Following last week's Food & Drink programme on TV (Michel Roux Jnr and Mary Berry) where they taste tested 2 Victoria Sponge Cakes, one made using butter, and one made using margarine. I decided to do the same (partly because I was being cynical and didn't quite believe that butter could be outsmarted by margarine, and partly because I needed a good excuse to make another VSC so soon after making one for Valentine's Day last week!).
Well, I can now tell you that a VSC made using Utterly Butterly (other brands are available!) is BETTER than that made using butter. The only difference that I can detect is the gorgeous aroma of a buttery cake being baked in the oven. With the cake using Utterly Butterly the aroma wasn't there! But the texture and lightness were certainly there, and the taste was lovely. The good news is that Utterly Butterly contains half the amount of fat than butter* (I used *President unsalted butter to make the cake for Valentine's Day).
I also think that the buttermilk in Utterly Butterly may help the cake with the lightness and texture, so I am now converted. I will be using Utterly Butterly in all my baking from now on. I love the fact that the fat is greatly reduced (which doesn't necessarily mean you can have twice as much Paul!!), so now don't feel as guilty eating everything I bake!
The other point to note is that I needed to add a small amount of milk to the cake mixture last week (when using the butter to make the VSC) to achieve the dropping consistency. I didn't need to do this with the Utterly Butterly, as the dropping consistency was perfect, and it all blended in really well and almost effortlessly.
So there we have it. I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts on using margarine instead of butter.
My Mum always used Flora to bake a Victoria sponge - everyone who tasted them said they were the best cakes ever. She always adapted recipes and she was the best cook I have ever known. Her shortcrust pastry was also better than any other - she used half fat to flour, preferred self raising to plain flour and used a combination of margarine and lard with a dash of ice cold water.
ReplyDelete