The complete guide to baking fats

Butter (227 g per cup)

Butter is the gold standard of baking fats. It contains about 80% fat and 20% water and milk solids. The water creates steam during baking, which helps pastry layers separate and cakes rise. The milk solids brown and add flavour. No other fat replicates butter's taste completely.

Butter can be used cold (for flaky pastry), at room temperature (for creaming with sugar in cakes), or melted (for dense, fudgy brownies). Temperature matters — using cold butter when a recipe calls for softened butter, or vice versa, changes the texture significantly.

Vegetable oil (218 g per cup)

Vegetable oil is 100% fat with no water. This makes baked goods moister than butter — oil coats the flour proteins and prevents gluten from developing as much, producing a tender, moist crumb that stays soft longer. Carrot cake and banana bread are classic oil-based recipes.

Oil cannot be creamed with sugar, so it does not work in recipes that rely on that technique for structure. It is also flavour-neutral, which is either an advantage (when you want other flavours to shine) or a disadvantage (when you want richness).

Coconut oil (218 g per cup)

Coconut oil behaves like butter at cool temperatures (solid) and like vegetable oil when warm (liquid). It adds a mild coconut flavour and produces a slightly denser, more crumbly texture than vegetable oil. It works well in vegan baking as a butter substitute.

Shortening (190 g per cup)

Vegetable shortening is 100% fat with no water and no flavour. It produces extremely tender, stable baked goods — classic for pie crusts and American-style buttercream frosting. Because it has no water, it does not produce steam, which means less rise but more tenderness.

Ghee (220 g per cup)

Ghee is clarified butter — the water and milk solids have been removed, leaving pure butterfat. It has a rich, nutty flavour and a higher smoke point than butter. In baking, it produces a denser, richer result and adds a distinctive flavour.

Why measuring fats by weight matters

Solid fats like butter and shortening are particularly difficult to measure by cup — air pockets form inside the measuring cup, meaning the actual amount varies. A cup of cold butter packed into a measuring cup can have 10–20g of air gaps. Always weigh solid fats for consistent results.