salted or unsalted

[silly moo]

Can anybody tell me what difference it makes to your cakes if you use salted or unsalted butter?
I was planning to make a sunken choc souffle type cake but forgot to buy unsalted butter.
I don't have butter usually, use 'cant believe its not butter' for ease of spreading, and stork for baking.
Can I use either of these and which one?
Many thanks

[Clanad]

This, from our cookbook, which I consider fairly authoritative:

The amount of salt in a stick of butter can vary, which can cause problems in your cooking. Salted butter can contain as much as 3 percent salt, or about 3/4-teaspoon per stick. But it may be half that for another brand or in another part of the country. So you can wind up pretty easily not knowing how salty your finished dish will be. There are some recipes for which you would only use unsalted, such as buttercreams or butter sauces. For most baking, however, you can use salted or unsalted butter. Most bakers prefer unsalted butter, though, because it gives them more control over the amount of salt in the recipe.

Salt was originally added to butter as a preservative, so in times past, unsalted butter was quite likely to also be fresher butter, but with the rate at which products fly off grocery store shelves now, it is almost certainly no longer the case.

So, it seems for baking purposes, it really doesn't matter that much...

[Xollob]

Clanad is right, of course, when he says that the amount of salt in salted butter can vary. I don't know if this is still available in the UK or if the salt content is the same, but 10 - 20 years ago you just couldn't beat the combination of toasted granary bread and Anchor butter. However, I certainly wouldn't use Anchor (or any other salted butter) for cakes or other sweet recipes.

I suggest you don't risk ruining a good chocolate souffle and use unsalted butter with (literally) a pinch of salt. And look at the list of ingredients of "I can't believe..." and ask yourself: "do I really want all these additives?" There is far too much filth out there peddled by the multinationals that is at best superfluous.

Use butter (salted or unsalted, depending on the context) and enjoy.