Christmas cake faux pas

[herbidacious Profile]

I did think that spreadable butter had a lot of water in it. I remember reading/watching something about this a while back... but can't find anything online. I had assumed this was why it's really bad for 'greasing' tins etc. when baking

[Badger's Mate Profile]

Most cakes are made with solid fats. Some recipes, even those that might now be called classic, such as carrot cake, are typically made with vegetable oil (is it more common over the pond?) and olive oil is used in Italian baking. Surely there's no reason why a cake can't be made with a mixture of the two, which as Suelle says, is the case with spreadable butter.

I tend to use butter in baking. I unhesitatingly use spreads or oils if short of butter, or for greasing tins, or if the consumers would prefer for any reason. I once subbed the butter in HF-W's wonderful chocolate chestnut truffle cake with OO, for the benefit of a friend who wasn't eating dairy products. The result was horrible.

The water content varies - any spread called 'lite' or 'lighter' will have a higher water content than the others. Look at the fat content in the nutrition box. Butter is about 80%. If total fat is lower than this it's because water has been added.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I did think that spreadable butter had a lot of water in it. I remember reading/watching something about this a while back... but can't find anything online. I had assumed this was why it's really bad for 'greasing' tins etc. when baking

Ignoring “lite” versions, as Suelle says it can be made by adding cream or buttermilk to the butter, these will be wetter than the unmixed butter ie analysis will show a slightly lower proportion of fat and a slightly higher proportion of water than block butter, but this doesn’t mean any actual water is added in processing

And as Suelle says, if someone like Delia or Mary Berry states spreadable butter that’s how the recipe was tested and it’s safest to stick to the instructions

[herbidacious Profile]

Just for interest I might do a side by side comparison of the two versions of the recipe. If I have time...

[Badger's Mate Profile]

I've noticed that some spreads with the word 'buttery' prominently displayed on the label are also suitable for vegans. Closer inspection shows the 'buttery' to be followed by a less prominent 'taste'.

[smitch Profile]

Flora Buttery has gone back to adding dairy to the recipe so is no longer vegan. There might still be some older stock floating around though.

[scullion Profile]

i now make 'spreadable butter' - 170 g light olive oil, 250g pack of unsalted butter and a little salt (¼-⅓ tsp , the 'pinch' in the 'pig' is roughly three to the teaspoon) - the recipe i roughly followed is here no water or other additives. it works really well.

[herbidacious Profile]

I noticed that Flora now does a brick of stuff.

[Busybee Profile]

My Christmas cakes are in the oven, the kitchen smells devine.

I use Terry’s boiled fruit cake recipe with a few tweaks, I keep the fruit weight the same but start with cherries, macadamia nuts and mixed peel - because we like those ingredients and then make up to the 1lb weight with mixed dried fruit.

It’s an easy cake to make and always gets compliments.

BB

[Suelle Profile Website]

I did think that spreadable butter had a lot of water in it. I remember reading/watching something about this a while back... but can't find anything online. I had assumed this was why it's really bad for 'greasing' tins etc. when baking

It's not a huge difference - my spreadable butter is 80% fat, whereas traditional butter is around 82-84%.

[Badger's Mate Profile]

Flora Pro-Active Buttery is still suitable for vegans

[herbidacious Profile]

All I can say when I made the stupid mistake of greasing a cake tin with anchor spreadable, the result was a bit disastrous.

[Badger's Mate Profile]

Sorry to hear that. I've not experienced that problem and have often used a spread or spreadable butter for greasing tins. It would have been a recommendation, but maybe not now...

[smitch Profile]

I've used Anchor Spreadable to grease tins and in the cake itself. I've also used Stork quite a bit and have a spray now to use in cake tins.

[herbidacious Profile]

I used it to grease a bundt tin when making a cake for work. It stuck and I had to make another.

When I mentioned this on Wildies, someone said that this was to be expected if I used spreadable butter, or words to that effect.

I use spray too now when I used bundt tins. Sometimes brush on melted butter as well!

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I think the problem was probably more new Bundt tin than Anchor spreadable

[Busybee Profile]

I posted a picture of my Christmas cakes on Facebook- ( I can never get pictures to post here), I now have another two cakes to bake!

I’ve run out of cherries, macadamia nuts and flour so it will have to wait until after my next Tesco order next week.

It will keep me out of mischief.

BB

[herbidacious Profile]

It wasn't new, Sue.

[jeral Profile]

I've always thought that bog standard marg is best for greasing, so I keep some in the freezer solely for that purpose. (Not light, spreadable, enhanced this, reduced that etc.)

[KeenCook2 Profile]

My mother used to keep all the old marge papers to grease tins with. I still do it!