What do you guys use for your cakes? I've been using veg oil but is canola better for cake? Can you tell the difference in taste, texture, etc? Thanks in advance.

I use Canola....I'm not sure why, but I find it makes he cake moister and plus it's better for you

What about olive oil?? does it make a difference the kind of oil you use??

I wouldn't use canola in any food for human consumption. In truth it is quite toxic for the human body, get informed people, any other thing is better than canola. The only reason for being on the market is it's shamefully cheap, but hey, do corporations care for our health? You should care though.

I find pure arachid oil to be the best alternative when it comes to cooking (holds well high temps) beating the olive oil only in a matter of price, otherwise, olive is best above all, but you have to know it is some good product and extra virgin.

Consider also that arachid has a neutral taste, goes on everything unnoticed, while real olive oil might emerge among other flavours, it has more character, which might not be desirable in some circumstances.
You have to try in the end, but I bet on these two.

I've never heard of arachid oil...Lalla where do you find it?
I do know that olive oil is the best and I only use that, but yupe it's very expensive!

I use canola oil, its more "flavorless" than veg oil...if that makes any sense. Olive oil has a strong flavor and I wouldnt recommend using it unless you are making a olive oil cake, which is delicious. As for canola oil being unhealthy, I'm not a scientist, but i did a little online research...check this out http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/2325.html
believe what you want...Im going to continue to use canola, which is something I seldom use...only when i make red velvet cake.

Olive oil has too strong a smell and taste, it overpowers the cake flavors.

I too use canola oil.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with canola oil.

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/canola.asp

I would never use olive oil in a cake, particularly if people weren't expecting it. I have a great recipe for olive oil cookies. If I bring them to an event and don't say anything about them, everyone will dislike them and assume I used olive oil by mistake or because I was out of regular oil and didn't realize using olive oil would be a mistake. If I told people ahead that they were olive oil cookies, half the people would appreciate them, the rest would still hate them. Olive oil has a very strong, specific, identifiable taste and smell that take over in baked goods.

And, as far as I can tell, arachid is Greek for peanut. I do use peanut oil for frying because it has a higher smoking point so I can fry at higher temps without burning. But I don't use it in baking because it smells and tastes of peanut.

I prefer the neutral canola oil, so the flavors and smells of my cake come from the flavors and ingredients I use to give it flavor.

Thanks for the info on Canola Oil... now what about Vegetable Oil??

Vegetable oil is fine. It's what we all used before canola oil became popular. I switched to canola because it's better for you. I hardly ever make cakes that call for oil anyway, so I just use the canola I have on hand. But if I had vegetable oil on hand I wouldn't hesitate to use it.

I've only used olive oil twice, I was out of veg oil so used that my cake tasted like play dough. I thought the cake mix was old so didn't think about olive oil until the next cake that I knew the mix was new and definitely not out of date, the only difference was olive oil and both cakes tasted like you would expect play dough to taste.

oh yes, arachid means peanut, we usually call it that way (Italy)

Well, as for the positive outlook on canola, I guess it all depends on the point of view, in that I too based my opinion on informed perspective also written by a scientific pov, so it all comes down to personal discretion in the end.
What I know is that here in Europe there are food laws that prevent the use of more than 5% canola oil fat acids on the total of vegetable oil and shortenings, which doesn't look reassuring to me. I say Europe but I'm only 100% sure just about Italy, only that in Europe there are certain unified laws about food and I guess this goes in there too. Just to say that with many options, why pick an ambiguous one?

Maybe it's widely used in the States, here you don't even find it on the shelves, you really have to look hard to find it, at least I saw it very few times. Anyways, every country has got its uses but I hope somehow canola derivates are better controlled these days.

Italy has a strict policy on their food, which is a good thing. the food there is awesome. I worked a bakery/cafe for 3 mos and the quality of food was amazing. The US should practice some of their policies...we wouldn't have ecoli outbreaks and mad cow disease.

I have to correct myself in that I thought canola was another way of saying rapeseed (to which the 5% law applies). I just checked. Here we don't even have canola, never seen it, yet I still don't like the fact that it's very refined, generates trans acids especially when frying.
And that GRAS issue, as there is no proof of it, neither there is a proof to its contrary, while I can see it as a very likely event, given the huge economic factors involved.
Anyways, not in the right country here to go preaching about foreign governative illecit activities

I was doing a search on the difference between the two oils and came across that when used for cooking both works the same way and even add quite a similar taste to the cake or whatever it is that they are being used for. You can read here to clear your concepts about the major difference between the two: Difference between Canola oil and Olive Oil

Both the oils actually work almost the same way and even add the same taste to the foods items that they are being used for. Know the complete difference between the two here