How to Bake With Low Fat Spread

Follow the same guidelines whether using low-fat spreads in cakes, cookies, muffins or brownies.


Low-fat spreads offer several nutritional advantages over butter -- about half the fat and calories and, if trans-fat-free, more heart-healthfulness -- but you have to work a little if you want to create a satisfying texture, moistness and flavor with them in baked goods. Low-fat spreads, which contain about 5 grams of fat per tablespoon, depending on the brand, can't do for baked goods what butter does, so you have to compensate with alternative ingredients.

Fortify Your Flavors

The fat and milk solids in whole butter contribute the richness associated with baked goods. Milk solids caramelize at around 320 degrees Fahrenheit, providing complexity and deepening flavors, and milk fat spreads during baking, melding flavors as it goes. Low-fat spread, on the other hand, doesn't produce or carry flavors like butter does, so you have to increase the amounts of flavoring ingredients by about 25 percent to compensate for it. For example, if you're making a vanilla cake that calls for 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, add 1 1/4 teaspoons when substituting low-fat spread. When adding dried spices, an extra pinch of each goes a long way in preventing a bland taste in a low-fat baked good.

Keep Things Moist

Butter contributes moisture to baked goods, while low-fat spreads don't, so cakes and cookies made with butter stay moist and soft longer. Natural sugars, such as honey or raw turbinado or demerara, naturally absorb more moisture than refined sugars do, so they make up for some of the moisture retention lost when using low-fat spread. Honey and brown sugar also produce a greater browning effect than refined sugar does, and this compensates for some of the caramelization lost when you omit butter. Substitute equal parts by volume of raw sugar for refined sugar when using low-fat spread, or substitute one-half the amount by volume of refined sugar with honey.

Maintain Texture

Low-fat spread can't produce the texture in baked goods that butter does, and it tends to impart a greasy or oily, rather than velvety, mouthfeel when used in place of it. You should never replace the entire amount of butter called for in a recipe with low-fat spread. Baked goods made entirely with low-fat spreads lack crumb, or internal texture, and have a thin, soggy consistency, instead of creamy. You can minimize textural loss by substituting only half of the butter in the recipe for low-fat spread and replacing the other half with yogurt. For the creamiest mouthfeel and best crumb, use Greek yogurt instead of regular or low-fat yogurt. Greek yogurt produces a better texture than low-fat or regular yogurt but contains more fat, too.

Make Sure It Measures Up

Baked goods made with low-fat spread aren't forgiving when it comes to measuring ingredients and overmixing. The starch from an extra tablespoon of flour, or tighter gluten strands caused by overworking a batter, negate all the efforts made to compensate for moisture and textural loss. When measuring flour for baked goods made with low-fat spreads, spoon the flour into the measuring cup and use the back of a butter knife to scrape the excess from the top. Scooping flour out of the bag with a measuring cup can add about 25 percent more flour than needed. You should also apply this method of measuring when baking full-fat items, too. Only work batters until they come together, stirring gently by hand. Electric mixers, although faster, overwork low-fat batters and produce a chewy consistency.

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