Sugar syrup for glucose?

[Susanwusan]

Hi all.  Would making a thick sugar syrup be a successful substitute for glucose syrup in a cake for the purpose of ensuring its moistness?  Most people seem to have an almost obsessive need for cake to be moist, despite it never, in my experience, being eaten alone, but with a cup of tea or coffee.

[pastrygirl]

Probably not because your homemade syrup won't be inverted.  Substitute whatever similar-to-glucose syrup you have - corn syrup, golden syrup, or honey.

[Pete Fred]

It's quite common in French baking to apply a sirop de punchage/imbibage (punching/soaking syrup) to cakes, especially gâteaux de voyage (travel cakes, nothing fancy). It's a way of adding moisture and, often, extra flavour.

 

I'm not sure exactly what the 'rules' are but these soaking syrups tend not to be your regular simple syrup ratio which might add too much extra sweetness.

 

As a rule of thumb, these light syrups are 2:1 water to sugar. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar, and cook for 2-3 minutes.

 

To flavour, replace some or all of the water with fruit juice, or add whole spices (e.g., vanilla, cinnamon stick, cardamom pods, star anise, cloves, etc), or citrus peel. Throw in a glug of booze off the heat if you like. Apply all over with only one hot element, i.e., cake OR syrup, not both. Try to avoid a heavy hand; it's more of a moistening than a drowning.