Substituting Molasses for Tate & Lyle Syrups

Asked by 2olbones. Answered on 31st December 2010

Full question

I bought your book and just made the chocolate/organge cake. I was forced to use Karo dark syrup as Tate & Lyle products are extremely rate in Alaska. I was wondering about the efficacy of substituting pure molasses for when your recipes call for a dark syrup, for the sake of flavor enhancement.

Our answer

If you can't get Tate & Lyle golden syrup then we would suggest using dark or light corn syrup as a substitute. If the recipe has fairly strong flavors, such as the chocolate cake or gingerbread then dark corn syrup is fine, if it is more of a vanilla-flavored cake or cookie then light corn syrup is more suitable.

Molasses tend to have a slightly bitter note so are not great as a substitute for golden syrup (which tends to have a sweet but fairly neutral taste). If there is only a couple of tablespoons of golden syrup in the recipe then you could also use honey as a substitute, but honey can have a fairly strong flavor so we would not use it as a substitute in larger quantities.