Fruit purees are most commonly used as fat substitutes in baking. Applesauce, for example, works well in most cake recipes, muffins, gingerbread, and can replace at least half the fat in cookies. Mashed bananas or pureed peaches can be used in chocolate cakes, spice cakes or muffins.
What can I substitute for fat in baking?
Unsweetened applesauce, mashed bananas, pureed prunes, or canned pumpkin puree work best as a fat replacement. For best results, replace half of the fat in a recipe with an equal volume of pureed fruit or vegetable.
Can you bake with no fat?
Fats like butter, oil, margarine play an important role in baking. It not only provides richness to the baked goods, but a good taste and texture too. So it is not recommended to omit the fat in a recipe totally but just a portion of it. Some recipes might turn out well with little or no fat at all.
How do baked dishes reduce fat?
You often can reduce the amount of fat, sugar and salt without sacrificing flavor in healthy recipes. Use these general guidelines: Fat. For baked goods, use half the butter, shortening or oil and replace the other half with unsweetened applesauce, mashed banana or prune puree.
What happens if you don’t add fat to cake?
Texture. When it comes to the texture of baked goods, butter serves to make them softer. In fact, it’s not just butter; fat, in general, can make your baked goods more tender as they shorten gluten strands. … No fat means that nothing will slow down the formation of gluten strands.
Can I bake with low fat butter?
Generally, you can use reduced-fat spread instead of butter and you shouldn’t notice a difference in taste or texture. Just be sure to use a spread with no less than 60% fat. Although there are spreads with less fat than this, they tend not to work so well in baking. The same applies to pastry.
Can I bake with light butter?
Reduced-Calorie (or light) Butter or Margarine
We do not recommend them for baking. The higher water content causes cakes to stick to baking pans, creates coarser textures, brown less, become tougher, and become stale more quickly.
Cut the Fat in Cookies
For cookies, try simply reducing the amount of butter or oil called for in a recipe. As a general rule, you can decrease the total fat amount by half of what is called for. You may have to experiment, but the end product will ultimately be fine.
How would you cut down on fat?
14 Simple Ways to Reduce Saturated Fat
- Eat more fruits and vegetables.
- Eat more fish and chicken. …
- Eat leaner cuts of beef and pork, and trim as much visible fat as possible before cooking.
- Bake, broil, or grill meats; avoid frying. …
- Use fat-free or reduced-fat milk instead of whole milk.
Can I reduce butter in brownies?
1. Applesauce. You can replace butter in baking recipes with unsweetened applesauce by using half of the amount of applesauce as the amount of butter called for in the recipe. Doing so is helpful if you are watching fat calories, need to add a little more fiber, or just don’t have enough butter for a recipe.
Why do cakes need fat?
Fat acts as a tenderizer in cake batter. First, because it adds moisture and richness to the cake and, second, because fat interferes with gluten formation in the flour and with coagulation of the eggs. … The three main fats used in cake batter are butter, shortening and oil.
How does butter affect cake?
It allows for steam and carbon dioxide to be trapped in the batter as it is bakes, which causes your cake to rise. The butter also helps to create a light and tender texture in cake batter. In the all-in-one method, liquid butter and other liquid ingredients are mixed with dry ingredients in a single step.
Is butter or oil better for cakes?
The texture of cakes made with oil is—in general—superior to the texture of cakes made with butter. Oil cakes tend to bake up loftier with a more even crumb and stay moist and tender far longer than cakes made with butter. … Cakes made with butter often taste better than oil cakes.