Which three butters did I use?
- Firstly. I bought a supermarket own butter. This was from Asda. The packaging states that the butter is from British dairy farms and contains a minimum of 80% milk fat. It is an unsalted butter and cost just 79p.
- Secondly, I chose a butter from a well known creamery here in the UK, Wensleydale Creamery. It is made in the Yorkshire Dales where is it traditionally churned. It is described as 'rich and creamy'. The fat content is shown as 82.2% and the 250g block cost £1.60. As this is a salted butter I added a pinch of salt to the other two batters to make the experiment a fairer comparison .
- Lastly, I purchased a French butter called President. I have read in a few places of the quality of French butters and the flavours they bring to baked goods. The wrapper informs us that this butter was made in the heart of Normandy with the 'finest milk and cream'. It states that it is 'delicious in sponge cakes or buttercream and perfect for savoury pastries and sauces'. The fat content is shown as 82% and it cost £1.55. This is an unsalted butter.
How I went about the 'Butter Quality Side-by-Side Baking Experiment':
The Tasting:
'volunteer' taste testers were assembled, including myself. I explained to each of my tasters the principal behind this side-by-side bake and asked them to simply identify which cake they preferred. The identity of the specific cakes hadn't been divulged to
them. Only I knew which cupcake was which, so my tasters sampled them
blind, so to speak.
The Results:
enhanced flavour to a simple bake. This said, as the winning
Wensleydale Creamery butter is over 100% more expensive than the
supermarket own butter I know I shalln't be using it every time I don my
pinny, espcially as I usually bake around twice a week. However, when
I'm purchasing products to bake for a special occasion I now know that
it is worth pushing the boat out to purchase a quality butter.
What I have learnt:
- The PH and acid values of the cream used can differ.
- The butterfat level can differ slightly between different producers. As the butter's colour is largely held in the fat it seems only logical that most of the flavour is held there too (ours were a minimum of 80% in the Asda butter, 82.2% in that from the Wensleydale Creamery, and 82% in the President. I popped into a local Aldi store and noted that the fat content of their butter (priced around 79p) was 83%!)
- A natural flavour is often added to unsalted cultured butters.
- There are differences in how the butter is processed and preserved which is likely to also affect the flavour.
So let's get to it and bake!
Victoria Sponge Cakes. Yum
Yield: 3 muffin size cupcakes
Serves: 3
Difficulty: Easy
Time: hands on time 20 minutes; plus 20 minutes bake time; cooling time.
Freezable: Yes, undecorated
You will need:
Electric Hand Held Beater or WoodenSpoon
Sieve
Spatula or large Metal Spoon
Muffin size Paper Cases
Muffin Baking Tray
For the sponge mixture
50g Unsalted Butter
25g Golden Caster Sugar
25g Caster Sugar
1 Egg, lightly beaten
50g SR Gluten Free Flour (or regular SR flour), sieved
1 tablespoon milk
How to make them:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 190c / Fan 170c / Gas 5. Place the muffin cases into the muffin tray.
2. Make the sponge. Place
the soft butter and sugars into a good sized bowl and
beat together with a wooden spoon or electric beaters until very pale
and fluffy. Gradually add the beaten egg a little at a time, beating
well after each addition. Beat in the milk. Sieve the flour into the
mixture. Use a spatula or large metal spoon fold this in gently.
3. Fill the muffin cases.
Using a teaspoon, fill the cases with the batter mixture. You're
aiming for them to be half to two-thirds full. You may decide to weigh
each muffin to ensure equal sizes. Each cupcake will weigh about 64g.
4. Bake.
Place the muffin tray in the centre of the oven and bake for about 20
minutes. You may need to rotate the tray after 15 minutes of
baking. Once baked, remove from the oven and place on a cooling tray.
5. Decorate as desired.
Once the cupcake sponges are cold decorate your bake as desired, perhaps with a water icing, butter cream or a chocolate glaze.
Enjoy.
Anna
nice
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain
Thank you Anna
Martin @ The Why Chef
Love this side by side experiment! I've always used 'cheap for cooking, quality for eating' as a mantra, but I'll take a step back and rethink this now! Especially in things like cakes and pastry like you said, where butter is an important flavour factor. I also smoke butter on wood for cooking - I'll need to spend a bit more on quality there as well I think! Thanks!
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain
I was pleasantly surprised by how well the flavour came through on the quality butters. I guess it's like cooking with wine, it is often said that we should cook with a wine that we would be happy to drink as the flavour comes through into the finished dish. I've never smoked butter on wood before for cooking - I'd love to hear about that Martin,
Thanks for popping by and commenting,
Angela x
Eb Gargano
Loved this one Angela. I have to say I really notice the difference in things like this...a hangover from wine tasting days where I was tasting wines daily and sometimes focusing on minute differences. It has made me acutely aware of the quality of ingredients...which is not always a good thing for my bank balance!! I was really pleased that the local butter was the winner 🙂 Always nice to know that when you pay for quality you get quality and it's nice to support local businesses...I also worry about the prices we pay for the bottom of the range products - I wonder how much the farmer gets and when you hear of farmers going out of business because it's just not possible to produce the products at the prices they are expected to, it makes me sad. Obviously I understand that some people are struggling to make ends meet - but those of us who can I think should pay more. OK - I'll get off my soapbox now 🙂 Lovely cakes anyway - and once again a fabulous experiment! Can't wait for the next one!! 🙂 Eb x
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain
Thank you Eb 🙂
It really is sad isn't it Eb when farmers / producers are expected to produce good quality foods for a pittance. And if the item doesn't meet up to a supermarket's expectations they are thrown onto the compost pile because the supermarket seems to think (wrongly in most cases) that we want straight veg. I don't mind wonky veg in the slightest, it puts a smile on my face 🙂 At one of the big supermarkets the other day I came across 1KG bags of carrots for about 25p (and they were no where near their best before date either.) So, it is nice when it shows that the extra we pay does reflect in the product, and I too was happy when a relatively local dairy 'won' (are you not able to buy Wensleydale butter down where you are Eb?)
I'll jump off the soap box too for the next person who may want it 😉
Thanks for popping by and leaving your lovely comment Eb,
Angela x
PS, I had to chuckle when you used the words 'hangover' and 'wine tasting' in the same sentence 😉
Angela x
Eb Gargano
Haha - that pun was definitely not made consciously 😉 Do you know I have no idea whether I can get Wensleydale butter here - I live in Sussex. I will look out for it in the shops and if I find some I will give it my very own taste test! Eb x
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain
Hahaha, you tell me anything 🙂 It'd be such a shame if you can't get it down on Sussex especially with Wensleydale being such a 'big' name anyway....I'll get a larger jiffy bag and send you a block with a slice of the bundt cake 😉
Angela x
Alison
What an interesting experiment. I never realised there was so much difference between butters
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain
Nor I Alison, I honestly expected there to be very little difference in terms of flavour in the baked cakes. I was also amazed that there was a subtle colour difference in the sponge too.
Thanks for popping by and commenting Alison,
Angela x
Hannah
This is really interesting! I've definitely heard that if you're going to splash out on one ingredient, it should be your butter - and that being said I plan to make banana bread tonight and have upgraded from Sainsbury's own to Lurpak for the occasion!
Hannah 🙂
Angela - Only Crumbs Remain
Ooh that sounds like it'll be a tasty bake Hannah 🙂 I'm definitely going to be using slightly more expensive butters when I bake items for more special occasions.
Thanks for your lovely comments Hannah,
Angela x