Butter in biscuits and cake is much nicer than margarine or oils?

[amandacarnet]

Just bought biscuits I have bought for years. Had one and it did not taste great. They have changed the butter to oil and it really affects the taste. Why can't they just use butter, much much nicer.

It’s much nicer! Which biscuits?

The exception is sponge cake. I follow Mary Berry's advice and use marge whenever I make a Vic sponge, it's much lighter in texture than with butter.

I am not in Britain, it is a kind of cookie.

Absolutely!
The only thing is, I think you do need to use the soft margerrine-type stuff in all-in-one cake recipes.
If you use butter you do need to cream it with the sugar and then add the egg slowly to incorporate enough air.
And it's buttercream, not margerinecream, FFS.

Oil in cakes, biscuits etc taste grim. Butter all the way. I had a vegan cake a couple of weeks ago, it was so oily and disgusting and gave me horrible heartburn.

Vegan here. Butter definitely tastes better than most margarines/oils, I can't deny it. However I've not eaten it for quite some time now and am subsisting happily on chocolate bourbons, digestives, ginger nuts, fruit shortcake etc. So it's not too bad really

Also, re vegan cake: some recipes are terrible, but others are jolly nice! It's a shame Wiltshirelass had one of the former type.

On the whole I totally agree with you however there are a couple of exceptions.

The soft margarine all in one sponge recipes are brilliant and I defy anyone to tell the difference, but I find they don't keep for as long. They are great for taking to a 'do' where they all get eaten straightaway.

The other very surprising thing is crumble topping made with block margarine, it is lovely and I much prefer it to crumble made with butter.

The Hairy Bikers carrot cake (as recommended on MN!) made with oil is also gorgeous.

ContessaLovesTheSunshine former vegan here, I’ve eaten so many vegan cakes and tried to kid myself for years they taste nice. They really don’t 😂

There is an Italian oil cake that tasty, obviously has eggs in though...

Olive oil that is ☝️

Wiltshire what can I say, my experience has been different! I always make a vegan cake for DC birthdays ('cos I want some) and have one that I'm sure is well regarded; a few years back my omni friends, knowing the cake was vegan, demanded that I go back to the car and bring it in again as they wanted more. I took this as a sign they liked it I did ask if they were joking and they assured me they were not!!

The recipe seems to have vanished online but it's from here: Vegan Desserts: Over 100 Delectable Dairy- and Egg-free Recipes [[https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/190811729X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_CT8ADb10BYXA?tag=mumsnetforu03-21A]]

Oh FGS. Just google Lisa Fabry, she'll see you right...

Carrot cake is almost always made with oil. Nothing wrong with that!

There was a Rutherford and Fry podcast (BBC) about baking a while back. I was surprised to learn that marge is better for cakes than butter. Problem was I remembered that, and forgot the reason.

I have always made cakes with butter. Yes you do need to cream it properly. But they taste much nicer

Don’t want to derail but Nigellas chocolate cake is one of those ones where you think it’s utterly wonderful and when told ‘it’s vegan’ people are very surprised. It has coconut oil in and is so velvety and amazing. And stores so well.

But yy. to cooking spread in sponges if eaten quickly (otherwise they go claggy) but only ever butter in buttercream, biscuits, shortbread and pastry.

When making a Bakewell I use butter in the pastry but baking spread in the frangipani. Yum!