Baking

Does It Matter If You Substitute Oil for Butter in a Cake Recipe? We Have the Answer

Out of butter? You can use oil!

By Catalina Altomonte | Sep 28, 2017

IMAGE Riell Santos

It happens to the best of us: when you’re in the middle of baking a cake, you suddenly realize that you’re missing a key ingredient! Worry not—there are many baking and cooking substitutes out there, and you’re bound to have something that you can use in your pantry.

Lacking butter for a baking recipe may seem like the end of the world, but, depending on what you’re baking, vegetable oil can be a quick and easy ingredient substitution.

Remember that the texture and taste of your baked treat will be different; butter gives lots of flavor while oil is neutral in taste, and oil will make cakes and brownies more moist compared to butter. When substituting oil for butter in a baking recipe, it doesn’t go as a 1:1 substitution; use ¾ the amount of oil for the specified amount of butter in a recipe. For example, if the recipe calls for 1 cup of butter, substitute it with ¾ cup of oil.

The substitution will work with cake, brownie, muffin, and cookie recipes, but your results may vary from recipe to recipe.