Olive Oil and Chocolate Cupcakes

[dshantel]

So a few days ago I was really craving something yummy and chocolaty. I looked in my cabinets to see what I had that I could make and I found a s'mores cupcake mix that my aunt had given me about a week before. I personally prefer to bake from scratch but at the moment I do not have everything to do that, so I'll take what I can get. I was excited to try these. I get everything that I need to make them and set it out so that I can begin only to realize that I do not have any vegetable oil. What a bummer. I have everything except one ingredient. Oil is something that you can't just forget about when making a cake mix. So I'm thinking and wondering what I could do, I don't have Crisco at the moment either. I do however have olive oil and coconut oil. I thought about trying the coconut oil but it's more of a solid oil than a liquid unless you melt it. I decided to give the olive oil a try. I really wanted my sweet treats. I wasn't sure if it would work or if it would affect the taste or smell. I used the same amount of olive oil that I would with the vegetable. Mixed everything up and baked the cupcakes. When I opened the oven there was a bit of olive oil aroma but it wasn't too strong. I let them cool off and then I added the frosting. I was afraid to try them at first but what did I have to lose? I bit into one and I was surprised, they were really good. More moist than most other cupcakes or cakes I get from a box. There was no taste of olive oil. I have found a way to make my cakes more moist and I like it. So I think I'll be sticking with the olive oil from now on. Has anyone else experimented with other types of oil in baking?

 

[Kitty Reeves]

I generally use olive oil in everything, because it's the only oil I have, haha. I mainly only use either canola oil or olive oil. Though, a word of warning; olive oil only works in baked goods if the main flavor of the baked good is a strong one. Chocolate, has a strong taste which will always over power any olive oil taste. However, very light things, like fluffy vanilla cupcakes, will taste a little off because of the strength of the olive oil. I usually combat that buy adding a bit more vanilla then a recipe calls for.