Creaming Keeps Everything Classy

• Creaming incorporates air into the butter, and that trapped air eventually translates into lighter texture and a softer crumb. Sugar crystals carve out tiny cavities in the butter, reinforcing the fatty pockets that trap the air and help to maintain the resulting structure. Creaming butter and sugar with an electric mixer takes approximately seven to 10 minutes, but you can use a wooden spoon alternatively and cream the butter and sugar by hand for 10 to 15 minutes.

Keep It Cool

• Before beginning the creaming, set some cold butter out for 10 minutes. Cut it into 1/2-inch cubes and add these to a chilled mixing bowl. Chill the mixing attachments, also, before using them. Beat the butter on medium speed for 3 minutes, then gradually add the sugar. Feel the mixing bowl as the mixer agitates the butter and the sugar. If the bowl begins to warm up, set it in the fridge for 5 minutes, or until well chilled again.

The Color of Success

• During the creaming process, the butter's volume increases and its color changes as it is aerated and uniformly mixed with the sugar. It takes on a puffy appearance and develops droopy peaks. With white sugar, the color of creamed butter approaches pale yellow to ivory. With light brown sugar, the color will be a bright tan-yellow. These visual and textural clues are like markers, denoting butter and sugar creamed to a favorable degree. Any mixing beyond this point produces clumpy butter, which is no longer reliable for baking; reserve and use for waffles or sweet toast.

Sweet, Salty Nitty Gritty

• Cream butter with granulated sugar, not powdered sugar; it's specifically the sugar crystals that help carve out and create the pockets within the fatty butter that contribute light texture to baked goods. You can affect the size of the bubbles by using sugar with a smaller crystal, such as berry sugar or bar sugar. While salted butter is okay, the salt content can throw off the salt and sugar ratio of the recipe and thus the flavor of your baked masterpiece.