than golden syrup and probably a little closer to molasses. Then you will have to make a treacle tart to use it up afterwards!

Lavandula

I don't know what creole cake is, but Christmas cake as I know it usually has some kind of leavening. Molasses is acid, and recipes with it, usually require baking soda rather than baking powder. I'm fairly sure that isn't true of golden syrup, but I (Cdn) don't know about treacle.
See here for the chemistry:
http://kitchensavvy.typepad.com/jour..._soda_vs_.html

Here's the recipe- it's a Good Housekeeping recipe and it's a little unusual- not your normal Christmas cake(which I can always get the ingredients for)

175g each prunes roughly chopped, raisins and currants
125g natural glace cherries, halved
100 candied peel chopped
250ml dark rum
175g unsalted butter softened
175g dark molasses sugar, sieved,
4 medium eggs
200g self-raising flour
3 level tablespoons molasses
1 tblsp vanilla extract
40g stem ginger pieces, chopped

Topping
450g golden icing sugar, sifted
3 level tblsp glocose syrup
50g unsalted butter softened
3 tblsp dark rum
25g dried cranberries to decorate

1. Put prunes raisins currants cherries and peel in a lidded container and add the rum. Cover and leave to stand for at least 24 hours or up to two weeks, stirring occasionally until much of the rum is absorbed.

2.Grease and line an 18cm round deep cake tin with greaseproof paper. Using a slotted spoon drain and weigh out 450g of the soaked fruit. Transfer to a food processor and blend to a thick puree. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees.

3.Beat together the butter and sugar until creamy. Beat in the eggs a little at a time adding some of the flour if the mixture starts to curdle. Add the remaining fruit and any rum juices to the bowl with the dried fruit puree, molasses vanilla extract, stem ginger and remaining flour. Using a large metal spoon, gently fold the ingredients together until evenly combined.

4. Turn into the prepared tin and bake for 3 hours or until firm and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin then wrap in foil and store for up to two weeks or until ready to decorate.

5. To decorate put the icing sugar in a bowl and add the glucose, softened butter and rum. Beat with an electric whisk until the mixture is smooth creamy and softly peaking.

6. Put the cake on a flat serving plate and swirl the icing over the top and sides using a palette knife. Scatter over the cranberries.

TO MAKE AHEAD
Soak the fruit as in step 1 for up to 2 weeks. Make the cake up to the end of step 4, wrap in foil and store in an airtight container for up to one month. Decorate the cake, then store in an airtight container in the fridge and eat within a week or freeze.

TO FREEZE
Open-freeze the iced cake until solid then wrap in clingfilm, label and store for up to three months. Thaw at cool room temperature overnight.

I'm tending now to the mix of sugar, water and possibly adding some of the stem ginger syrup.
Thank you all.
Nadolig Llawen ( Happy Christmas in Welsh!)

hi frances,

I can see why you would think of using the stem ginger syrup to replace the molasses, and it looks like a good idea to me. my only reservation would be with using MORE sugar on top of that, because the ginger syrup is very sweet. I think I would just make it up with water.

BTW, if you like stem ginger, you can make a very good ginger marmelade by chopping up the ginger and adding it to the marmelade after you have boiled up the oranges with the sugar.

Nadelik lowen ha blydhen nowydh da
[which is cornish for...]