FOOD NEWS
The Butter Swap To Think About For Beyond Tender Cake
BY KAT LIEU
If you want to make a cake, but don’t have any butter, you can use shortening. It's a solid fat that's similar enough to butter to be a substitute, while making the cake fluffier.
Shortening can also be used in cookies, tarts, pies, and bread. The only downside is that it tastes like whatever oil was used to make it, meaning it's less flavorful than butter.
While it doesn't taste buttery, shortening will make your pie crusts flaky, your shortbread and cookies nice and rich, and your cakes as soft and tender as you could hope.
Cakes made with shortening will actually be more fluffy than ones made with butter, because shortening is 100% fat while butter is 80% fat and nearly 20% water.
Water doesn't trap air as well as fat does, and shortening stays solid for longer as it bakes, trapping more even air and creating a super soft, tender, and fluffy cake.