Substituting oil for butter in cake recipe

[TheNunsOfGavarone]

Has anyone any tips on how to do this successfully?

I have a couple of friends who are dairy intolerant - well, intolerant of dairy products that come from cows. One of them mentioned that goat butter is rather too strong tasting to substitute for cow butter and suggested oil. However, I gather a direct substitution doesn't necessarily work because of the differences in the chemical make up of butter and oils.

One of the cakes I would like to make is a cow-dairy-free version of is Marian Keyes' fabulous coconut milk cake. The original ingredients list is:

170g butter
300g caster sugar
4 eggs
1tbs vanilla extract
250g self-raising flour
pinch of salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
50g dried shredded coconut
200ml coconut milk.

It would seem sensible to use coconut oil as the butter substitute, but how much? And is it really a sensible idea or does it just sound like one because of the coconut? Would I need to add anything else to compensate for the lack of butter?

I'd be very grateful for some help here. And if it's an awful idea that's never going to work then I'd be grateful (if disappointed!) to know that too.

Thanks

there's plenty of recipes out there that do use oil so I'd have a look for some of those

Gorgeous Chocolate Cake

Google ciambellone too....I think that's what it is called...Italian Lemon Cake, also and oil recipe.

Thanks Catsmamma, I googled Ciambellone and found something that looks lovely and which I'll definitely be trying soon!

Another search brought up a Spanish almond and orange cake which was dairy free (apart from eggs which aren't a problem for the people in question!). I had something similar at a dinner party a few months ago and it was gorgeous so I decided to try that and it's just come out of the oven. Fingers crossed it'll taste good and that my dairy-allergic friend will like it too.

I was a Catsmamma too until three weeks ago Lost both my darling seniors this summer.

The BBC Good Food "yummy carrot cake" uses oil and is ridiculously tasty and totally foolproof.

Thanks VinegarDrinker I'll check that one out too!

Meanwhile here's the almond/orange cake - I haven't tried it yet but it has lots of good reviews:

allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/2758/spanish-orange-and-almond-cake.aspx?o_is=Hub_TopRecipe_3

I've had success with Pure brand sunflower spread, sometimes chuck in a mashed banana to give it some oomph but would think it would be bulky enough with coconut already.
Maybe worth a try with pure or oil (I find oil, which I use alot in dairy free baking, does "leak" out of the cake a bit.

What's the method btw?

Stork (250g) is dairy free, but the 500g one contains buttermilk. I always use Stork as DD is dairy intolerant.

Vitalite is also dairy free !

dairy free Stork is a much better sub for butter than any oil.

ps, eggs are not dairy!

I have dairy free dc
we use vitalite or supermarket own df marg for all our baking. wouldn't say oil was likely to work imho. Very kind to you to be doing it tho

100g of butter is 80g fat and 20g water.

agree with others about stork...i have a dairy intolerance and used stork in bakingvfor over 30yrs..never had a problem x

I am a Stork in the gold wrapper fan. No one realises our baking is dairyfree as well as delicious.

I bake a lot (hence my name ) and find that block Stork in a wrapper, not the stuff in a tub, is a brilliant dairy free substitute for butter.

You can't do a straight oil for butter swap in a bog standard sponge cake. The results would be disgusting. If you want to use oil it is best to find a recipe that uses oil anyway, like carrot cake for example.