Butter or Margarine in cakes

[3wheels]

Which do you prefer? Is margarine ok to use in cakes, does it taste ok? I'm getting annoyed with trying to remember to keep my butter out of the fridge to soften if I'm going to bake so wondering which margarine would be best to use. Thank you. X

I use stork for cakes. But proper butter for buttercream

Margarine for cakes, butter for biscuits.

Honestly I use margarine (Stork, or Aldi’s massive tubs of “Beautifully Buttery”) for all cakes and sponges and they’re lush - they taste lovely and are really light and fluffy.

Butter for biscuits though. Margarine contains too much water for biscuits.

Margarine tastes disgusting in cakes.

Ok, I think I'll try stork and see whether the taste bothers me.
I didn't know about it's water content and how it affects biscuits. You learn something new ever day! Thank you.

I like spreadable butter best for cakes.

Has the taste of butter but the texture means it creams really well and I think the bit of oil helps the moistness.

The only disadvantage is the cost - it’s the most expensive way to it butter!

Mary Berry uses margarine for cakes.

I use stork, that’s what Mary Berry recommends.

Butter all the way for cakes. Margarine makes cakes taste waxy.
You can soften butter on a low setting in the microwave.

I don't care what Mary Berry says (probably sponsored by Stork 🤣)

I use unsalted butter for baking, unless baking non-dairy/vegan.
I soften it in the microwave if I forget to get it out.

I grew up using stork and only questioned it recently. I now use the spreadable butter which is the best of both worlds.

Wouldn't have thought of spreadable butter, it is probably quite expensive but maybe worth it for ease and flavour.

Yep I was going to mention Mary Berry!
She uses margarine.
Definitely butter for buttercream though.
I made a cake last week with half butter and half margarine. Won’t be doing that again, the texture with margarine is far superior!

Butter and oil, which gives it a lovely flavour from the butter as well as a soft crumb, with the oil keeping it moist.

Clover makes the most delicious sponges.

The only place margarine belongs is in the bin. Have you seen the videos of how they make it? 🤮

I use butter; I really don't like margarine at all.

I prefer butter. I heat it up in the microwave for about ten secs so no remembering to leave it out.

Stork makes lovely light sponge

butter tastes better but cooking spread gives a better rise.
you can get a similar result by adding a tablespoon of milk or water if you want to use butter.

I use butter in a minuscule effort to cut down my plastic usage... just pop it in the microwave for a few seconds

"Margarine tastes disgusting in cakes"

don't you mean

"Margarine tastes disgusting"

I use solid margarine for cakes, like the blocks of stork, so you still need to get it out of the fridge!

I’ve had a half pack of butter in and out of the fridge over the last two days as planned cake making didn’t quite make it to the tip of my todo list. Then this am I took salted out to soften by mistake and the recipe really is better with unsalted. Grrr. Having said that I’ve never cooked with margarine (not since school cooking I think). Sounds easier !
Gonna try the recent Tiktok viral instant softening hack. Under hot glass.

We just bought a cake from a cake maker we had used before for DD's birthday. She had switched to margarine. It was vile and went in the bin.

I know quite a few professional cake makers (and home bakers) and they all say margarine produces a lighter sponge but always use real butter for buttercream. I don't believe anyone who claims to be able to specifically taste margarine in a cake as opposed to butter- they're imagining it!