Yes, I do it all the time and my cakes come out perfect.
Yes
Yes, you can melt shortening and use in a cake recipe. It will change the texture and possibly add heaviness to the cake, but it will still be good.
Yes, in some cake recipes, canola oil can be substituted for shortening.
Yes, the two are interchangeable. However, oil usually results in a moister texture to the finished cake.
No but you can make American muffens with vegetable oil
Yes you can but you need to melt it first to have the correct measurement. You can also use corn oil some people say it tastes alittle wierd in a cake but it doesnt to me.
Yes, solid Crisco can be used. Not Crisco oil.
You can try replacing milk or oil in the cake recipes with either of those ingredients.
I suppose it would depend on what you are baking. I have used coconut oil to replace butter in my gluten free pineapple up-side down cake. I have not yet tried to use it for other baking, but it works beautifully in the cake recipe.
Any other vegetable oil can be substituted for soybean oil, as long as the different flavors of different oils are taken into consideration.
No.
crisco