Creaming Butter and Sugar

Beat soft butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, and find out how those tiny air bubbles help cookies and cakes rise.

Creaming means beating soft butter and sugar together, and many cookie and cake recipes start this way. It is where a lot of a bake's rise begins.

You will learn

• How soft the butter should be
• How to tell when creaming is done
• Why creamed butter turns pale and fluffy

What you need

• Softened butter
• Sugar
• A big bowl
• A wooden spoon
• A rubber spatula
• Your grown-up

Steps

1. Soften the butterLet the butter sit out of the fridge until it softens. When it is time to bake, wash your hands first, and check every ingredient with your grown-up for allergies. Softened means still cool, but your finger leaves a dent when you press it. Melted or shiny butter cannot hold air.
2. Beat the butterBeat the butter in a big bowl with a wooden spoon until smooth. If you use an electric mixer, your grown-up runs it.
3. Add the sugarAdd the sugar and keep beating. By hand this takes a few minutes and some muscle, so take turns. Scrape the bowl with a spatula now and then, only while any mixer is off.
4. Look for pale and fluffyIt is done when the mix turns a paler color and looks soft and fluffy. If it still looks yellow and heavy, keep going. No tasting the raw dough or batter.
5. Why it worksSugar crystals have tiny sharp edges that cut little pockets into the butter. The pockets fill with air, which makes the mix pale and fluffy. In the oven, the bubbles grow and help your bake rise.

Try it

• 
  Junior Bakers

  Vanilla Cupcakes

• 
  Junior Bakers

  Vanilla Brown Sugar Cookies

Check yourself