Butter Replacement?

[Akos]

Butter is very expensive in my country, but margarine is cheaper. Any suggestions on a substitute for margarine to still get the texture and flavor in baked cakes?

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Butter is very expensive in my country, but margarine is cheaper. Any suggestions on a substitute for margarine to still get the texture and flavor in baked cakes?

Akos, rather than substituting the butter for margarine, consider using an oil based cake like a chiffon cake. To be honest, I rarely make butter based cakes as they tend to be heavy and dense, and any change of ingredients to create a different flavor tends to throw them out of whack. IMO a good chiffon cake recipe is the greatest recipe you can have in your repertoire.

A chiffon uses oil and water, rather than butter and milk. That means you can change out the water with whatever liquid you want. Butter contains a lot of water, so if you try to add things like passion fruit, its near impossible to figure out the total hydration in your batter. But oil is 100% fat, no water, so you have better control over the hydration when experimenting with different ingredients.

Given the cake calls for water, the possible cake flavors are limited only by your imagination. I've used champagne, sparkling wine, non-alcoholic sparkling grape juice, sparkling apple cider, orange juice, grapefruit juice, lemon juice, elderflower cordial, passion fruit juice--you name the liquid, it's probably ended up in one of may cakes.

A few months ago I baked a elderflower lemon cake with lemon curd filling and white chocolate Italian meringue buttercream. I kid you not, people are still talking about how delicious that cake was...but the thing is no one realizes that the cake base is the same base I use in just about every cake I bake. That how versatile a good chiffon cake recipe is--one recipe, a thousand cakes.

Now I will admit converting a chiffon cake into a layer cake can be a bit of a challenge. You have to use a thin heating rod so the cake does not collapse; and the cake needs to cool upside down. And a chiffon cake uses a lot of egg whites. But eggs are cheaper than butter. I use the egg yolks to make the curd and use it as the filling.

Do NOT grease the pan--ever, when baking a chiffon cake as the grease will cause the cake to collapse. Just use baking paper to line the bottom on the cake pan. Make a tiny hole in the center of the baking paper to insert the heating rod. As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, invert it on to a rack that is elevated about 4 inches off the countertop. I place drinking glasses under the rack to elevate it.


These are the heating rods I have. But you can use a flower nail. Its just that most flower nails are made of a tin, so they rust over time.
https://www.amazon.com/Inch-Cake-Ba...ocphy=1014226&hvtargid=pla-379120303117&psc=1

 

[Akos]

Thanks. What if a client asks for a vanilla, chocolate, marble or lemon cakes for their wedding, that needs to be stacked ?

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Thanks. What if a client asks for a vanilla, chocolate, marble or lemon cakes for their wedding, that needs to be stacked ?

@Akos, I sorry, I do not understand the question. Could you clarify please.

 

[Akos]

What if a client prefers chocolate, vanilla, lemon etc instead of chiffon cake how do get the butter flavor if I don't want to use oil?

 

[Norcalbaker59]

What if a client prefers chocolate, vanilla, lemon etc instead of chiffon cake how do get the butter flavor if I don't want to use oil?

Akos,

There is artificial butter flavoring, some are labeled butter extract. These butter flavorings pose both flavor challenges and lung health risks.

Flavor issues: even though some butter extract are labeled “natural “they are made using chemicals. Even though some of these chemicals are found in butter, in isolation they impart a chemical and very artificial flavor to baked goods. And since it’s an artificial flavor created by using concentrated flavor chemicals, they produce a distinct chemical flavor that overwhelms the cake flavor.

For a distinct flavor like chocolate, the artificial flavor changes the flavor characteristics of the chocolate; it can make the chocolate taste artificial.

For delicate cake flavors, such a vanilla, the vanilla extract will not be detectable as artificial butter flavor is more intense than the delicate natural vanilla extract. When using a artificial butter flavoring, the amount of vanilla will need to be doubled to stand up to the artificial butter flavor.


Lung health: One of the flavor chemicals in butter flavoring is diacetyl. It is widely used in margarine and in butter flavoring used in products like microwave popcorn. When diacetyl is heated it converts to a gas. When inhaled diacetyl fumes can lead to irreversible lung damage.

In 2002, workers in microwave popcorn plants began to develop serious a lung disease, bronchiolitis obliterans, frequently referred to as “popcorn lung.”

The Center forbDisease Control launched investigations to determine the cause. While they’re not sure if diacetyl alone caused the bronchiolitis obliterans found in workers, they found exposure to diacetyl in combination with other chemicals to be a major contributing factor.

They also found diacetyl exposure as a single argent to cause damage to the airways in lab animals.

If you decide to use these butter flavoring you just need to be aware that when you cook it it, the chemicals in the butter flavoring will convert to fumes and you and your family will be inhaling them.


https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/flavorings/exposure.html

 

[Akos]

Thanks so, so very, very much. Your advice is very much appreciated.