Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

Hello, I’ve seen various sponge recipes that use vegetable oil in place of butter. I really don’t like the taste of oil and and I wondered if anyone has ever replaced the oil with butter in the recipe and if so how did you calculate it. I have my tried and tested recipes but I’d also like to try some others that have oil in the recip. Hope that makes sense. Thank you. ?

Thank you MIWL, I did wonder about trying melted butter but hadn’t realised how it might affect the texture of the cake. I’ll try both methods and see how they work out. Thank you.

Hi Jude3011

Oil and butter both weigh the same by weight and volume so a straight swap is feasible. However the mixing methods are completely different. In an oil recipe there is not/very little aeration required and the rise is achieved by using rising agents. All butter recipe require the creaming method where the fat and sugar are creamed to form an aerated emulsion. If you want to use the recipe as it is but just want to make the subsititue, I would suggest using cool melted butter. The dry ingredients will need to be well incorporated. If they are not, you’ll find pockets of dry flour and large holes in the finished crumb. Another difference would be the taste and texture of the finished product. If you want to use solid butter, the mixing method would have to conform with creaming. Try it by making a couple of small cake. Hope this helps.

You’re welcome Jude3011. It would great to get some feedback once you’ve tried out the two methods. 🙂