Oil rather than butter/marge in baking ...

kittiwoz

I just thought. You can actually make a cake without using any fat appart from what's in the eggs. Much easier done with an electric whisk if you have one though quite possible without:

Ingredients
4oz flour
3 eggs
4oz sugar
1tsp vanilla essence
pinch of salt

Method:
Seperate the eggs. Add the salt to the egg whites and whisk til stiff. Whisk in the yolks and vanilla essence. Whisk in the sugar until pale. Gently fold in the flour with a metal spoon. Bake in a preheated oven at Gas Mark 3/ 170 degrees Celsius/ 325 degrees Farenheit for 35 mins.

Smiley_Mum

Have a recipe that calls for vegetable oil in it, would it be ok to use olive oil instead. Just for the health benefits of using it rather than veg stuff. Wouldn't make too much difference would it? Sorry if this is in the wrong place. Thanks for any info.

Heth_2

It would make a difference to the taste...and the cost!
Seriously, a friend of mine (who didn't usually cook) once made a chocolcate cake with olive oil and you could definitely taste it. I'd keep the good stuff for salads and use flavourless in cakes.

thriftlady_2

Hi,smiley mum,there was a thread the other day asking the same question.The general consensus of opinion was that it would affect flavour adversely but not texture.I believe rapeseed oil is high in monounsaturated fats if that's what you're after.Mild taste and much less expensive.

hardpressed

I have a recipe that uses vegtable oil but I use melted margarine seems to work for me, just let it cool slightly before adding. I guess the amount and melt it in a pyrex measuring jug then add a bit more marg if it's not enough fluid ounces.

squeaky

I'll see if I can find that thread and do a merge, but yes, olive oil is far too strong a taste to use in cakes, honest

Katgoddess

I've made a couple of batches of muffins with olive oil recently and they all tasted a bit odd which I couldn't put my finger on until I read the other thread. I might make some plain muffins one day with olive oil and treat them as savoury.

Smiley_Mum

Thanks everyone for the quick response. This chat forum is great, replies to anything and everything quick as you like, brilliant. I'll get hold of some rapeseed oil then when I head out to Tesco just now, thanks Thriftylady. Going to make an apple and cinnamon loaf with it. I could get unrefined sunflower oil at the health shop but I'm impatient and can't be bothered traipsing into town. Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply, appreciate it as always. :-)

thriftlady_2

I've used olive oil in savoury muffins - parmesan and sun-dried tomato.That worked well

hardpressed

dinkydee wrote:

I know this is probably no good for your baking query, but you can use oil instead of butter or margarine in a roux sauce to make bechamel sauce for a lasagne etc.

It is possible to make a white sauce without any fat. Put the flour in a saucepan and very slowly stir in the a little of the milk to make a smooth paste, then stir in the rest of the milk, season and bring to the boil stirring all the time, then simmer for a few minutes, fine for lasagne or add parsley. You could add cheese which would make it non fat free but it would be lower fat, if you see what I mean. Forgot to say I use skimmed milk, and always put a little mustard in cheese sauce.