Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Sorghum Vs. Molasses

Molasses Cake, an old Southern favorite, is typically served unfrosted with butter or cream cheese. It's a simple cake, flavored with good ol' fashioned blackstrap molasses. But I like sorghum better than molasses, so for my cookbook, I modified the traditional molasses cake to become Sweet Sorghum Syrup Cake:


Sorghum comes from the sorghum cane, and it's rich in iron, calcium, and potassium. It's lighter in color than molasses, and it's a bit milder in taste as well. Molasses is a by-product of the sugar-making process, but it's also rich in iron, calcium, and potassium.

The two can be used interchangeably in recipes depending on how strong you like your flavor. For some reason though, sorghum just seems more Southern ... about as Southern as mint juleps and iced sweet tea. So it seemed a better fit for my cookbook. The stuff I'm using came from Marvell, Arkansas.

I've been topping my Sorghum Cake with Soy Whip and fresh strawberries for breakfast each morning. I figure it's better to eat cake for breakfast than to eat it as a snack later in the day. At least, I'm taking in the big calories in first thing in morning, while I still have time to work them off, right?

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am convinced that cake for breakfast is pretty much the answer to all that is wrong with the world.

Marisa L. S. said...

Wow, that looks delicious!

Anonymous said...

Wow, didn't even know Sorghum existed. I learn something new about Southern eating everyday here!

Anonymous said...

I knew sorghum could thicken things up, but really, that's it. Now that I've seen what a sorghum cake looks like, well, I think I'm a fan!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

I've never used sorghum before - good to know that it IS a suitable substitution for molasses!

J said...

Any acceptable excuse to eat cake for breakfast works for me.

I've never had sorghum, but am interested, I find molasses to be a bit too strong for me most of the time.

This cake looks really good - and I saw they carry Soyatoo at the store!

Anonymous said...

Being able to eat cake for breakfast is the best part of being an adult. And that cake looks super tasty!

Alicia said...

I have no idea what sorghum is, but I would eat that piece of cake without thinking 1 second about it! and better if it's for breakfast! :-)

jessy said...

ohhhhhhhhhh! i bet i would like sorghum better than molasses. molasses is too damn strong for my liking! this looks freak'n awesome! i wish cake traveled well in the mail! :)

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Hehe you had me fooled, Miss "Mel".

There is NOTHING better for breakfast than cake!!!! And cake with soy whip? Even better!

Anonymous said...

I've never heard of Sorghum before-very interesting. The cake looks really moist mmm...

The Vegan Snorkeler said...

Sorghum, huh? Sounds intriguing. Your cake looks absolutely amazing! I like your cake for breakfast philosophy. I could buy into that.

Avery Yale Kamila said...

Thanks for all the great info about sorghum. It sounds delicious! And that cake looks absolutely amazing!

The Voracious Vegan said...

What a coincidence! I'm working on molasses and fig muffins and this very moment! I loooove molasses, this cake looks so scrumptious. And you are totally right about cake in the morning. It is the breakfast of champions, after all!

Me said...

Never heard of sorghum, but now I want to try it. And I want to have cake for breakfast. Brilliant idea.

Sheridan said...

Ooooooh....yummmmm....Now, I'm getting hungry. I may have to take a long lunch break soon...

because yeah, there is nothing going on here.

Veggie said...

Thanks, I've been wondering what Sorghum is.

Anonymous said...

Search engine Optimization
very useful, thanx a lot for tihs article .... This was exactfly what I was looking for.