Baking a cake is something that you probably look forward to doing. It’s nice to be able to have one to enjoy with your family on the weekend.
Sometimes, you need to think about what to do before you bake the cake, though. For instance, you might have people in your family who have food allergies or lactose issues that prevent them from enjoying certain desserts.
You can still bake a delicious cake, but you might want to replace certain ingredients. For some, using a substitute ingredient for butter is going to be a wise choice.
One idea is to use ghee to bake a cake instead of using butter. Is this appropriate or is the cake not going to turn out properly?
Keep reading to learn a bit about baking a cake using ghee. You’ll have a much better understanding of what you need to do to get good results.
What Is Ghee?
Before moving forward, you might be wondering what exactly ghee is. It comes up in conversation as a butter substitute sometimes, but that doesn’t mean that everyone is familiar with it.
Ghee is a type of clarified butter that was created in ancient India. It has been used in Indian cuisine and Middle Eastern cuisine for quite a long time.
Interestingly, ghee is also used in traditional medicine as well as some religious rituals. All you really need to know is that it’s made out of butter.
This is a more concentrated type of butter that’s made by heating the butter up and then removing the liquid and milk portion. It’s more concentrated in fat than standard butter due to having its water and milk solids removed.
Ghee Can Be Used as a Substitute for Butter
Ghee can indeed be used as a substitute for butter if you’d like to try it out. Many people have taken a liking to using ghee to bake various tasty treats.
It’s common for people to bake cookies and different types of bread that contain ghee instead of butter. Baking cakes using ghee is a bit less common, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t work out okay.
In recipes that are going to be cooked at high temperatures and served hot, it should be possible to directly replace butter with ghee. You can replace butter with an equal amount of ghee and everything will turn out okay.
Cakes aren’t necessarily meant to be served hot, though. There are many different types that you could make, and many of them need to cool before you finish them up.
If you’re making a birthday cake, there’s a good chance that you’ll need to let it cool so that you can frost it. This means that using ghee as a butter substitute might work best if you’re baking a cake that doesn’t call for frosting.
You should also know that ghee has a bit of a strong and buttery flavor. This is desirable when baking certain types of desserts, but it might not always be suitable for certain types of cakes.
This means that you’ll need to make a judgment call about whether using it is appropriate for the type of cake that you’re baking. You could always try it once to see how it turns out and whether or not you like it.
It’s also notable that ghee provides more moisture than butter. This can throw things off in a recipe, and you might need to make adjustments.
For example, you might need to use fewer liquid ingredients and more flour to compensate. It might be easier to look for a recipe that specifically calls for ghee rather than using it as a substitute since it would eliminate any guesswork.
There Are Ghee Cake Recipes
There are ghee cake recipes out there that you can enjoy. Ghee cake is generally going to be incredibly moist and super soft when compared to many other cake types.
It’s actually an easy type of cake to make, too. You don’t need to be a baking aficionado to get good results when baking a simple cake like this.
You’ll be able to know exactly what ingredients to use when following a ghee cake recipe. This should allow you to get predictable results that you’ll be happy with.
Ghee cake isn’t generally something that would be frosted. You simply slice the cake and serve it up.
Some people serve this cake while it’s still hot, but others will wait for it to cool. It should go nicely with coffee or tea if you’re someone who likes to eat pastries while enjoying those beverages.
You Can Consider Other Butter Substitutes
Of course, there are other butter substitutes that you can look into if you don’t think that ghee is the right one to pick. If you’re thinking of making a traditional birthday cake or some other type of specialty cake, you might be better off using another ingredient.
Coconut oil is a good butter replacement that you can swap 1:1. It might change the flavor of the cake that you’re baking a bit, though.
It’s said that coconut oil works best as a butter replacement in recipes that call for rich chocolate or tropical flavors. If you’re making a rich chocolate cake, it might be a perfect choice as a butter replacement.
Olive oil can also work, but it’s more commonly used as a butter alternative when baking muffins or pumpkin bread. It’s a good ingredient to use when baking cakes that need a lot of fat content to remain solid.
Final Thoughts
Knowing that ghee can be used as a butter substitute in your baking is good. If you’d like to give it a try, it should work out nicely for you.
It might not be the best bet if you’re making particular cake types, though. Ghee works well when making cookies and certain types of bread.
There are specific recipes for ghee cake that you can follow. It’s recommended to seek one of those out for the best results.
Otherwise, it’d be better to consider another butter substitute such as coconut oil or olive oil. Look for a good butter alternative that makes sense for the type of cake that you’re trying to bake.
Sarah is the founder of Baking Kneads, LLC, a blog sharing guides, tips, and recipes for those learning how to bake. Growing up as the daughter of a baker, she spent much of her childhood learning the basics in a local bakery.