I'm whippinh up a couple batches of cupcakes and in the recuoe it says vegetable oil instead of butter. I was hoping for butter as I have a few blocks in the fridge that I want to get rid of. Can I just melt it and use that instead?

i would just look for a recipe that uses butter instead. all the hummingbird cupcake recipes i make use butter

I use melted butter in place of oil all the time. It doesn't make much difference, but when I use oil I find the texture of the cake a bit gummy or oily. With butter I find the cake not so heavy but lighter and fluffier.

Oil will give you a *denser* texture to your cake...compared to Butter.
As we get with a Mud Cake....the up side of this (besides a denser texture) is that your cake will remain moist a bit longer than if baked with butter.


Bluehue

Thanks for the tips oil it is

For home baking (not for sales) I will switch oil for butter and vice versa if I don't have the correct ingredient for the recipe I'm making. I roughly calculate 1 cup butter (1/2 pound) = 1 cup oil. I do notice a slight difference in the final product, but the substitution works just fine. And my husband is like Mikey - he'll eat anything.