Cane Sugar vs. Granulated Sugar: What’s the Difference?

The baking aisle at your local grocery store is stacked with enough bags and boxes of sugar to tempt home bakers to start a collection: pearl sugar, sanding sugar, caster sugar, and the list goes on. But among this sweet assortment, two types of sugar are most often confused for one another. What is the real difference between granulated sugar and cane sugar, and can you use them interchangeably? Let’s break it down. 

What is granulated sugar?

Also known as white sugar or table sugar, granulated sugar is the most common and basic type of sugar on the shelf. It is refined from sugarcane or sometimes sugar beet juice and contains almost pure sucrose, which reads on the tongue as sweet with no other competing flavors. As chef Arielle Johnson says in her book Flavorama, “White sugar is the most boring-by-design sweet ingredient. It’s the flavor of subtraction, and very good at doing the thing it is designed to do: contribute sweetness and nothing else.”

What is cane sugar? 

Cane sugar always comes from sugarcane and is usually less processed than granulated sugar, which can give it a light golden color and slightly larger sugar crystals. Less refining means more molasses flavor (though not nearly as much as brown sugar, which retains loads of that caramelly flavor as well as a higher moisture content). Cane sugar does not dissolve as easily as granulated white sugar, and its crystals tend to hold their shape when heated, which can have a big payoff in certain baked goods. 

When to use granulated sugar vs. cane sugar

If a recipe calls for sugar, and particularly for mixing into a batter or dough, reach for regular granulated sugar to achieve the intended texture. White sugar easily dissolves into the fats and liquids in cookies, cakes, and desserts — a blank canvas of sweetness with which the other flavors in the recipe can play. 

Because cane sugar crystals don’t dissolve easily, they lend a nice sugary crunch to finished desserts. “I like to add it to streusels or toppings,” says Amanda Rockman, chef owner of Rockman in Austin. “For coffee cake, we make our own little swirl with raw sugar, cocoa powder, and toasted pecans that get embedded into the cake.”

Rockman also relies on cane sugar for her signature kouign-amann, the popular crunchy caramel pastry that originated in Brittany, France. Says Rockman, “When you’re laminating the dough, you do three folds, and on your last one, traditionally, you fold in sugar into your dough, so it creates these really beautiful sugary pockets when it puffs up.” When a team member suggested she use cane sugar for that critical last fold, “it gave it a really beautiful flake. You get a little bit more of a brown sugar, molasses-y flavor, and the sugar texture is more pronounced.”

What’s more, you can use cane sugar in savory recipes. Rockman suggests using it in brines or rubs for meat. “You’re gonna get a little more of that burnt caramelly flavor on the meat,” plus an appealingly crunchy crust, when you choose the sturdy granules. 

Can you swap cane sugar for granulated sugar?  

In baking, you don’t want to substitute cane sugar for granulated sugar unless you’re seeking the sugary crunch and extra molasses flavor of raw cane sugar. That said, if you want to experiment, you can swap cane sugar 1:1 for granulated sugar.