How to Cream Butter and Sugar (by Hand or With a Mixer) (2024)

FAQs

How to Cream Butter and Sugar (by Hand or With a Mixer)? ›

Add your sugar(s)to the butter and gently mash it into the butter with the tines of a fork. With your wooden spoon,stir the butter and sugar(s) until they are light and fluffy. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the mixture off the sides of the bowl periodically.

A stand mixer truly is the best bet for perfectly-creamed butter and sugar. If you need to use a hand-held electric mixer instead, be sure your large mixing bowl is the right size and shape so that the butter and sugar are actually being creamed, not just flung out to the sides of the bowl.

Use a fork to mix them together until they form a relatively uniform paste, then stir vigorously with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, constantly folding the mixture in on itself, until it is pale yellow and creamy, which may take up to 10 minutes.

To soften butter, beat the butter and sugar at a moderate speed for 2 to 3 minutes, and you'll be well on your way to baking perfection! Undermixed butter and sugar looks gritty and chunky, which can lead to dense cookies and cakes.

You're looking for uniform, fluffy texture and a slightly lighter color. Depending on how much butter and sugar you have, this could take anywhere from 2 to 5 minutes.

Without this step, it's nearly impossible to thoroughly mix in other dry ingredients. The butter is just too dang hard to make the dough hom*ogenous. So, if you want a cookie or cake with a uniform texture and taste, it's important to cream the butter and sugar until you reach a nice, pliable consistency.

Beat the butter and sugar together until the mixture is light in color and fluffy; this will take about 5 minutes. (Granulated sugar and butter will be pale yellow when creamed. Brown sugar creamed with butter will be light brown.)

If you beat too long and hard, the mixture will be over-creamed, becoming nearly white in color. Because it's too aerated, it can result in dense, gummy streaks in your cake when baking.

Flat Beater

It's intended for heavier, non-yeast mixtures like mashed potatoes, cakes, cookie batter, meatloaf, and frostings. It's an ace at creaming butter and sugar, which is great for fluffy cakes and homemade frosting. If you aren't sure which beater to use, then you should probably go with your flat beater.

The temperature of your butter is critical when creaming butter and sugar. Too cold, and your sugar won't properly dissolve into your butter. Too hot, and your cakes will end up flat and greasy. The magical temperature of softened butter is actually around 65℉, slightly cooler than the ambient temperature of your home.

What is the best mixer attachment for creaming butter and sugar? ›

The flat beater attachment, also known as the paddle attachment, is the most commonly used attachment for stand mixers because it is highly versatile and great for a wide variety of mixing tasks in the kitchen. If your recipe calls for ingredients to be creamed, beaten or mixed, this is the attachment to reach for.

The butter is "creamed" when it has almost doubled in mass and it has lightened to a yellowish-white color. Keep mixing on medium speed until the mix starts forming little peak-like ridges. This takes 6–7 minutes.

After the butter has softened to room temperature, put it in a small mixing bowl. Add either milk or water. Whip with a hand mixer on low speed for 1 to 2 minutes. Increase the speed to high speed, and mix for an additional 2 to 4 minutes until the butter is light and creamy.

Affix the wire whisk accessory to a KitchenAid^® stand mixer. Add heavy cream to the mixing bowl. Attach the pouring shield. Start the mixer on the slowest setting, gradually raising the speed to the fastest setting.

Moreover, a stand mixer is one of the most useful tools when it comes to creaming together butter and sugar. Creaming is a vital step to a light, well-risen cake, and most cookies. As the crystalline grains of sugar dissolve into the butter, they create pockets of air.

The Key To Creaming Butter

Your butter needs to be “room temperature”, or around 65ºF. If it is too cold, it won't blend with the sugar evenly and will be almost impossible to beat it into a smooth consistency; if it is too hot, the butter won't be able to hold the air pockets that you are trying to beat into it.

If you beat too long and hard, the mixture will be over-creamed, becoming nearly white in color. Because it's too aerated, it can result in dense, gummy streaks in your cake when baking.

Which stand mixer speed is best for creaming butter? When creaming butter, use your KitchenAid^® Flat Beater and start at speed 3 to combine the sugar and butter without causing a mess. Once the mixture is smooth and creamy, you can bump up to speed 4 or 6 to achieve light, fluffy results.