Extra-Virgin vs. Extra-Light Olive Oil

• First of all, don't confuse extra-light olive oil with the extra-virgin olive oil used to drizzle on garlic bread or flavor pasta dishes. Extra-virgin olive oil tastes like olives and takes on a green cast. Manufacturers filter extra-light olive oil to remove the concentrated particulates that create the olive flavor, leaving an oil with a lighter color and virtually no olive flavor. Adding extra-virgin olive oil to a cake mix causes the cake to taste salty or slightly like olives.

Substitution Guidelines

• Because liquid cooking oils react the same way in baking recipes, any liquid oil can be substituted for any other using a 1 to 1 ratio. When a cake mix calls for vegetable oil, substitute an equal amount of extra-light olive oil in its place. Additionally, dab a bit of extra-light olive oil on a paper towel and grease the pan lightly with it instead of using cooking spray if needed. If the cake mix calls for melted butter, use the amount of liquid butter, not the solid, when measuring the extra-light olive oil.

Benefits

• Extra-light olive oil creates a tender, moist cake from a cake mix. Substituting olive oil, a monounsaturated fat, for trans fats such as partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, yields health benefits over time like lowering the levels of bad cholesterol, or LDL, in the body. Some tasters report a richer flavor from cake mixes baked with extra-light olive oil than from those baked using other vegetable oils.

Cautions

• Never substitute extra-light olive oil, or any liquid oil, for a solid fat such as unmelted butter or shortening. Some recipes require that the fat stay solid at room temperature, and olive oil stays liquid at room temperature. Purchase extra-light olive oil that specifically lists its mild flavor and appears mostly colorless for best results, otherwise the cake might taste like olives.