SUBSTITUTE BUTTER FOR OIL

tasarla, Jul 16, 12:00am
If a recipe states 4ozs butter, can you substitute that for oil!If so, how much would it be!I had a failure with a "foolproof pavlova" recipe yesterday (even though I did exactly as it stated) so I'm not feeling very confident today!I ended up throwing the first pavlova mixture out and doing the old reliable Edmonds one instead.
245sam, Jul 16, 12:14am
tasarla, what are you wanting to make with the substitution!I have not personally done any such substitution however just in case I should ever want/need to, I kept the following.

"make all my muffins with oil instead of butter now.My rule is for every 50g butter use 40ml oil. I use rice bran or canola oil now as it is apparently healthier but I guess you could use olive.
fantalantique (408 )1:46 pm, 26 Jul"

Hope that helps.:-))
davidt4, Jul 16, 1:03am
Can you clarify your question a little!Do you mean that you want to substitute the butter WITH oil i.e. use oil instead of butter!

I have never heard of a pavlova recipe that involves any kind of fat, whether butter or oil.Perhaps if you copy the recipe in here someone will be able to advise.Or is the question about fat not related to your pavlova problem!
kinna54, Jul 16, 1:20am
tarsala what are you wanting to bake. the only thing I tend to substitute *butter for oil in* is usually muffins or carrot cake, or a recipe where butter and sugaris not creamed together.
Any particular reason you are wanting to use oil!
Margarine can be successfully substituted for butter, (in exactly the same quantities) and I have even used low cholestrol margarine at times.
The only recipes I absolutely won't substitute butter for marg with are shortbread and pastry. Hope that helps.
nauru, Jul 16, 1:21am
I read the post as OP is not feeling very confident making changes to a recipe ie: butter for oil after yesterdays failure using a failproof recipe when she followed the recipe.
I don't think the fat question was related to the pavlova problem, might be wrong though.
245sam, Jul 16, 1:38am
Agreed - that's the way I read the question too - I didn't for a moment think that the substitution question was for making a pavlova.:-))
tasarla, Jul 16, 2:21am
Sorry . should have made it more clear - the disaster with the "foolproof pavlova" recipe had nothing to do with the substitution of oil for butter.I just meant that I'm not feeling very confident today about baking anything - that's all.

I like the moist texture of the chocolate cake recipe I have, and also the carrot cake recipe - both of which use oil.I promised to make a ginger cake for someone and wondered if the 4ozs of butter in the recipe I have could be substituted with oil to make sure it has a moist texture.Also, mixing time is less when using oil instead of creaming butter and sugar.
tasarla, Jul 16, 2:21am
Sorry . should have made it more clear - the disaster with the "foolproof pavlova" recipe had nothing to do with the substitution of oil for butter.I just meant that I'm not feeling very confident today about baking anything - that's all.The Edmonds pavlova was a huge success - my grandson kept a close watch on the last piece and offered to take the plates out to the bench . and the last piece disappeared.

I like the moist texture of the chocolate cake recipe I have, and also the carrot cake recipe - both of which use oil.I promised to make a ginger cake for someone and wondered if the 4ozs of butter in the recipe I have could be substituted with oil to make sure it has a moist texture.Also, mixing time is less when using oil instead of creaming butter and sugar.
245sam, Jul 16, 4:37am
tasarla, having done a Google search I found a number of recipes of Ginger Cake made with oil, so my suggestion is that you check them out and compare the recipe you have with those you find.Here as a start for you is the link to one such recipe:-

http://fussfreeflavours.com/2009/02/easy-peasy-ginger-cake/

Hope that helps and good luck - I'm sure that all your baking attempts don't/won't have the same result as that one pavlova attempt yesterday.:-))
tasarla, Jul 17, 6:37pm
Thanks for that - I'll try that one.I used to do a lot of baking with a husband and four sons many years ago - but in recent years have "got out of practice" I guess!And that "foolproof pavlova" recipe sure didn't live up to its name the other day!;-)