I’d never use margarine for cooking with in cakes or pastry, it has to be butter. A mixture of butter and lard with pastry.
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Hi Art 
the ones you call ‘buttery ones’ often contain things like linseed oil, hydrogenated fats and even water whipped in to lighten the fat content.
They are not for me, I prefer my food to have as few processes as possible and butter falls into this category.
I use various butters for cakes depending what is on offer also trying to buy British and organic when possible .
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@Judd good man Judd I too like pure lard for making pastry but struggle to use it now I am a vegetarian though it doesn’t feel quite as bad as eating dead animals 
Unfortunately butter and lard have had a bad press for some years due to a suggested connection with LDL now largely disproved . Many people believed the hype by the multinational companies promoting ‘spreads’ many of which turned out to be full of trans-fatty acids and a lot less healthy than natural fats.
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Lard lines the gut before a night on the tiles.
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For all of my cakes I would use Sainsbury’s cooking margarine.
I use it with lard to make pastry.
Used to use white flora for my pastry but they stopped making it.
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Logan , I will try their brand when I make a sponge next week, thanks for the tip,
…I will also make a butter free sponge as well and post a pic.
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Meg, l do check the ingredients on the fats that I use for cakes. I won’t eat anything that contains hydrogenated fat.
I did check ‘l don’t believe it’s butter’ and it does not contain those bad trans fats.
After using it, l am not so sure l will purchase it again. It wasn’t bad for sponge cakes but for pastry, it was awful.
I usually use a mixture of suitable margarine and Trex and my pastry is good… well that’s what l am told!
This time, it was hard, similar to cardboard! I made Bakewell Tarts and the pastry wasn’t great.
So l am back to the drawing board!
Art, try sweet pastry for Bakewell tarts, it’s delicious.
Bake it blind first though.with baking beans so the pastry doesn’t rise and crack.
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Pauline, l did make some sweet pastry not long ago, l started a thread on it (under its French official name) on the old site.
I found it was a bit fiddly to make and it wasn’t as nice as l expected it to be.
I am wondering if it would be a bit too sweet, with the raspberry jam between the pastry base and the almond sponge?
If you have your own recipe, l would like to try it and see if it’s better than my last attempt!
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I always made it at the nursing home I worked in, they loved it , they ate it with custard as well,I have the recipe in one of my diaries somewhere, Nigella Lawson sweet pastry is great as well and yes it can be fiddly to work with.
I must get round to making that butter less sponge, I’m trying to empty my freezer at the moment, ready to put the Christmas baking in to it.
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Yes, it’s been a week now since you said you’d make one!
Perhaps, it’s best you don’t cos you have to eat it and then, like me, you’ll feel like a little Miss Piggy! 
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I will make one Art and post a picture, I could always freeze it even if it’s filled…I just have to be in the mood,
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If any of you ladies would like a judge to determine how light your sponges are or how good your pastry is, please may I volunteer for the job?
I have years of experience in sampling and I know just what to look for … as my waistline will make obvious.
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Zaphod, I usually give any leftover cake and pastry to my hens but as your need is greater, l will send you some, once l get a pigeon to deliver it to you!! 
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These are the three Bakewell Tarts l have left. They tasted better than they look!
They look ages to cook as the consistency of the sponge was very runny using the ‘I can’t believe it’s not butter’.
The larger one was the remains of the sponge and pastry that wouldn’t really have been enough to make two…
My sponge mixtures usually rise a lot more than these did.
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Oh my they do look good!
Subtle hint: I’m a sucker for a good mince pie too.
It’s not Christmas yet!! 
I do make a few mince pies but my family aren’t big fans of mince pies.
I never ate them years ago, as l didn’t like currants, sultanas etc but my taste must have changed as l like them now!
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That’s interesting, because I’m finding my taste buds changing as I age. they look lovely and spongey Art…
I make mine in a round fluted quiche tin at home…you’re making me hungry.
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So you make a large Bakewell Tart? Pauline.
I prefer single ones and this is because… l make so many one day, usually 9. I put the remainder of the pastry and sponge mixture in the fridge, then make some more, usually another 9, when the others are gone!
This way, l get fresh cakes again and not a few days old ones!
There’s a method in my madness!!
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Mine are different sizes, you can get small fluted quiche tins that would only serve one, I freeze pastry as well.
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