Substituting butter in chocolate

[piracer]

So as in my previous thread that i was asking what to pair with a flourless chocolate cake, i found out one of my guest has a diary allergy.

My recipe is this:

200g chocolate (about 60%)

100g butter

170g egg whites

90g sugar

4 egg yolks

So one starts by melting the chocolate and butter, you would then foam the yolks with part of the sugar, and with the remaining make a meringue, folding everything together and bake at 150C. Easy cake.

Now, if i were to substitute the butter with lets say coconut milk, olive oil or some neutral oil, would there be a difference in flavor? Texture wise i don't think there will be as the butter is being melted down. As we're not making a ganache or a candy, shine isn't what we're looking for. I'm thinking extra virgin olive oil as my hope is that if anything, it'll impart some interesting vegetal flavors to the cake though from what i read, after a certain temperature, all the aromatics in any flavored oil basically disappear though i'm not sure if 150C is that high of enough of a temperature.

[Darienne]

I can't answer your question, but would it not be better to try coconut cream, rather than milk?

[Panaderia Canadiense]

If your guest has a milk allergy, it might also behoove you to find out what exactly is in your chocolate. Many manufacturers use milk solids in even their dark chocolate products....

As for subbing the butter, 1:1 with oil will work quite well, but I'd caution you not to use EVOO. It reacts somehow with chocolate in this type of cake, and off flavours are produced (this is from personal experience - even freshly pressed olive oil does this. It ruined what would otherwise have been a lovely cake.) Sunflower oil is a better option.

[flourgirl]

So as in my previous thread that i was asking what to pair with a flourless chocolate cake, i found out one of my guest has a diary allergy.

My recipe is this:

200g chocolate (about 60%)

100g butter

170g egg whites

90g sugar

4 egg yolks

So one starts by melting the chocolate and butter, you would then foam the yolks with part of the sugar, and with the remaining make a meringue, folding everything together and bake at 150C. Easy cake.

Now, if i were to substitute the butter with lets say coconut milk, olive oil or some neutral oil, would there be a difference in flavor? Texture wise i don't think there will be as the butter is being melted down. As we're not making a ganache or a candy, shine isn't what we're looking for. I'm thinking extra virgin olive oil as my hope is that if anything, it'll impart some interesting vegetal flavors to the cake though from what i read, after a certain temperature, all the aromatics in any flavored oil basically disappear though i'm not sure if 150C is that high of enough of a temperature.

I don't know if it will work in your recipe. I often substitute oil for butter. In your recipe, you would use 81g of oil in place of the butter.

[piracer]

Thanks for the responses so far. Would soybean oil be fine (its what i have)?

Also Flourgirl, why 81g and not just a 1:1 substitute?

I had to check that my chocolate doesn't have milk fat - cocoa butter is not a dairy product right? From what i know that's from the beans itself.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Soybean oil should work just fine.

On cocoa butter: that's the fat naturally present in cocoa nibs. No dairy whatsoever, but once it's refined it does look and behave like milk butter, hence the name.

[flourgirl]

Thanks for the responses so far. Would soybean oil be fine (its what i have)?

Also Flourgirl, why 81g and not just a 1:1 substitute?

I had to check that my chocolate doesn't have milk fat - cocoa butter is not a dairy product right? From what i know that's from the beans itself.

. Because the butter in the US is usually 81% butterfat the rest of the butter is water. Oil is 100% fat. To determine how much oil to use to replace butter multiply by .81. I hope this helps you.