Team meeting treats and the question of butter...

And so the challenge begins! We started with a double for our fortnightly team meeting here at Chitty's on Friday 19th June with Semolina Shortbreads (page 141) and Sticky Toffee Loaf Cake with Fudge Icing (page 58). They both went down a treat with a cup of tea:

Our next posts will tell you all about the experiences Julie and Laura had making each of these, but I thought it would be worth taking a minute to talk about butter, as both of the recipes raised a couple of buttery issues.

On page 20 of her book, Delia says she reckons she has the final work on the question of butter. It makes sense when you're using a recipe to think about when it was written. For example, when recipes called for a pinch of salt, they probably didn't know quite how bad it was for us, and when they called for 'butter', good quality alternatives hadn't been created yet. However, this doesn't mean that in any older recipe asking for butter you can substitute it for Stork because the adverts on TV tell you it's 'best for cakes'.

Delia tells us that when the first edition of her book came out in the 1970s, you had to choose between soft whipped vegetable fat which allowed you to make a beautifully light sponge with an all-in-one method, and butter which gave you the flavour you wanted. In her new edition, she suggests a compromise of 'spreadable butter' (she recommends Lurpak) in all her recipes, except where melted butter is called for in which case she calls it 'block butter' (and means an old fashioned block of real butter).

Here at Chitty's Cakes, we have always used Stork. It makes beautifully light cakes and personally, I don't miss the rich taste of butter - if I want a lemon cake I'd like it to taste of lemon, and a vanilla sponge should taste of vanilla, not butter. We always teach people in our classes that it is personal preference whether you opt for room temperature butter or Stork (straight from the fridge - a great advantage).

All of these different options can create confusion when you're following a recipe. Delia is clear - 'block butter' means butter, and 'spreadable butter' means spreadable Lurpak. But if you have a half full tub of Stork in your fridge, can you use that? I'm going to add my final word on this:

• In anything cakey, Stork works perfectly, but 'spreadable butter' will give a richer buttery taste
• In any sort of icing, if it says butter, use butter (otherwise the consistency will be all wrong)
• In anything of the biscuit family, use butter.

It's the butter policy I have followed after many years of trial and error. Having said that, I would hate to contradict Delia, so I will be seeking out some Lurpak spreadable for my first recipe that calls for it!