I know that butter can be used in place of oil in some recipes, but here are a few questions for those of you with some knowledge in this area.

What is the proportion of butter for oil? (I read somewhere 2 sticks of butter = 1 cup oil?? How much is a stick?

What would be the effect of replacing butter with oil?? (I've replaced oil with butter before, but not the other way around.)
Will it make the cake lighter, denser or about the same?

I should mention that I am asking about scratch cakes, not boxed.

Thanks in advance!
Purple Petunia

A stick of butter is a 1/4 cup. Thats about all I can help you with, I'm really not sure about subsituting oil for butter and vice versa! Hopefully someone else can help!

I don't know about sub either, but I thought one stick of butter was 1/2 cup?

It is a 1/2 cup or 4 ounces.And usually it is marked on the stick in table spoons.

Sorry Irisinbloom is right! 1 stick is a 1/2 cup. It is a 1/4 of a pound! Sorry confused myself for a second!

Thanks everyone. I don't see butter being sold in sticks around here. It's usually just in 454g (2cups) blocks. Occasionally, I see the half pound (1 cup). So that's why I'm not sure what a stick is.

Thanks!

Purple Petunia

I usually substitute 1/2 c of butter and a spoonful of sour cream...seems to work well. (in place of 1/3 - 1/2 c oil) I don't really know what ratio to do. I was just out of oil one day and tossed some butter in

I read somewhere that the substition ratio for for butter/oil is 1:1. So basically one cup of oil is one cup of butter. Hang on let me look and See if i Can find it.

*placing you on hold now*

OK here are a few sites.

http://www.landolakes.com/mealideas/Substitutions.cfm

http://www.foodsubs.com/Fatsoils.html

Recommended Reading.
http://www.baking911.com/pantry/fats.htm[/url


Hope this helps.

Princess

I always subsitute equal amounts of butter to oil. You can also substitue applesauce for the butter or oil to cut the fat out.
I would not substitute oil in a frosting recipe though

I didn't know you could substitute with scractch cakes like that... I have read on some recipes, that unless they tell you that you can substitute, that you shouldn't or you are not going to get the same results.

purplepetunia: do you live in canada? most of our butter does come in 1 lb (454g) blocks, rather than sticks, but if you're keen to use sticks, i think the president's choice brand 1 lb butter (available at loblaws, no frills, fortinos) does come in individually wrapped 1/2 cup sticks like in the U.S.

most vegetable oil (i.e., store-brand/generic vegetable oil) is canola oil, which has a health profile similar to olive oil (but is better for cooking and baking).

while you can substitute oil for butter, keep in mind that butter also contains water, as well as milk solids, which oil does not. if you really need to substitute butter for oil, you should make ghee (clarified butter/butter oil) by cooking the butter (you can do this in the microwave) and skimming or straining off the white solids which will separate from the fat. because the water and solids have been removed, clarified butter doesn't burn the way the butter does.

[quote="aunt-judy"]purplepetunia: do you live in canada? most of our butter does come in 1 lb (454g) blocks, rather than sticks, but if you're keen to use sticks, i think the president's choice brand 1 lb butter (available at loblaws, no frills, fortinos) does come in individually wrapped 1/2 cup sticks like in the U.S.[/quote

Thanks aunt-judy, I do use the 1 lb butter, but lots of the American recipes call for 'sticks' of butter, which I wasn't sure of since I don't use them or buy them.

Thanks also, cake_princess for all those links, I'll definitely take a look at them.

Thanks to everyone who responded. I think I'll just stick to the original recipe. I was hoping that maybe by substituting, I'd get a lighter cake, but it's okay, I'll just keep doing it how I usually do.

Thanks again to all!!
Purple Petunia

while you can substitute oil for butter, keep in mind that butter also contains water, as well as milk solids, which oil does not. if you really need to substitute butter for oil, you should make ghee (clarified butter/butter oil) by cooking the butter (you can do this in the microwave) and skimming or straining off the white solids which will separate from the fat. because the water and solids have been removed, clarified butter doesn't burn the way the butter does.[/quote]


Another way to do this is melt the butter and refrigerate until it is hard and all of the milk solids will sink to the bottom.

You can poke a hole through and drain them out.

purplepetunia: i thought of you yesterday while i was in the grocery store. lactancia is also making butter in sticks. of course, i'm very cavalier and if i need half of cup of cold butter i just take a big knife and cut my 1 lb block into quarters by eye.

I prefer the 1lb. block of butter, but thanks for being so thoughtful aunt_judy.

Purple Petunia