Hi!

Does anyone know---can you substitute oil for butter in any cake/cupcake recipe?

I always like to use oil (instead of butter) in cake recipes as well as buttermilk instead of regular milk. I have found that oil and buttermilk make for a much more tender and moist cake.

But, so many recipes I see for cupcakes use butter. I was wondering if I could substitute oil for the butter in any recipe that uses butter? Will this affect how it comes out? If I use oil instead, do I need to add more flour to compensate?

Thanks in advance for any replies!

Happy Baking!
---Jeff

You can substitute, it just requires a little math.

Oil = 100% fat.
Butter = 80% fat and 20% water and milk solids

So if the recipe calls for 1/2 cup butter, you only have 3.2 oz fat in the recipe from the butter, so you'd use 3.2 oz (by weight) oil and the remaining 0.8oz (by weight) of water or extra buttermilk.