Can You Substitute Oil for Butter In a Baking Recipe?

Picture it: you're in the middle of baking your favorite cake or cookie that calls for butter, and you realize you don’t have any.

Noooo! ?

BUT, what if you do have oil?! Can you use that instead without affecting your finished baked good?

One of our studio audience members named Patty had that exact question -- so we called on our friend, “Cake Boss” Buddy Valastro, to answer it!

Q: Can you substitute oil for butter? - Patty

A: Depending on the recipe, you can in a pinch, but I think butter is better. If you have a recipe, make it with both. Give it a shot [and] see which one you like better. Both of them will work. They’re both a fat, so you can substitute one for the other. -- Buddy Valastro

Now, with that said, the “Ace of Cakes” Duff Goldman feels quite strongly that oil -- not butter -- does the trick when it comes to making a cake super moist.

Moral of the story?

Baking may be a science -- but when it comes to the butter versus oil debate, to each baker their own!