Simple syrup is actually very simple to make, and it’s a versatile way to flavor cakes and drinks. In professional kitchens it’s used as an ingredient in some recipes and to add moisture and flavor to cake layers, and you can adjust the flavor for flavored syrups to make them more or less strong, depending on what you’re using them for. This is the basic simple syrup recipe and what you’ll need to flavor it and store it properly.
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Simple Syrup recipe.
The basic simple syrup recipe is: 1 part water and 1 part granulated sugar. Mix the two in a saucepan and stir over high heat to combine, then keep stirring to prevent sugar from burning on the bottom of the pan until the liquid gets to the boiling point. Stop stirring it when it boils, and boil it for a about ten seconds, then take it off the heat and let it cool down. Store it in a sealed container in the fridge for a couple of weeks.
That’s it, but there are a lot of variations that you can do to tailor the syrup to what you’re going to be using it for. Sometimes people use some corn syrup in the recipe in addition to the sugar, because that will slow down any crystallization that might happen. If you’re going to be using the syrup fairly quickly, you probably don’t need to worry about that, though.
Simple syrup for cakes.
When you’re torteing a cake (read about that here) you can brush each layer with simple syrup that’s been flavored with liquers or other flavorings if you want to add an extra layer of flavor.
Plain simple syrup will also add a little moisture to the cake, so you don’t have to add a flavoring, but you can add any kind of juice or extract to it for this if you want to.
Add about 1/8 to 1/4 cup of liquer or juice (like orange juice or good-quality fruit juices) to 1 cup of simple syrup to make a flavored syrup that will give your cake layers a little extra oomph. Make sure that you disclose that there’s alcohol in the cake if you do the liquer route, since some people might want to avoid that.
If you want to avoid using liquers, you can use flavored extracts or oils, but add less of those because too much can be overwhelming. If you’re using a high-quality oil like Boyajian oils (which are my favorites) start with 1 Tbsp to 1 cup of syrup, then add a little more if you want a stronger flavor. The better the quality of extracts and oils the stronger the flavor will probably be, so you want to start with less and work your way up.
On the other hand, if you’re using an inexpensive extract, too much can taste too fake, so do the same thing. Start with less and work your way up.
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How much flavoring to add.
How strong to make flavored syrups is going to depend more on what you’re using to flavor it than what you’re putting it on or in. My experience has been that a simple syrup that’s not strongly-flavored enough isn’t going to add much to the thing your adding it to, so more flavor is better.
However, if you’re putting something that has a bitter or alcoholic taste in the syrup, you might want to start with a little and work your way up. Since you’re usually adding the flavoring liquid into the syrup after it’s been cooked, you’re basically putting a “raw” ingredient into it, and that flavor can translate over.
Since it’s a sugar syrup it’s not going to be as obvious as the “raw” ingredient, but extracts with artificial flavorings can be overwhelming if you add a lot of them to anything. One solution for this would be to make an infused syrup that extracts the flavors from real ingredients instead of the artificial ones. That will give you the best natural flavor, but if you don’t put enough of the infusing ingredients in it can also leave you with a weak-tasting syrup that doesn’t do much for you.
Test it out by using some extracts or liquers in your syrups to see what you like. Start with less of the flavoring and work your way up until it’s strong enough for your liking. Remember that if you’re putting the syrup into another drink like coffee or cocktails, it should be stronger than you think so that it doesn’t get overpowered by the flavor of the main drink/
Infused simple syrup for drinks.
I make my own simple syrup to put in my tea (I love a good tea latte) and it’s not hard to get a good flavor from them. For these you cook the spices and flavorings in with the sugar and water as you’re making the syrup, so everything has a chance to infuse the syrup with the flavor.
The thing to remember about infusing simple syrup as you cook it is that you’ll probably need to strain the syrup after it’s done, unless you like eating what I refer to as “spice sludge.” Sometimes having some of the solid spices in the syrup is good because it adds some more intense flavor, but for using it in drinks you probably want it to be pretty well-strained.
Using a strainer after you cook the syrup and it’s cooled off will remove most of the larger particles from the syrup, then you can store it in the fridge and use it in coffee, tea, and cocktails. Lemonade and fruit drinks can also be enhanced with flavored simple syrups.
Depending on what flavor you’re going for, you can leave some of it in the syrup and add it to your drink. I do that with my pumpkin spice syrup because pumpkin on its own doesn’t taste like much, but adding a little to your drink brings out the flavor.
You can also add liquers to the syrup from the beginning of the cooking process so that it has a chance to burn off a little of the alcohol. That can “soften” the flavor of the final syrup. Contrary to popular belief, though, cooking alcohol doesn’t totally wipe out the alcohol in the liquid, so tell people who avoid alcohol for personal or religious reasons that it’s an ingredient so that they can decide whether to have any of whatever it is you’re making.
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What to use simple syrup for.
I mentioned a few, but these are the most common uses for simple syrups, both flavored and unflavored:
- Adding moisture to cake layers
- Flavoring sorbets
- Thinning poured fondant to the right consistency
- Flavoring coffee and tea
- Flavoring cocktails
- Flavoring cold drinks like lemonade and soda
Simple syrup is a staple in professional kitchens, especially pastry kitchens. It’s a good thing to have on hand if you’re a baker, but it’s also fun to add some flavor to drinks. I make my infused chai syrup about three times a week because I go through so much tea every day! Make some to try it out, and remember that you can adjust the ratios of ingredients if you want it to be more or less of whatever ingredient you used.
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