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    Home » Tips and Tricks

    How To Cream Butter

    Published: Feb 14, 2023 · Modified: Feb 22, 2023 by Jere Cassidy · This post may contain affiliate links. · 5 Comments

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    A Pinterest pin for How to cream butter with a text overlay.

    Creating cake, cookies, and other baked goods that are light and tender begins with a simple technique called Creaming Butter. This is an important first step in recipes and it's simple to do.

    Creamy butter in a white mixing bowl with a white spatula next to it.
    How to cream butter and sugar

    This page may contain affiliate links, please see my full disclosure for policy details. I earn commissions if you shop through the links on this page.

    If you are new to baking or a seasoned baker I am sure you have recipes that say, cream butter and sugar together. So what is creaming in baking?

    • The creaming process involves beating room temperature butter and sugar together with a mixer at a moderate speed until it is well blended, with a fluffy texture, and is pale yellow in color.
    • While there are some recipes that just want the butter to be creamed, most recipes want both butter and sugar, and this can be with white granulated sugar, brown sugar, or powdered sugar.
    • When butter and sugar are creamed together, pockets of air are created that aerate the batter which helps your baked goods be tender and fluffy.
    • Beating sugar into the butter helps dissolve it, creating a smooth mixture. This step is especially important when working with granulated sugar, which can remain grainy if not creamed properly.
    Jump to:
    • How to get butter to room temperature?
    • How can you tell if butter is at room temperature?
    • To cream butter, you will need the following ingredients and tools
    • How to cream butter and sugar together
    • How long to cream butter and sugar
    • These recipes use creamed butter and sugar
    • Creaming Questions!
    • More to make and eat!
    • Follow One Hot Oven

    How to get butter to room temperature?

    Before you start the creaming process the butter needs to be at room temperature for the best results. Take the butter out of the refrigerator for a half hour to an hour to get it warmed up. Of course, this depends on the temperature of your kitchen.

    If you need to get the butter at room temperature fast there are several methods

    1. Get a tall glass and fill it with very hot water and let it sit for a minute, then dump out the water and invert the hot glass over the stick of butter. The heat from the glass will soften the butter.
    2. Cut the butter into slices which will take less time to get to the right temperature.
    3. Microwave at 5-second intervals. Place the butter on a plate and microwave for 5 seconds, then turn the butter over and microwave again. Press the butter with your finger to test if it is soft, if not, turn the butter onto another side and microwave again for 5 seconds.

    How can you tell if butter is at room temperature?

    • You can tell when butter is at room temperature by gently pressing it with your finger or a spoon and it makes a small indentation. If your finger or spoon sinks way down into the stick of butter then it's too warm and will not cream properly.
    • The butter should still be slightly cool and the butter temperature should be about 65 degrees F. which is cooler than your kitchen.

    This butter is still too hard to cream

    Pressing a spoon into a stick of butter.
    Checking butter temperature
    A stick of butter on it's wrapper.
    This butter is not at room temperature

    This butter is at room temperature and ready to cream

    Checking softness of butter with a tablespoon.
    Checking the softness
    A stick of butter with a divit in it showing it's soft.
    Room temperature butter

    To cream butter, you will need the following ingredients and tools

    Ingredients

    • Butter (softened to room temperature)
    • Sugar
    Butter, sugar in a blue bowl, and a white mixing bowl.
    How to cream butter and sugar

    Tools

    • Large mixing bowl
    • Handheld electric mixer or a stand mixer

    How to cream butter and sugar together

    Step 1. Slice the room-temperature butter and add it to a large mixing bowl.

    Step 2. I prefer to cream just the butter first by starting the mixer on medium-low speed to break down the butter, then increase the speed to medium and beat for about one minute until you have creamy butter.

    A white bowl with cubed butter.
    Cube the butter first
    A white bowl with mixed butter and beaters.
    Creamed butter

    Step 3. Add the sugar to the beaten butter and mix on medium speed to incorporate the butter and sugar. At this stage, the mixture is chunky and grainy.

    Mixing sugar and butter in a white mixing bowl.
    Butter and sugar
    Creamed sugar and butter in a white mixing bowl.
    Creamed for 30 seconds

    Step 4. Scrape the sides of the bowl then increase the mixer speed to medium-high and mix for 2-3 minutes. The mixture will start to become smooth.

    Step 5. Scrape the bowl and mix for another 2-3 minutes. The mixture will become very smooth, light, and fluffy and become a pale yellow color.

    A white mixing bowl with creamy butter.
    Butter and sugar beaten for 2 minutes
    Scraping a bowl with creamed butter with a white spatula.
    Butter and sugar beaten for 5 minutes

    How long to cream butter and sugar

    Most recipes just say to cream the butter and sugar together, but there is more to it than just mixing them together. In order to get the right texture, the creaming process can take about 5 minutes with a handheld mixer, or 2-3 minutes with a stand mixer.

