Dairy free baking?

[tatty_v]

I’ve been asked to bake some dairy free cupcakes for a friend. I’m a pretty experienced baker, but for some reason I’ve never been asked to do dairy free before! I’ve checked and it’s definitely just dairy free, not vegan, so eggs are ok.

I was thinking either going for a naturally dairy free recipe (eg carrot cake), although the icing would still be tricky, or replacing the butter in one of my ordinary recipes with dairy free spread.

Any tips from those who are dairy free or who have tried this before, particularly which dairy free spread to use? Can it be used in buttercream too?

Thank you!

 

[Orangehorse]

I have a nice fruit cake which uses olive oil, which is very easy.

There are quite a few Italian cakes made with oil rather than fat. Any butter/marge substitute is still going to be high fat/processed.

If it is just Dairy Free, you could use ordinary margarine, just look on the list of ingredients to make sure there is nothing of dairy origin.

 

[Rowreach]

Most of the spreads are suitable for baking and give pretty similar results, so you can just substitute it into your normal recipes, but I don't like using it for icing as it's a bit greasy. I make icing with smooth peanut butter instead of butter (the cheaper the better) and icing sugar and any flavouring you want to add - just make sure you beat it in a mixer or with a hand held electric mixer and beat for several minutes - it becomes really light and smooth (and not peanutty really) - I much prefer it to ordinary butter icing.

 

[milliepops]

i use stork for baking instead of butter, it's cheaper and my cakes always come out fluffy and lovely so seems to work just as well.

i actually don't mind marg for a bit of frosting on a cupcake as it's usually quite flavoured compared to say buttercream in a victoria sponge. but peanut butter sounds interesting

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

The nicest 'vegan butter' is Naturli. It tastes very much like butter. Any plant based milk will do the job. I find that hemp milk and cashew milk are the creamiest but I actually use Innocent almond milk because it has a decent calcium %. I like the idea of nut buttercream, might try that.

 

[Rowreach]

It’s the texture of the peanut butter icing that’s so good.

 

[HeyMich]

I have to be totally dairy free and I like using the Flora plant butter in most cooking, baking and as a spread. The whole family uses it and they say they can't tell the difference from normal butter. Or I sometimes use good ol' Stork in a cake.

 

[Gloi]

I love cashew butter and think that would make a good filling/icing.
You could do the old fashioned icing made from icing sugar and egg white plus a little glycerine if you want.

 

[Sossigpoker]

Loads of non dairy margarines are available. I like the Pure range, the sunflower being my preferred flavour.

 

[fankino04]

I love flora as a substitute, you can't really tell the difference, also the Betty crocker frosting is diary free so a really easy cheat. If your doing chocolate cupcakes then hazelnut milk works really well in them.

 

[Palindrome]

I usually use sunflower oil when I am baking, I have also tried olive oil but it's is stronger so you can smell it.

 

[tatty_v]

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions, really looking forward to having a couple of practice runs now! (And I am SO up for trying peanut butter icing!)

 

[Nicnac]

Used Olivio margarine in the past. It's fine.

 

[Lexi_]

I just use Vitalite in everything and no-one notices the difference.

 

[MagicMelon]

I also use Vitalite in cooking and never noticed any difference For milk I use Oatly Barista as I find it super creamy and its what we have anyway for coffee etc.

 

[wren123]

This cake, https://www.nigella.com/recipes/chocolate-olive-oil-cake is delicious.

 

[blitznbobs]

Chocolate brownies using oils rather thzn butter give a really good result

 

[PurBee]

I usually use sunflower oil when I am baking, I have also tried olive oil but it's is stronger so you can smell it.

me too, sunflower oil replaces butter in recipes really well….its taste is very mild and not noticeably ‘oily’ in cake recipes. I make muffins dairy and gluten free with oil and they are fabulously fluffy….they keep well too.

Once, i mistakenly made pastry all wrong….i do have some dairy personally, but had just added water to flour, forgetting to rub in butter! To rescue my efforts, i mixed in oil, rolled it and made a quiche base. That pastry was my best yet…very soft and very tasty! (Usually my pastry is crunchy tooth-breaking using butter, despite measuring amounts exactly )

I use sunflower oil a lot with baking now, in place of butter.

 

[littleshetland]

I noticed vegan Philadelphia cream cheese for sale in Tescos the other day..

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

I noticed vegan Philadelphia cream cheese for sale in Tescos the other day..

I'm going to have a look for that!

 

[Fransurrey]

As above, use Stork and sub it in for butter. If your recipe calls for frosting, Violife (or any of the coconut based) cream cheese is excellent. You can cheat if it's chocolate by adding drinking chocolate direct to the cheese, or use icing sugar/instant coffee for coffee cake.