Bake up a storm with margarine
From your grandmother's traditional bread pudding to the fluffiest sponge cake – margarine is a great butter substitute for all your baking needs. Even if your recipe asks for butter you can still bake with margarine; simply replace the butter with the same amount of margarine.
Baking with soft margarine
Most soft margarines are easy to mix, even straight from the fridge compared to butter which is usually hard and difficult to work with. This also goes for creaming, rubbing in or icing – simply take your spread from the fridge and start. So using soft margarine for baking makes the ‘all-in-one' method of cake making a lot easier.
Baking with hard margarine
Some recipes such as pastry require margarines with a higher fat content which usually means a hard margarine. It's a great companion in traditional creaming recipes for cakes and short, crisp and flaky shortcrust pastry. It's also perfect for rich fruitcakes because it helps to distribute the fruit deliciously evenly. If you find it too firm to use straight from the fridge, work with it at room temperature, unless your recipe says otherwise.
Putting butterless baking to the test
To help you taste the difference when baking without butter, we've prepared two ready-to-go recipes using the magic ingredient: margarine:
First up is an indulgent treat: Toffee Apple Bake. It all begins with 175g of soft margarine. Then grab the following: 350g self-raising flour, 3 eggs, 175g of brown sugar, 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, 100g of dates, 2 apples, toffee-style icing and 2 tablespoons of single cream. Simply mix them all together and spoon them out onto a greased and lined baking tray tin. Pop it in the middle shelf of your oven (preheated to 180?C or gas mark 4) and bake for about 35 minutes. Once it's cooled, remove the paper and drizzle the icing over the baking tray. With only 327 calories per serving, it tastes a lot more decadent than it is!
Next up: for afternoon tea with a twist, why not surprise your friends with Lemon and Coconut scones? All you need is: 55g of soft margarine, 225g of self-raising flour, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 25g of caster sugar, , 6 tablespoons of coconut milk, 25g of shredded coconut and 1 lime. Start by preheating your oven to 220?C or gas mark 7. Then sift the flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl, add the remaining ingredients and mix into a soft dough. Once you're happy with the consistency, knead the dough gently on a lightly floured surface and roll it out. Cut your scone circles, space them out on your greased baking sheet, brush them with milk and then pop them in the oven for just 12 to 15 minutes.
Easy! And not a dollop of butter in sight.
Baking with soft margarine
Most soft margarines are easy to mix, even straight from the fridge compared to butter which is usually hard and difficult to work with. This also goes for creaming, rubbing in or icing – simply take your spread from the fridge and start. So using soft margarine for baking makes the ‘all-in-one' method of cake making a lot easier.
Baking with hard margarine
Some recipes such as pastry require margarines with a higher fat content which usually means a hard margarine. It's a great companion in traditional creaming recipes for cakes and short, crisp and flaky shortcrust pastry. It's also perfect for rich fruitcakes because it helps to distribute the fruit deliciously evenly. If you find it too firm to use straight from the fridge, work with it at room temperature, unless your recipe says otherwise.
Putting butterless baking to the test
To help you taste the difference when baking without butter, we've prepared two ready-to-go recipes using the magic ingredient: margarine:
First up is an indulgent treat: Toffee Apple Bake. It all begins with 175g of soft margarine. Then grab the following: 350g self-raising flour, 3 eggs, 175g of brown sugar, 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, 100g of dates, 2 apples, toffee-style icing and 2 tablespoons of single cream. Simply mix them all together and spoon them out onto a greased and lined baking tray tin. Pop it in the middle shelf of your oven (preheated to 180?C or gas mark 4) and bake for about 35 minutes. Once it's cooled, remove the paper and drizzle the icing over the baking tray. With only 327 calories per serving, it tastes a lot more decadent than it is!
Next up: for afternoon tea with a twist, why not surprise your friends with Lemon and Coconut scones? All you need is: 55g of soft margarine, 225g of self-raising flour, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 25g of caster sugar, , 6 tablespoons of coconut milk, 25g of shredded coconut and 1 lime. Start by preheating your oven to 220?C or gas mark 7. Then sift the flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl, add the remaining ingredients and mix into a soft dough. Once you're happy with the consistency, knead the dough gently on a lightly floured surface and roll it out. Cut your scone circles, space them out on your greased baking sheet, brush them with milk and then pop them in the oven for just 12 to 15 minutes.
Easy! And not a dollop of butter in sight.
