BAKING FOR BUSINESS IN KENYA – Types of Sugars used for Commercial Baking

Posted byAmariPosted inBaking For Business In KenyaTags:, , ,

This is the second post of the Baking For Business in Kenya series.

 If you want to start a small bakery in Kenya or you have already started one and need tips while running it, this post will help you.

This post will focus on the different types of sugars used for commercial baking that are available in Kenya.

1. Regular Sugar

Mumias Sugar (kenyaweeklypost.com)
Sugar is a necessary ingredient for any baked goods. You can use regular sugar for most cake, cupcake & pastry recipes. If you are starting a small bakery this is a necessary ingredient to have in your stock room. Sugar is available in 2 Kg packet bales, but they are not as economical as a 50 Kg bag of sugar. If you can afford it, it’s better to purchase the bag of sugar, it will save you on cost. Bags of sugar usually come in 50 Kgs and range from Kshs. 3500 to 5000 depending on the current economy, location and brand. The bales and bags of sugar are sold by local wholesalers, just talk to different wholesale shops in your location to get price quotations. If you have cakes, cupcakes and yeast products in your menu, then ensure to buy sugar.
Buy sugar in bags

2. Caster Sugar

Caster Sugar
Caster sugar is a fine granulated sugar that is used while making sponge cakes. It is imperative to have it in your stock if your small bakery menu will consist of Black Forrest Cake, White Forrest cake, Swiss Rolls/Sponge roulades or any other sponge cake recipes. It is usually found in 500 gm packets that range from Kshs. 100 to 120 depending on location and brand. You can purchase caster sugar in supermarkets or cake ingredient shops such as Walibhai Karim Ltd in Nairobi.

3. Icing/Confectioners Sugar

Icing Sugar (Courtesy: patcoindustriesltd.com)
Icing sugar is also a must for any small bakery since it is used for decorative purposes in bakeries. You can dust your baked products directly with icing sugar. You can also make frosting and glazes to decorate your cakes, cupcakes and assorted pastries in your menu. It is also available in supermarkets or cake ingredients shops. Price ranges from Kshs. 96 to 120 depending on location and brand.

4. Saccharin

Sodium Saccharin (Courtesy:indiamart.com)
Sodium saccharin is a sugar substitute used for commercial purposes only. It is a chemical that is 300 times sweeter than table sugar and is used to sweeten commercial products such as soft drinks, biscuits, breads, among other things. Some bakeries choose to use saccharin as an ingredient in their baked products for sweetening purposes. It does not have the exact same taste as sugar but it is close enough; however, too much saccharin in your recipe and it leaves a metallic, slightly bitter aftertaste. Saccharin is used by some commercial bakeries to bake scones, biscuits or breads. It is very economical if your focus is not on quality but on quantity. It is sold by industrial ingredients suppliers such as Pradip found on Keekorok road in the Nairobi CBD. It is sold in some supermarkets as well in 20gm to 50gm packets for about kshs. 20 to 50. The industrial ingredients suppliers sell it in 500gms packets and above.
Those are the most used sugars while baking for business in Kenya. Choose the appropriate ingredients for your small bakery in Kenya to stock. If you have any comments to add or questions, please feel free to do so below.
If you would like to start a small bakery and would like to learn how to bake commercially and set up your bakery, sign up for one of our Baking for Business Class packages.
Visit our Baking Classes Page for more information.
You can also e-mail at: amaribreads@gmail.com

Published by Amari

Baking with Amari offers learning experiences in form of short baking and cake decorating classes. We have a baking workshop at Discounts Arcade, Shop no. 51 on Ngong road (Adams Arcade area next to The Green House), in Nairobi that offers baking & cake decoration learning experiences for those who want to learn what bakers and cake decorators do in a practical/hands on Bakery kitchen. We have both online and practical/physical classes. We also offer baking business start-up training and group mentorship as well via our Baking for Profit Program. We also sell locally tested baking recipe books (soft copy & printed books).

16 thoughts on “BAKING FOR BUSINESS IN KENYA – Types of Sugars used for Commercial Baking”

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  9. Thank you for your help…
    I just wanted to ask, incase someone wants to open a small bakery.. What are the main reguirments.. Is it a must to have machines like chiller, proofer, oven etc

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    1. Each business is different since it depends on the niche you want to get into; please check here on our site for the posts about ‘Baking Equipment’ to see various types of equipment required to start different types of bakeries for different products

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