Can you use margarine instead of butter in cakes

Some noted its "fluffy texture", "great consistency" and "golden hue", but it was criticised for not being as creamy as the butter sponge, and tasting a tiny bit dry. It also had the softest top and remained fresher for longer compared to the other two cakes.

We were glad to see the most natural fat win the cake in the centre , but only by a whisker. Butter also produced the darkest sponge, with a sweet crust on top. The only negative, from one taste tester, was that the sponge was a bit heavy. Despite not winning, both margarine and dairy-free spread make for a pretty decent sponge. And while Stork is an excellent and far cheaper alternative, nothing can really top butter.

Malted chocolate cake is another crowd-pleaser and mini coffee, cardamom and walnut cakes bring a touch of elegance. If you want to keep the kids happy, they'll love vanilla cupcakes with two-toned icing or try adding your sponge another flavour dimension, like in this spiced latte cake recipe. These days, companies have developed many different types of margarine for various dietary needs — low-sodium, low-fat, dairy-free, olive oil, vegan — just to name a few.

Virtually all tub margarines are trans-fat free, but check the label for verification. Tub margarine can easily be substituted for butter at the table for spreading, and some people use it on the stovetop for cooking, though we typically favour using oil over margarine in cases like this. In baking, melted margarine could work in recipes that call for melted butter, but in recipes that call for softened butter, swapping in tub margarine may change the texture; for example, cakes will be less tender, and cookies will generally spread out more and be less crisp.

Stick margarine, also known as block or hard margarine, has the same texture as butter, and is therefore a better substitute for baking and cooking than tub margarine.

However, stick margarines are generally high in trans fats, which have been shown to be bad for our heart. Introduced as a purportedly health-conscious alternative to butter, vegetable oil-based margarine saw a decline in popularly as the culinary world entered the 21st century, while butter made a hearty comeback.

The rise in at-home baking plays no small role in this shift; while you can use margarine in cake, the butter substitute typically causes somewhat undesirable effects when it is used to replace the real thing.

Butter derives from milk fat; when churned, milk takes on a rich and concentrated flavor. In the kitchen, butter passes this dense flavor on to your cake, giving it a creamier taste.

In contrast the plant oils that make up margarine feature a neutral flavor. While using margarine isn't completely detrimental to your cake's quality, butter tends to give cake a more complex and better rounded taste than margarine. However, margarine's neutral flavor exerts a less noticeable effect when it's used in richly flavored cakes, such as chocolate varieties.

The creaminess of butter translates into textural consistency for cake, while the plant oils of margarine lend it greater shortening power that leads to a crumbly, less elastic texture.