Baking with golden syrup

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Whether poured over toast, eaten from a spoon or used in baking, golden syrup is a perennial favourite.

Photo Elizabeth Clarkson / styling Kate Arbuthnot

Golden syrup is a pale treacle. It is a thick, amber-coloured form of inverted sugar syrup, made in the process of refining sugar cane or sugar beet juice into sugar, or by treatment of a sugar solution with acid. It is used in a variety of baking recipes and desserts. It has an appearance similar to honey, and is often used as a substitute for people who do not eat honey.

Molasses or dark treacle has a richer colour than golden syrup, and a stronger, slightly bitter flavour.

When I was a kid, my arrival home after a long bike ride was like most other children’s – I was only interested in dashing into the kitchen to grab a snack. My mother would often have baked goodies in the tins, and sometimes bought a special treat at the local cake shop. But my favourite snack was when there was a crusty loaf of freshly baked white bread, with its soft fluffy interior, sitting on the bench.

We would cut thick slices, slather them with butter, then pour golden syrup over them, smoothing it out to an even coating. The combination was perfect, satisfying our hunger immediately, and afterwards there were sticky fingers to lick clean. If there was no fresh bread, we would often prepare Weet-Bix the same way, delighting in the crunchy layers of baked wheat flaking apart as we devoured them.

Golden syrup is an iconic ingredient, and most of us will have nostalgic memories of those heavy tins, and occasionally sneaking a gleaming spoonful or two straight from the can. Clever kids made stilts by threading pieces of rope through holes punched in two emptied cans, then knotting the ends. They walked around the garden feeling two feet taller.

Recently I visited the Chelsea Sugar Refi nery in Auckland to observe cans of golden syrup being filled and packed. First made in a London sugar refinery, golden syrup is the result of a lengthy process that involves refi ning, liquefying, crystallising, filtering, pasteurising and other manufacturing techniques. Like all the sugar we buy, it originates as raw cane sugar, imported from the Australian cane fields. The Chelsea plant – the only place in New Zealand where sugar is processed – has manufactured golden syrup continually since 1884.

My visit coincided with the delivery and unloading of 30,000 tonnes of sugar from the Timaru Star into the historic factory. Pumped from large storage containers in the ship’s hold, the sugar had been grown in Queensland, then processed before being exported as raw sugar crystals. I stood in the warehouse beside giant pyramids of soft sugar that rose about 30m to the roof, the equivalent of less than two months’ worth of national consumption, and revelled in the sweet aroma. Golden syrup features in many traditional baking recipes. Anzac biscuits are possibly the most loved recipe of all, as they originated here, and in wartime were sent by families to their beloved husbands and sons, who were serving overseas.

The Anzac biscuit is a great keeper that doesn’t spoil easily in transit. Other favourites are caramel slice, golden syrup steamed pudding, gingerbread loaf, ginger gems and, of course, hokey pokey, which found its way into another iconic Kiwi food: hokeypokey icecream. In that old stalwart the Edmonds Cookery Book, there are at least 28 recipes with golden syrup as an ingredient, proving its perennial popularity. Golden syrup imparts a rich flavour that is fruity, sweet and smooth at once. In the following two recipes it brings an extra taste dimension and in the loaf it helps provide moistness. The toffee sauce is exceptionally rich and luscious. It will keep well in the fridge for weeks, and can be gently warmed to make it more liquid.

FRESH MANDARINS WITH HOT TOFFEE SAUCE AND WINE YOGHURT

120g butter
175g dark cane sugar
100g white sugar
275g golden syrup
225ml cream
½ tsp pure vanilla essence
9 large mandarins
6 tbsp unsweetened yoghurt

Put the butter, sugars and golden syrup into a heavy-based saucepan and stir over a gentle heat until melted. Bring to a simmer and allow to gently bubble for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the cream and essence, a little at a time, stirring continuously. Return the pan to the heat and stir for 2 minutes until the sauce is smooth. Allow to cool. This sauce will keep for several weeks in the fridge, where it will solidify. To return it to a liquid form, reheat in a bowl over a pan of boiling water until slightly warm.

To assemble the dessert, peel the mandarins, removing as much pith as possible and keeping the fruit whole. Slice around the equator of each mandarin. Place 3 halves into each of 6 glass serving dishes, spoon over a generous amount of sauce to cover the mandarins, then add the yoghurt (or icecream). Serves 6. Wine match: a late harvest riesling.

BANANA WALNUT GOLDEN SYRUP LOAF

100g unsalted butter, softened
50g dark cane sugar
4 tbsp golden syrup
4 eggs
4 ripe bananas, mashed
225g self-raising fl our
4 tbsp chopped fresh walnuts

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Prepare a 22cm x 12cm loaf tin by brushing the inside with melted butter then dusting it with fl our. Put the softened butter into a cake mixer bowl with the K beater and beat until soft. Add the sugar and beat for 2 minutes. Add the golden syrup and eggs, one by one, beating continuously. Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in the banana. Sift the flour and gently combine mwith the batter. Add the walnuts.

Tip the batter into the prepared tin. Bake for 55 minutes or until a cake skewer comes out cleanly when inserted into the middle of the loaf. Rest the loaf in the tin for about 10 minutes before turning out onto a rack. Serve in thin slices, which may be buttered, although the loaf is very moist and will keep in a tightly covered container for up to a week. It’s perfect with a cup of tea.

TIPS WITH SUGAR

Supermarkets have many different types of sugar, so when baking be sure to choose the right one, because each type reacts differently. Baking is an exact science and substituting ingredients or not measuring accurately can lead to failure or at the very least change the taste of the goodies.
Golden syrup comes in two forms. Syrup in the can is needed for baking recipes, whereas the “easy pour” variety, which comes in plastic bottles, is thinner. This makes it suitable for pouring onto toast or crumpets or using as a sauce over icecream.
If a recipe prescribes dark cane sugar (muscovado), it is possible to use soft brown sugar, but the flavour will be slightly different.
When baking, do not confuse caster sugar and white sugar. If you don’t have caster sugar, whizz regular sugar in a food processor to create finer grains.

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