Substituting veg oil in a sponge cake?

[OuiMerci]

Help! I'm a novice baker with an enthusiastic toddler who wants to make a cake.

I've run out of butter but I have vegetable oil. I can't make muffins/cupcakes as I've no cases.

Can I make a normal Victoria sponge using oil? I only have the wee sandwich tins, no spring form one.

I also have a hangover so please help me

I have a recipe for a cake that uses vegetable oil. It's easy, and pretty much toddler proof. I'll be back with it in a minute.

Make pancakes instead?

Omg - that would be amazing!

Pancakes are normally the pinnacle of my baking but she specifically asked for a cake this time.

I use:

125g each of SR flour, sugar and oil

2 eggs

Splash of milk or water.

Just mix it together and bake for 15 minutes or so.

Generally I just replace butter with oil weight for weight.

That's for 12 cupcakes by the way!

US recipe. I'll do the conversions afterwards.
2 cups (400g) sugar
1 3/4 (200g) cups plain flour
3/4 cups (90g) cocoa powder
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk (240 ml)
1/2 cup vegetable oil (120 ml)
1 cup boiling water (240 ml)

Pre-heat oven to 350 F
Grease and line two 9" cake pans
Mix all ingredients EXCEPT the boiling water together for 2 minutes.at medium speed.
Add the boiling water and stir in. The batter will look like thin cocoa. This is how it it is supposed to look, it will set during baking.
Pour the batter into the two pans, bake for 30 - 35 minutes

Have you got golden syrup? I haven't ever done this one but I trust Mary Berry...www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/celebration_chocolate_18175

Clicky link
www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/celebration_chocolate_18175

I usually use the US cups measurements. I'd check my conversions into g to ensure I haven't made a horrible mistake.

If you don't have cocoa, just add a bit more flour to replace it.

I think if you used smaller pans, you could just fill them two thirds full and check on them a bit earlier as they will most likely cook faster.

I have done horrible things to that recipe, including realizing after the batter was in the pans that I'd left out the baking powder and having to pour it back in the mixer bowl and re-mix. It still turned out OK.

I have also replaced the milk with orange juice and added zest and replaced some of the cocoa with flour to make an orange cake.

You can substitute oil for butter /margarine in any recipe, just use about 70% (IIRC!) so 100gr butter get substituted with 70gr oil. Not sure how to correctly convert weights and liquids so I tend to weigh the oil

Thank you so much for the speedy replies! Am just checking the cupboard to see what we've got.

Anyway, the process of baking is more important than the end result...right? GBBO contestant I am not!