"Cake" recipes using oil rather than butter

[OldLadyKnowsNothing]

I used to have a banana bread recipe using oil rather than butter (but I've lost it, so if you have one that'd be great), and have a carrotcake one from the paper the other day (which I now can't find online, grr). I've tried converting butter recipes into oil but without great success. Anyone got any recipes?

why oil particularly? Just wondered?

I have df dc and we use vitalite marg instead of butter for most cakes and stuff, they come out well.

It's for a friend wth an eating disorder - I posted here before asking about soup recipes (and thanks again to all who responded on that one), but we really need to get more calories into her and she's agreed to eat cake-type stuff but doesn't like the mouth-feel with butter or marg.

ah. good thinking then

Muffins use oil rather than butter (well you can use either, but I use oil as it's easier than melting butter!) Try these Banana Choc chip muffins

Thanks, have bookmarked! I've managed to find a few online now, too.

Mary Berry's carrot cake has oil, and banana

Here

There is a great carrot cake one in the What To Expect - The First Year, I have baked it a few times - always a big hit.

I have used THIS carrot cake recipe a few times and it is lovely - just uses oil too!

Weird name, but tastes yummy (choc). Useful for people who can't eat egg:

WACKY CAKE

3 cups self raising flour
2 cups sugar
3 tbsps cocoa
1 tsp bicarb
1/2 tsp baking powder
125 ml cooking oil
2 tbsps vinegar
1 tsp vanilla
450 ml water

Sieve flour, cocoa, bicarb and baking powder into a bowl. Add sugar and mix well. Mix oil, vinegar, vanilla and water and add dry ingredients and mix with spoon. Pour into greased and floured baking tray (roasting pan works fine). Cook for 20-25 mins at 180. Allow to cool in tin. Cut into squares.

Most of the muffins I make call for melted butter or corn oil and I use oil for ease tbh.

Many thanks again, ladies, I'll add this to "threads I'm watching" for future reference.

To convert butter to oil, just use 4/5 weight of butter. Eg 200g butter would be 160g oil.

This works perfectly well with the standard 2,2,2,1 sponge cake recipes (2oz of flour, sugar, butter to each medium egg). Makes a somewhat sloppier cake mix than you might be used to, but generally bakes perfectly well. Depending on your flour and oven you might find you need to add a pinch of baking powder.

I would give you the carrot cake recipe I have just made this morning, if only I was not still in the process of cscraping the bottom of the oven (just sprayed it AGAIN so I am here while the mousse works in) There must have been a problem with the amount of bicarb of soda, it grew humongus and poored out![anger]
It was supposed to be Ds2's birthday cake as well

Sorry I am venting but b..... Friday the 13th!!!1

That 5 minute microwave chocolate cake posted on MN recently has oil instead of butter.

The Nigella Lawson clementine cake has no fat and just uses, I believe, eggs and sugar, almonds and clementines.

Apple cake from Nigella's goddess book uses walnut oil but I ignore that and use sunflower.

PrettyCandles, thanks for the formula, that's really helpful! Sorry about your cake, Gorionine. And thanks again to others.

Why didn't my apple cake go bold? try again apple cake

if you look for a hummingbird cake recipe on mn that uses oil instead of butter and is rather fab to boot

I see mention of a fabulous recipe attributed to Dizziedixie (apologies if that's mis-spelt) but the actual recipes I've found are this on linked by DANCESwithLordPottingtonSmythe, and MadamAnt's untried recipe earlier on the same thread. Mind you, those both sound fabulous...

Here's the Nigella Clementine cake

4-5 clementines (about 375g)
6 eggs
225g sugar
1 heaped teaspoon baking powder

Put the clementines in a pan with some cold water, bring to the boil and cook for 2 hours. Drain, and, when cool, cut each clementine in half and remove the pips. Then pulp everying-skins, pith, fruitin the processor. Preheat over to gas mark 5( 190 degrees). Butter and line a 21 cm Springform tin.

Beat the eggs. Add the sugar, almonds and baking powder. Mix well, adding pulped clementines.

Put in tin and bake for an hour, when a skewer will come out clean, covering with foil for last 40 minutes to prevent top burning, if necessary.

[Note--last time I baked this it took more like an hour and ten minutes. Perhaps the oranges were juicier).

It keeps brilliantly for days after you make it. In fact, it's better to leave it for a day before you serve.