    This long creaming process dissolves sugar creating a smooth mixture. This step is especially important when working with granulated sugar, which can remain grainy if not creamed properly.

    • Tip 1 - If your butter and sugar look and feel gritty then you have not mixed it enough. Undermixed creamed butter can make your finished product dense.
    • Tip 2 - If you have over creamed the butter and sugar you will know because most likely the butter will get melty and separate from the sugar and have a grainy texture.

    These recipes use creamed butter and sugar

    This Mandarin Orange Bundt Cake is light, fluffy, and full of mandarine pieces.

    These Iced Lemon Cookies are chewy and with a bold taste of lemon.

    This Peanut Butter Cupcakes are a bit indulgent and so delicious with caramel buttercream frosting.

    This Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Buttercream uses cream butter in the cake batter and the frosting.

    Creaming Questions!

    Can you cream brown sugar the same way as white sugar?

    Yes, it is the same process, beat the butter and brown sugar for 5 minutes. The mixture will be pale brown in color.

    Can you cream butter and sugar by hand?

    You can and it will take some arm strength. Use a fork to smash the butter then incorporate the sugar with a wooden spoon and stir and mix for about five minutes to get the mixture light and fluffy.

    More to make and eat!

    • Butterhorn Recipe with Cottage Cheese
    • Crescent Roll Cinnamon Rolls
    • Ranch Pasta Salad with Bacon
    • St. Patricks Day Cookies

    Follow One Hot Oven

    A white bowl with creamed butter and spatula.

    How To Cream Butter

    Jere' Cassidy
    Cake, cookies, and other baked goods bake up light and tender when you start with creamed butter and sugar. Learn the easy process to make light, fluffy, and pale yellow-colored creamed butter.
    5 from 46 votes
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 10 mins
    Total Time 10 mins
    Course How to
    Cuisine American
    Servings 1 batch

    Equipment

    • 1 large mixing bowl
    • 1 Hand Mixer
    • 1 Stand mixer optional
    • 1 rubber spatula

    Ingredients
      

    • 1 cup butter room temperature
    • ½ cup granulated sugar can use brown sugar or powdered sugar

    Instructions
     

    • Slice room-temperature butter and add it to a large mixing bowl.
    • With the mixer on medium-low speed start mixing the butter to smooth it out, then increase the speed to medium and beat for about 1 minute until the butter is creamy.
    • Add the sugar to the butter and mix on medium speed to incorporate the butter and sugar. At this stage, the mixture is chunky and grainy.
    • Scrape the sides of the bowl then increase the mixer speed to medium-high and mix for 2-3 minutes. The mixture will start to become smooth.
    • Scrape the sides of the bowl, and mix for another 2-3 minutes on medium-high speed until the butter and sugar are light and fluffy and the color is a pale yellow.
    • From this point, follow your recipe to add other ingredients.

    Notes

    Using a stand mixer
    If you prefer to use a stand mixer use the paddle attachment.  Because a stand mixer is more powerful than a handheld mixer the overall mixing time should only take about 2-3 minutes.
    Using brown sugar or powdered sugar
    If your recipe calls for these sugars the same process, as shown above, will work.
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

    Thank you for stopping by the One Hot Oven blog.  Please leave a comment to say Hello or just let me know what you are baking these days, I always love hearing from fellow bakers.  Have any questions or just want to chat about the recipe? Please visit my about page for information, and I’ll be happy to help!

    About Jere'                             

    From learning to cook on a farm in Indiana to culinary school in California, my passion for food is never-ending.  Turning on my oven to bake something for friends and family is my happy place, and I am glad to be here at One Hot Oven sharing both sweet and savory family-friendly recipes for your cooking and baking inspiration.

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      Recipe Rating




    1. GRETA TALAS

      February 16, 2023 at 4:00 pm

      5 stars
      I used it for my son's cake and it came out super delicious. Everybody loved it. It was easy to make, quick, and for sure not a one-time being made. Highly recommended

      Reply
    2. Liz

      February 16, 2023 at 12:59 pm

      5 stars
      For some reason I expected this to be hard but it really wasn't! Thanks for the clear instructions!

      Reply
    3. Jennifer

      February 16, 2023 at 10:35 am

      5 stars
      Thank you for the tips! What seems so simple has always tripped me up but you've turned me into a chef!

      Reply
    4. Addison

      February 16, 2023 at 10:25 am

      5 stars
      This method is so easy to understand and great for all of my baking needs! Thank you for explaining it so well.

      Reply
    5. Vladka

      February 16, 2023 at 10:14 am

      Thanks for a clear and easy tutorial. I am not an advanced baker so this came helpful.

      Reply

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    Jere Cassidy owner of One Hot Oven.

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