Olive oil, sunflower oil, vegetable oil....

[Leapers]

What is the healthiest oil you can use to cook food in or put into recipes?

I have a vegan cake recipe which uses oils instead of butter but i don't know which one is healthiest and i don't really want it to be too fatty a cake.

Any ideas?
Thanks

[rowanwitch]

vegetable oil is rapeseed which is easier to bake with than olive oil as it doesn't have much taste. Its what I use and I get really good results

[EcclesCake]

Sorry to disagree with Rowan but the bottles of vegetable oil in the supermarket are a blend of various oils.

Having said that I agree that rapeseed is a good, mild and healthy oil to use. Depending on the strength of other flavours in your cake olive oil may be too strong unless you use a mild one.

[rowanwitch]

I must have been lucky the ones I buy have been pure...will watch out for the blends though thanks for the warning

[pdust]

i didnt realise veg oil was rapeseed i thought they were two different things... ive made muffins loads of times with veg oil and they always turned out good :)

[cathfromsaron]

no oils or fat are good for you, some are just better! remember any oil becomes 'bad' once it has been boiled once!

i use dairy free spread in cakes and olive oil or organic sunflower to cook with!

[EcclesCake]

Perhaps I should have said are often blends.

[rowanwitch]

I never re use oil... I use butter on bread etc as nothing tastes the same although I'm trying lurpak lightest at the moment but you can't cook with it.
I use sunflower spread for baking that doesn't work with oil...some of my cookie recipes I use walnut oil just for the flavour

[chelle7272]

Olive has less fat but is not always the best for what you are cooking.

Sunflower oil has less fat than vegetable oil.

[rowanwitch]

its not the amount of fat but the type of fats Flaxseed is probably the healthiest because of the GLA content but as it is linseed the taste might put you off Olive and rapeseed are high in monounsaturated fats which are supposed to be better for you than even the polyunsaturated fats in sunflower margarine and the saturate fats in animal based products

[rojash]

"no oils or fat are good for you,"
What total bollux. Fats are an essential part of your diet.

[rabbitygirl]

I used to have a deep fat fryer and used sunflower oil. I changed to rapeseed oil having read it was a healthier option (tho deep frying generally aint that healthy!). The first time we heated the fryer up with that oil in it I noticed horrible fumes emanating from it. My eyes streamed and it was a horrible experience. I emptied the lot and went back to sunflower. I've never read anywhere of problems with rapeseed oil but it has kept me away from the stuff since.