The Butter vs Margarine debate.... now that's a can of worms

Since entering the cooking frenzy that owning a Thermomix creates, I’ve joined plenty of cooking sites. Not previously big on cake making I’ve been experimenting with the particularly quick cakes – see my previous blog- Cakes whipped up in 10 seconds

However I was concerned at the amount of butter we seemed to be consuming. Being in the mature age category one comes up against the cholesterol numbers from time to time and I’d hate a big heart clogging consequence of my new found cooking frenzy. I expressed my concern on the cooking site and received the wrath of the margarine haters including Superkylz, my daughter. I investigated further.

Housewives of the 70s were no different to modern housewives- the debate was always the benefits of cooking results with butter vs margarine

Also being of the at certain mature age I remember the “you ought to be congratulated “campaign of the 70s and 80s when margarine swept across the nation and became the healthier substitute for butter because it was made out of vegetable oils.  1984-You-Ought-To-Be-Congratulated ad

Anyhow I did a bit of research and shock horror some margarines are not all that much better than butter- especially when they are made from animal fats. I’ve always used Fairy Margarine for cooking  (I think my Dad or one of his friends had shares in it) In hind sight I remember the rumour as a young one that it was really a lower cost butter substitute.  

Housewives of the 70s were no different to modern housewives- the debate was always the benefits of cooking results with butter vs margarine and the Meadow Lea campaign supported the mother who used it for cooking. I’m a bit of a cost based cooker. I preferred margarine for cost and KJ and rarely read the labels. 

I’ve always found butter user unfriendly for spreadability. (I’m not fussed about leaving it out of the fridge and truly I’m not that organised to take it out in advance of cooking.) A nice soft spreadable margarine is easier for spreading on bread and quickly frying an egg, onion etc. 

Shock horror- Fairy has similar Kilojoules as butter

A Google search on butter vs margarine will send you everywhere and while I don’t believe I’m eating petrol or plastic as some claim I had been enlightened and I began to read the labels. Any way it turns out Fairy and Woollies cooking margarine is shock horror made of animal fats. The kilojoule count for the cooking margarine and butter is 3040-80kj per hundred grams.

A light Olive oil spread option  got the Heart Foundation tick but it wasn’t recommended for baking. 

Meanwhile I had a few disappointments on the Thermo cakes e and decided to try a softer option to use for creaming butter and sugar.

The St Vincent de Paul Welfare Centre I volunteer at  gives out an Aldi Pure Vita Canola Spread which is Heart Foundation approved and only 99c for 500g. I read the label and while it contains Canola and vegetable oil it does also list some of the nasties such as colour and flavours. On the positive side it’s 2410kg per 100g which is 21% less Kj.  It is also derived from non GM Canola seeds.

You can see how light these mini muffins are

I tried it in my 30 Second Orange Cake and was very pleased with the lightness and it maintained its freshness for longer. It worked OK in my Yoghurt Cake and Yoghurt Cake Muffins too. 

To take the experiment a little further I used a Woolworths Homebrand Canola Spread.  At a bargain $1.60 for 1Kg it has less Canola and more Palm Oil (not so good for the environment). It has a much softer consistency than the Aldi brand and didn’t mix as well in the Thermo blades. I tried it with a short pastry mix too- not entirely satisfied. Based on advice from the Thermo community on Facebook I added a second orange and the cake and muffins were the best yet. The extra orange made the cake even moister and extended the mixture enough to make 12 mini muffins – perfect for the grandkids' afternoon tea!!

Some of the butter, margarines and spreads compared

The  30 Second Whole Orange Cakewas originally found on the recipe community. I’ve modified it with the second orange as follows an it is optional to reduce the amount of sugar.

30 Second Orange Cake  Serves 12-15

2 whole Oranges cut into quarters

225g butter or Canola spread

3eggs

200g or less of raw sugar

300g SR Flour

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Grease a ring tin or a round cake tin.

Place butter or Canola spread into Thermomix bowl and mix for 7 seconds at Speed 8

Add Sugar, eggs and SR flour and combine 20 seconds Reverse speed 4

Pour into cake tin and bake for 50-60 minutes or until skewer comes out clean- see variation below.

Hint:

Mixture was enough for cake and 12 mini muffins (adjust cooking time accordingly).

You could add poppy seeds to make Orange and Poppy Seed Muffins/ Cake

Ice if necessary

 butter or margarine?

To each their own- make your own decision about butter or margarine but if cost, heart smart and KJ are important then the Aldi’s Canola Spread is a viable option.

I’ve costed the Orange cake as follows- but at this time of year you could reduce the cost of oranges by 50c if you score a few fresh oranges from a friend’s tree like I did. Stick a few quartered ones in the freezer too.

• Made with butter $4.12
• Made with  Aldi Pura Vita Canola Spread $2.37
• Made with Woolworths Homebrand Canola Spread  $2.27

Happy cooking

Robyn