Oil instead of butter?

[CarolineW]

I like to send in cakes, etc for the kids in DD1s class sometimes, but one of the children is dairy intolerant.  So, come to that, is DD2 - but as she can eat goat's milk/butter/etc I just substitute that.

Years ago when I couldn't eat cow's milk products either, I had various recipes for cakes, etc, which used oil rather than butter.  Can any recipe be substituted this way?  And if not, could you point me in the right direction for some please?  It is more than 20 years since I was dairy free, and my old recipes that I used are long since gone 

[quirkycooking]

You can substitute oil for butter in cakes, I do all the time.    Just cut the oil down a little - eg. 75% oil to 100% butter.

Do you have the Cyndi O'Meara cookbook?  She has a recipe for a yummy chocolate cake we all love, using macadamia oil.
I also have some that I make frequently:
Pecan cake (has no oil or butter, just coconut cream)
Chocolate Banana Cake (uses macadamia or light olive oil)
Blender Batter Berry Cake (uses olive oil - you can't taste it, it's yummy)

Hope that helps 

[achookwoman]

CarolineW,  could you use coconut oil?

[CarolineW]

Thanks Quirky and Cookie.  At home I can, Cookie, but DD1's new teacher has declared the school to be a nut free zone.  That isn't actually true, individual classes are exempt from the rule if no one in it has a nut allergy (no one does), but if she's more comfortable having it that way then I guess I need to respect that.  And I'm assuming that Coconut oil falls under the nut category.

But for home ... do I just measure coconut oil exactly as I would the butter?  It sounds ideal for biscuits.

By the way, Quirky - I recently stumbled onto your blog when searching for a ketchup recipe.  I love the site, the whole family and guests have loved the ketchup, and I'm thinking of taking your menu plans on board rather than thinking up my own 

[zebraa]

Coconut isn't a nut as far as  I knew - should be safe to use.

 

[quirkycooking]

I'm glad my blog's been helpful, Caroline 

Coconut should be fine - it's not actually a 'nut' and is often used by people with nut allergies.  I use coconut oil a lot instead of butter, but it is an acquired taste, I think - and you need to get a good quality one or the flavour's really strong!  It's good for biscuits because you still get the crunch that butter makes, since coconut oil solidifies like butter does when cool.

This cookie recipe has coconut oil:  Double chocolate ginger cookies
 

[Zan]

Coconut isn't a nut - and is rarely an allergy but best to just say that it's in there as you never know
(Being one of the few with a coconut allergy, lol.)

[CarolineW]

See, I didn't know that coconut isn't a nut (Duh)    Great to know. 

Poor you, Zan.  I bet it turns out to be in loads of things too, that one would never expect.