Life hacks: What to do when you don’t have icing sugar in the cupboard

You’ve planned what you want to bake, shopped for all the ingredients, blocked off some baking ‘me’ time, only to discover you’re out of icing sugar. Sound familiar? Well, there’s no need to head back out in a huff. You can actually make your own in minutes. Here’s how:

Weigh out your sugar – whatever sugar you have

As long as your sugar is granulated and loose (as opposed to sticky ones like muscovado), it’ll work. Weigh out the exact amount that the recipe calls for. You can even make golden castor sugar with light brown sugar.

Next: cornstarch

This isn’t entirely necessary, but if you’re making a big batch and want to store it in a jar, adding cornstarch will stop it from clumping together and forming lumps. You’ll need about 20g of cornstarch for every 1kg of sugar you’re using.

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Blend it!

Place the sugar and cornstarch (if you’re using it) in a food processor or blender. You can get really good icing sugar using a NutriBullet, Greenis or even Magimix – some blenders and food processors may take longer than others, but they all get there eventually. Blend the mixture for a few minutes until it’s fine and powdery to the touch. If it’s still a bit gritty, keep blending.

Sieve it

I like to sieve my homemade icing sugar to make sure there are no big grains of sugar. If there are any leftover grains, put it back in the blender and blend it some more. You can now use your homemade icing sugar in your recipe, or store it in an airtight container for the next baking emergency!

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