Oil-Based Cakes

Confirmed butter addict that I am, it took me a long time to warm up to the idea of oil-based cakes. Every time I came across a recipe that seemed interesting, I would substitute melted butter with about a 50 per cent rate of success. Then I tasted a wonderful cake at a restaurant in Atlanta years ago and when I received the requested recipe I was surprised to see that the really delicious cake had been made with oil.

I became a convert, but one with reservations.

I still don’t use oils that have been chemically extracted from their sources. I like safflower oil because it has a neutral flavour and it’s also fairly light. The one I use is expeller pressed, which means that the oil is extracted by means of pressure, not chemical processes. I’ve already published that original oil-based chocolate cake in another book, but I’ve varied that recipe to develop a few more for cakes that are just as good - devil’s food, carrot, apple, pear and ginger and pumpkin among them.