What butter to use for cupcakes?

[Tinks15]

What’s everyone’s favourite butter to use for cupcakes? Is Stork the best one?

I always use salted butter but dont add any extra salt

@UniversalTruth

For the people who say they would never use Stork, why do you say this?

It's not that different to eg. "I can't believe it's not butter" and whilst I prefer things without palm oil, I can't see anything horrific on the ingredients list unless I'm missing something?

I make cupcakes with whatever I have but I agree that Stork is lighter plus you can do all in one method and use it straight from the fridge.

Personally I just hate the taste. Tastes like lard. But then I only like proper butter or Clover. I’m pretty fussy. Can’t stand can’t believe it’s not butter or anything like that either.

I always melt the butter or clover slightly in the microwave in the bowl so I can mix it straight away / do the all in one method.

@Tinks15

Thank you, you lovely people. I want to make some cupcakes for my DD’s birthday party in a few weeks time & just want them to be nice.

Can you bake them then let your DD decorate them as part of the celebration?

As others have said, use butter rather than stork (or a combo of butter and oil) and don't over cook them.

Have fun!

I don’t like stork or margarine as the cakes taste a bit artificial then. I just use our normal eating butter. Salted is fine. So Sainsbury’s own.

For the people who say they would never use Stork, why do you say this? It's not that different to eg. "I can't believe it's not butter"

That's no recommendation- they both taste horrible imo! The horrible taste isn't as noticeable in cakes as it would be if you spread it on toast (bleurgh), but it's still there. People say that using margarine gives a lighter texture, but my cakes are lovely and fluffy using butter tbh. I bought some Stork when I had a suspected problem with dairy and ended up throwing it out.

@orangejuicer yes! I actually thought of this last night. She & her little sister would love this.

I've always used stork in all my cakes, never knew it was so hated! Not had any complaints yet...

Ah ok, I've seen people say it's made with rubbish so thought this was the reason, but if it's down to taste then I'll allow it

I've never noticed the difference in taste, but I usually flavour cakes with lemon or chocolate so maybe that's the key. My mum always made cake with stork (allergies) so maybe I'm just used to it.

Butter makes cakes heavy.

This is true! I bake a lot & always use unsalted butter.
My DM & DGM - both great bakers - has so much lighter cakes. Both always used Stork.

My DD got one of Mary Berry's books & she recommends Stork (well, marg) & when trying her recipes my baking is definitely lighter.

I still mostly use butter tho!

I mix the two! 50/50 baking block and salted butter. Gives the flavour, richness and moisture of butter but lightens the result up considerably. Just don't put marge any where near icing, that's rank.

Unsalted butter. Stork is margarine isn't it?

My sister is dairy free, so I’ve always used generic baking block in cakes. Never had complaints.

I do use proper butter in shortbread, just bog standard supermarket butter, but you can taste it so much more in shortbread. I just don’t make it for my sister!

Ah ok, I've seen people say it's made with rubbish so thought this was the reason, but if it's down to taste then I'll allow it

Well, I mean... it is made with rubbish. It's highly processed, made with palm oil, often has colourings and flavourings etc. Besides, it is now increasingly suggested that saturated fats are fine in moderation, whereas vegetable oils may not be especially when heated to high temperatures. But yes, it also tastes grim and has a spooky texture.

I use unsalted butter in mine. Either unsalted supermarket butter or unsalted lurpak. I hate to say it but I get the best cakes when I use the unslated lurpak. If it's for a special occasion I always use lurpak.

Butter makes heavy greasy cakes IMO.

Stork is great for cake batter. Really light and fluffy. Just don’t use it for the buttercream. You need real butter for that.

Stork tastes disgusting straight out of the tub. You wouldn’t make sandwiches with it.

It’s not made to be eaten like that and is called stork baking spread for a reason.
(It makes great cakes!)

I use butter, occasionally margarine but one that i can bear to eat on toast, like flora. Never stork. I don’t think there’s any property of stork that makes fluffier cakes, it’s just marketing so people think it’s specifically designed for cakes/the one to use for baking. Really I think they just know it tastes like crap/is cheap rubbish and no one would eat it on toast, and the taste is less noticeable in cakes so they market is for baking only.

I did a blind taste test on my family, using tub Stork for half a batch of fairy cakes, and butter for the other half.

I always add some vanilla extract when baking plain cakes.

My lot preferred the ones made with Stork. They were lighter and less greasy, and slightly lighter in colour.

Unless it is something where the butter taste is key eg shortbread, I just use tub Stork, but remember to add some vanilla extract.

Ignore the Stork haters. Even Mary Berry uses it.

I often use stork but that's what my mum used to it's what I like. Real butter I use for scones and biscuits.

It depends what you want in a cake.

Margarine definitely makes lighter cakes, but they lack richness and flavour.

Butter won’t let the batter rise quite as much without a lot more beating (which is easy with a mixer anyway) but gives a far better tasting cake.

The very best butter is that made in the French style, because there’s no water added, it’s really dense. But that’s only really a factor in patisserie, not cupcakes.

The thing I've noticed that makes my cakes extra light and fluffy is using sr flour specifically for sponge cakes. I couldn't work out for ages why MIL's cakes using exactly the same recipe were lighter than mine. So I asked her exactly what ingredients she used, tried her McDougall's sponge flour and hey presto.

@lazylinguist

The thing I've noticed that makes my cakes extra light and fluffy is using sr flour specifically for sponge cakes. I couldn't work out for ages why MIL's cakes using exactly the same recipe were lighter than mine. So I asked her exactly what ingredients she used, tried her McDougall's sponge flour and hey presto.

Oh this is interesting! I didn't even know there was such a thing as 'sponge flour', adding it to the shopping list now. 😊

I know - neither did I! I had resigned myself reluctantly to the idea that MIL was just a better cake-baker than me. Nope -it was the flour! The one I use is this one

How much is a pack of butter these days?