is there a cheaper baking alternative to butter?

crispeater

I do quite a lot of home cooking/baking and go through so much butter on cakes etc. is there a cheaper still tasty alternative that can be used?

kittycat204

crispeater wrote: »

I do quite a lot of home cooking/baking and go through so much butter on cakes etc. is there a cheaper still tasty alternative that can be used?

There is but I would try my hardest not to. Butter has the best flavour and texture IMO. I try to pay £1 for a block of butter.

katieowl_2

Butter is also a wholesome un-messed about with food. 97p in Aldi IIRC.

When you start using marge, you are getting into hydrogenated fats, emulsifiers, flavours and colours.

Depends what you want from your food I guess. When I make cake for vegans or dairy free, I opt for vitalite. It's a bit cheaper than butter I guess as it's about £1.10 for 500g, but it has a good water content and doesn't go weird.

Kate

msgnomey

I use vitalite a lot as I'm Lactose intolerant, love the taste of butter but it doesn't love me!!LOL But Vitalite cooks well

krlyr

I often use Stork, but whilst cheaper there's then the unhealthier aspect.

Alternatively, quite a few American baking recipes use oil instead of a solid fat.

dzug1

You can buy block cooking margarine (though they've stopped calling it that) for about half the price of butter

loracan1

I prefer using something like stork for baking cakes, just find the texture preferable. But some things (croissants) need to be made with butter. I learned that lesson the hard way.

crispeater

I've watched the horror channel in regards to marg and whats in it etc. does that also apply to likes of the utterly butterly and other related products?
I've never thought of vitalite, does that not come in as a margarine?

Dozey_crow

Hi for pastry we use 'best of both'or baking blocks instead of butter these are great for quiches, egg custards etc and are 49 - 55p in most supermarkets. Thinks like shortbread butter is essential though.

We have made cake with flora utterly before and it did give the cake a lovely light texture. We had some on offer not sure how viable it would be otherwise though.
Hth

DawnW

some things, such as shortbread and crumble mix, need butter, as it makes such a difference to the taste. Most other things are fine with Stork or similar.

dandy-candy

crispeater wrote: »

I've watched the horror channel in regards to marg and whats in it etc. does that also apply to likes of the utterly butterly and other related products?
I've never thought of vitalite, does that not come in as a margarine?

Yes, anything made with oils (veg, olive etc). Oils are liquid so to make them solid enough to be a block or in a tub, they pump hydrogen through them. This changes the position of the molecules in the chain (transfers their position) and that's why they are called trans fats.