Options
Can oils always be a good substitute for butter/ margarine in cake making?
Utopian Girl
Posts: 8,275 Forum Member
✭
Re above: I ask this simply because when I'm in our house in Turkey I make different types of cakes for the relatives - carrot cake, no problem - they love it, courgette cake etc the same.
However, I find their butter & Margarine white and has a texture of plasticine - really! It's horrendous. Even when I try blending it for a sponge using an electric mixer it always looks curdled - I don't eat cake but I like to take a cake when visiting - a change from the above mentioned cakes would be good.:D
I understand butter absorbing/ fluffing up when beaten with sugar etc - do you folks have any other tips? My last thought was to try a boiled cake which I have made many times here - but I need to know about oil v butter/marg.
Thanks in advance for any answers.:)
However, I find their butter & Margarine white and has a texture of plasticine - really! It's horrendous. Even when I try blending it for a sponge using an electric mixer it always looks curdled - I don't eat cake but I like to take a cake when visiting - a change from the above mentioned cakes would be good.:D
I understand butter absorbing/ fluffing up when beaten with sugar etc - do you folks have any other tips? My last thought was to try a boiled cake which I have made many times here - but I need to know about oil v butter/marg.
Thanks in advance for any answers.:)
0
Comments
Devil's Food Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
1/3 cup sunflower or vegetable oil
1 cup hot coffee
1 cup milk
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325°F/170C
2. In a large mixing bowl, sift together dry ingredients. Add oil, coffee and milk and mix at medium speed for 2 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla and beat 2 more minutes. Expect batter to be thin.
3. Pour into a 9" x 13" greased and floured pan or 2- 9" round pans. Bake 9 x 13 pan for about 45 minutes or 9" pans for about 30 minutes. Cupcakes for about 20-25 minutes.
4. Cool in pans for about 15 minutes and then cool completely on racks.
I also have a recipes for Carrot Cake and a Coffee Cake using oil as well if you would like them. The coffee cake doesn't actually have coffee in it, it was named that because it's great with a cup of coffee or tea if you prefer.
Brilliant - thanks - sorry I couldn't reply earlier as our internet is playing up (sky😡) they still charge tho'!
Anyhow, I'm going to copy & paste that into my favs. Thanks summer wine. I really need this whilst in Turkey as oil based cakes only seem to give me the results - I still despair at their butter/Margarine!😱
The coffee cake recipe wold be great - thanks. sounds great with walnuts?
It would be useful to have a conversion guide, eg how much butter is equivalent to 1/3 cup oil etc.
Don't you just find that utterly infuriating! An American term. They call any cake a "coffee cake". It makes it so hard to find recipes for actual proper coffee cake.
Crumb Coffee Cake
Ingredients
For the topping:
1/3 cup light brown sugar
3 Tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 Tablespoons soft butter
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)
For the cake:
2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoons salt
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup sugar
2 beaten eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sunflower or vegetable oil
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 400˚F.
2. Prepare topping. Combine brown sugar, flour and cinnamon in a small mixing bowl.
3. Blend butter into the brown sugar mixture thoroughly and add nuts if using.
4. Set aside to while making cake mixture.
5. Prepare cake mixture. Sift dry ingredients into a mixing bowl.
6. Mix eggs, milk and oil with dry ingredients until barely blended
7. Pour into a square cake pan.
8. Sprinkle topping over batter.
9. Bake at 400˚F for 25-30 minutes.
I've never actually had what you call a 'proper coffee cake'. I would love to try it. Do you have a recipe?
I am American and my recipe for coffee cake was handed down for 2 generations and is the only one I have made many times. I always thought it was weird that it was called coffee cake when there is no coffee. However, as explained by my mom, it was named that because it went good with coffee. Go figure...I'm sure there are a lot of strangely named recipes out there.
What is strange is that my Devil's Food Chocolate Cake DOES have coffee in it!
Here's a link which discusses variations on the classic coffee-and-walnut cake, to come up with the "perfect" recipe. It's well worth reading the whole article, but I'll copy the final recipe here in case it disappears.
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2014/apr/16/how-to-make-perfect-coffee-and-walnut-cake
2tbsp instant coffee
100g walnut halves
225g butter, at room temperature
225g soft, light-brown sugar
4 eggs, beaten together
225g plain flour
3tsp baking powder
1/4tsp salt
Milk, optional
For the icing:
2tbsp instant coffee
165g butter, at room temperature
425g icing sugar
1/4tsp salt
4tbsp double cream
Mix the coffee with 1tbsp boiling water, and then leave to cool. Meanwhile, toast the walnut halves in a dry pan until they smell toasted and nutty, then set a quarter of them aside and roughly chop the remainder.
Heat the oven to 180C (160C fan) and grease and line the bases of 2 x 20cm sandwich tins.
Beat the butter and sugar together until really light and fluffy.
With the mixer still running, pour in the egg mix very gradually, scraping down the sides of the mixer as necessary. Once incorporated, sift in the flour, baking powder and salt, and gently fold in with a large metal spoon, adding the coffee and chopped walnuts as you go.
The batter should fall, reluctantly, from a spoon; if not, add a little milk to loosen it. Divide between the 2 tins, and bake for about 25 minutes until well risen. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the tins, then put on a wire rack to cool completely. Meanwhile, mix the 2tbsp coffee for the icing with 1tbsp boiling water and allow to cool.
Once the cakes have cooled, make the icing. Beat the butter until soft, then sift in the sugar and salt and add the cooled coffee and cream. Stir together until evenly combined. Top one cake with a little less than half the icing, spreading it more thickly in a ring around the edge, and then place the other cake on top. Spoon the remaining icing on the top, and arrange the walnuts in a pleasing pattern.
If there's one cake that can tempt me! I like a custard tart too but talking cakes here - I'm copy & pasting all the recipes!:)
Thank you all for replying btw.:)
http://thecakeblog.com/2014/03/coffee-walnut-cake-recipe.html
I didn't notice tbh as I copy & pasted it - I'll have a look at the link - but I'd try the cake regardless - love coffee flavour stuff!
To answer your question - Absolutely!
Thanks for the link, it's a very good and informative article and I quite like the conclusions she came up with. Thank you for the recipe. I've copied and pasted it and can't wait to give it a go when my mother-in-law comes around. This cake sounds like something she would love.
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/series/how-to-cook-the-perfect
It's always a good place to start, as you usually have links to several recipes and somebody else doing the experimenting