Vegan block butter vs margarine
Overlapping products under moving names, where the only question that predicts the result is how much fat and how much water are in the block.
The short answer
The words do not reliably distinguish two things. What predicts behaviour is the fat percentage and the form: a hard block at around eighty per cent fat behaves close to butter and can be creamed or laminated; a soft spread at sixty per cent or less is mostly water and will not do either. Both categories contain both kinds of product, which is why the label is a poor guide and the nutrition panel is a good one.
Where they differ
| Dimension | First | Second |
|---|---|---|
| What the name tells you | Marketing category, not composition. | Marketing category, not composition. |
| What actually predicts behaviour | Fat percentage and whether it is sold as a hard block. | Fat percentage and whether it is sold as a hard block. |
| Creaming | Possible at around eighty per cent fat in block form. Impossible in a soft spread. | The same test applies. |
| Lamination | Possible with a firm high-fat block; some are formulated for it. | Only with a hard block. A tub spread will not laminate. |
| Water contributed | Around a fifth in a block; up to two fifths in a spread, which changes a formulation materially. | The same range. |
Differences that do not matter
These are real distinctions that are unlikely to change your decision. They are listed so you can stop thinking about them rather than left out so the comparison looks decisive.
- Flavour. Varies enormously by brand. Varies enormously by brand.
The one rule that is worth carrying
Read the fat percentage. Around eighty per cent and sold as a block, it will behave approximately like butter — creaming, rubbing in, even lamination in some cases. Around sixty per cent and sold in a tub, it is a spread, and its extra water will slacken a dough, spread a biscuit and produce a greasy crumb in a cake.
That single number predicts more than the words on the front of the pack, and BakeHQ has a fault model for the specific failure it causes when a tub is used where a block was needed.
What neither category reliably matches is butter’s flavour or its crystal behaviour at a given temperature, so a laminated dough made with either is a different problem from one made with butter rather than an equivalent one.
Related
Compares
One side of the comparison.
One side of the comparison.