Magazine vs. butter

[Morebounceperounce]

I've just started a baking course and the lady who runs it uses Stork for all her cakes and buttercream. I've always.used butter for the flavour and as i'm a bit wary of 'fake' fats but the stork cakes are so much lighter! And the flavoured buttercream has a lighter texture and tastes fine.

Have i been missing out and do i need to get over my fake fats phobia?

Thanks, I guess it's one of things that you develop a feel for :)

Ooh a thread on Stork... I was brought up on recipes in a wonderful book called The Art of Home Cooking, from the Stork Cookery Service. Mum's copy is so battered and disintegrating you wouldn't believe it, but it's the book that our failsafe rich fruit cake comes from (used for my wedding cake), bread and (stork) butter pudding, half the buttercreams and cakes she made... and much more. Anyway one day a few years ago now I was in a charity shop and there was an almost perfect condition copy. 50p. Mine.

Most recipes are interchangeable with butter anyway (I use unsalted for a lot of things) but only the other day I reverted to Stork for a cake as I didn't have enough butter for both the cake and the buttercream and was surprised. I'd forgotten how well the sponges turn out.

It's always been a bone of contention between me and mum that her sponges really rise well and mine go like pancakes, whereas her fruitcakes sink in the middle (I used to call them deep sea diving cakes when I was a teen!) and mine don't. Thanks for telling me why!

Reminds me. Ought to make a semi-rich F.C. before I go and see them next...

so thats what i'm doing wrong? i've always wondered why my buttercream wasnt as nice as sone others i've tasted, so butter is the way forward?and it definitely makes lush buttercream then? another thing i find is, the amounts for standard buttercream is, 4ozs butter to 8 of icing sugar, but i use loads mor sugar as its soft to pipe, what am i doing wrong?

I think "Lush buttercream" is a bit strong!!! I struggle with buttercream, its so sickly and sometimes it can be gritty. On occassion I add double cream to take the tasty away - This works really well.

For buttercream it should be 1:2 for standard and 1:3 for icing, under sugarpaste and piping. I usually chocolate granche instead when making big celebration cakes I find the setting better and smoother.

Buttercream made with margarine is just plain wrong. To get it just right, and not gritty, make sure you sieve it into the bowl, and use far less butter than you think you should. I add a touch of boiling water to make it easier to mix together (old school baker here, no electric whisk allowed). For baking cakes, I use Vitalite, as did my mum,as butter is just too expensive.

I totally agree it is wrong, but i'm a big and i get things wrong, thats why its good to have talks like this, but last night i got it right and i must say its lovely so fluffy abit like meringue and very pale as i beat the hell out of it, thanks for advice though.

"Margarine for cake baking, butter for icing - apparently that's what Mary Berry does as well!"

And so do I. My sponge cakes are always light, but moist. I think it helps that I have a gas oven and not an electric fan oven. A group of us did a mass cupcake icing session for a church fair recently and everyone else's cupcakes had very crispy tops. I put this down to them being baked in a fan oven which can dry things out a bit.

"Not sure about buttercream though. Would prob choose a 'fake' butter over Stork as find flavour of latter a bit greasy, but again the consistency is better than butter."

Sorry, I disagree. IMO buttercream should only be made with butter. I once nearly spat out a piece of cake when I tasted the "buttercream" that had been made with margarine. If the texture is too stiff or heavy, just add a drop of milk to loosen the mixture. I would only use butter for biscuits because it makes a huge difference to the flavour.