Butter & Fats in Baking
The secret to flaky pastries and rich flavours — how temperature and fat type transform your bakes.
Butter creates flavour, flakiness, and tenderness. Whether you need cold butter for pie crusts, softened butter for creaming, or melted butter for brownies, temperature matters enormously. Fat coats flour proteins to inhibit gluten formation, creating tenderness, while also trapping air during creaming to provide lift. The choice between butter, oil, lard, and shortening fundamentally changes a bake's flavour and texture.
Heritage & History
Butter has been a primary baking fat for thousands of years, dating back to ancient Mesopotamia. In European baking traditions, high-fat butter was prized for laminated pastries like croissants and puff pastry. Lard was the dominant fat in many bread traditions before the 20th century. Today, European-style butters with 82–84% fat content remain the gold standard for pastry work.
Types of Butter & Fats
Unsalted Butter
The baker's choice. Allows you to control salt levels precisely. European-style (82%+ fat) is preferred for pastry.
Salted Butter
Can be used in most recipes; reduce any added salt. Adds a subtle salty-sweet balance in cookies and shortbreads.
Vegetable Oil
Creates moist, dense cakes (muffins, banana bread, carrot cake) and keeps them soft longer. Cannot be creamed.
Shortening & Lard
100% fat with no water content. Creates exceptionally flaky pie crusts and tender biscuits. Lard adds traditional savoury depth.
Essential Tips
For pie crusts, keep butter ice cold and work quickly
Room temperature butter (65–68°F / 18–20°C) should bend without breaking
European butter has higher fat content — ideal for pastries and croissants
Oil creates denser, moister cakes than butter, and keeps longer
Substitutions
Butter for oil: use 3/4 cup melted butter per 1 cup oil (adds flavour, slightly less moist)
Oil for butter: use 3/4 cup oil per 1 cup butter (moister texture, less flavour)
Dairy-free: use vegan block butter (not spread) for best results in pastry
Common Questions About Butter & Fats
What does room temperature butter mean and why does it matter?
Room temperature butter (around 65–68°F / 18–20°C) is pliable but still holds its shape — it bends without cracking and leaves a fingerprint when pressed. At this temperature it creams easily with sugar to trap air bubbles, which gives cakes their lift and light texture. Cold butter won't cream properly; melted butter produces a flat, dense result.
Can I use salted butter instead of unsalted in baking?
Yes, with an adjustment. For every 1/2 cup of butter in a recipe, reduce other salt by about 1/4 teaspoon if using salted butter. The main reason bakers prefer unsalted butter is control — salt levels vary between brands, and freshness is often better in unsalted varieties as salt can mask off flavours.
Why is cold butter important for pie crust and pastry?
Cold butter creates distinct pockets of fat in the dough that stay solid during mixing. When they hit the oven's heat, the water in the butter turns to steam, pushing the layers apart to create the characteristic flaky, layered texture. Warm or melted butter absorbs into the flour, producing a crumbly rather than flaky result.
What is the difference between European butter and regular butter?
European-style butter contains at least 82–84% butterfat compared to the standard American butter's 80%. The higher fat content means less water, which results in richer flavour, silkier texture, and superior pastry lamination. It is the professional baker's choice for croissants, puff pastry, and shortbread.
Recipes with Butter & Fats
All recipes
Hummingbird Cake Recipe
Bake a moist three-layer hummingbird cake with banana, pineapple, pecans, cream cheese frosting and colourful edible flowers.
45 minutes26-30 minutes (plus 2hrs cooling & chilling time) min total
Blueberry Muffins Recipe
Learn how to make soft, bakery-style blueberry muffins with sour cream for a moist crumb and tall tops. Includes tips and troubleshooting.
20 minutes20-25 minutes min total
Authentic Basque Cheesecake Recipe
Make an authentic Basque cheesecake with a deeply caramelised top and creamy centre using the original five-ingredient La Viña-style formula.
20 minutes40 minutes (approximately) min total
Alfajores: Argentine Dulce de Leche Sandwich Biscuits
Bake Argentine alfajores with tender buttery biscuits, a generous dulce de leche filling and a delicate dusting of icing sugar.
45 minutes 9-11 minutes (plus 45 minutes chilling time & 1½–2 hours Dulce de leche cooking time) min total
Karpatka Recipe: Polish Carpathian Mountain Cream Cake
Make traditional Polish karpatka with crisp choux pastry, smooth vanilla custard cream and a dusting of icing sugar.
35 minutes25-30 minutes per layer (At least 4 hours chilling time) min total
Plum and Blackberry Galette Recipe
Bake a rustic plum and blackberry galette with crisp, buttery pastry and juicy late-summer fruit. Simple, seasonal and delicious.
25 minutes35-45 minutes (plus 30 minutes chill & 15 minutes cooling time) min total
Bee Sting Cake Recipe
Make traditional German Bee Sting Cake with soft yeast dough, caramelised honey almonds and a light vanilla cream filling.
40 minutes, plus rising, cooling and chilling25-30 minutes min total
Traditional Linzer Torte Recipe
Bake a traditional Linzer Torte with buttery hazelnut pastry, redcurrant jam and a classic lattice top. Includes tips for the best texture.
35 minutes, plus chilling45-50 minutes min total
Classic Sugar Cookies
A simple classic sugar cookies recipe with buttery flavour, neat edges and easy decorating tips for homemade cut-out cookies.
25 minutes9-11 minutes (plus 1 hour chill time) min total