Undermixed butter and sugar will look gritty and chunky. This can lead to dense cookies and cakes. It is possible to overmix the butter and sugar. If you overmix, however, the butter will separate out of the mixture and it will be grainy and soupy, so be sure to stop once your butter becomes light and fluffy.
You can skip it; but you shouldn't. Creaming the butter and sugar incorporates air into the mix; making for a fluffier product. So in short if you skip it- it won't be as good as it could be.
In creaming the butter and sugar together, you are using the sugar to aerate the butter and fill it with bubbles that can capture the gasses released by your leavener. The more fine bubbles you have in your network, the lighter in texture your cakes will be and the finer the crumb.
There's nothing you can do at this point. Discard it and start over, it's just a bit of butter, sugar and flour at the end of the day.
Not only is it an essential step in many cake and cookie recipes, but it can prevent common cake problems like crumbly textures or dense layers. Ahead, we explain the purpose of creaming butter and sugar and explain how to do it just right.
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.
It's “faster, easier, and better,” says Rose. “It has no downside.” More specifically, “not only does it emulsify better and have a more even texture,” Rose explains, “but it's more tender.” Basically, by coating the recipe's flour with butter, this method limits gluten development.
Pour hot water into a ceramic or glass cup or bowl (something that can fit over your butter). After a few minutes, dump the water out of the vessel and quickly cover your butter. The heat from the cup will soften your butter in just a few minutes.
While sugar is technically considered a “dry” ingredient, it must be mixed with “wet” ingredients, like butter, eggs, vanilla, etc. Knowing how sugar interacts with other ingredients will not only strengthen your baking abilities, but it will also ensure that your baked goods come out perfect every time.
The main purpose of the creaming method is to aerate the batter (often combined with chemical leaveners like baking powder) to lift the cake. In the heat of the oven, the cake rises from the expanding air bubbles to make a light and tender cake.
The creaming method is usually the initial and most important step in the recipe and involves beating fat/s and sugar together until the mixture is light in colour and his increased in volume. It is important for creating air, needed for leavening and thus helps to produce light and fluffy cakes.
As the first step in many recipes, creaming is important because it adds air and texture to baked goods. Creaming sugar into butter or shortening also ensures even distribution of both ingredients in cookie doughs and cake batters.
If shortening AND butter are to be creamed with sugar, initially, do not beat the two fats together; first beat the shortening, then add the butter and beat the two together. Then, the sugar should be added slowly while beating to create air bubbles held in by the fat.
Use a Fork and Spoon to Cream Butter by Hand
(If you can't find one, look for any sturdy silicone spatula or plastic mixing spoon.) Scrape down the sides of the bowl periodically, and keep on beating until the butter is fluffy and lighter in color. This may take five minutes or more.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends leaving butter at room temperature no more than two days. After that period of time, the butter can turn rancid. This will cause off flavors and unpleasant texture.
“If the butter became very soft or started to melt during its time on the counter (or in the microwave if you were speeding up the process), you can put it back in the fridge, but it may not be the best to use in your recipe,” Ryan suggests. “You may notice when it solidifies that it's separated or grainy.
How long does it take to soften butter? Setting out chilled butter at room temperature for 30 to 45 minutes prior to use gives it time to soften. The same approach works for frozen butter, though it can take a couple of hours.
It will look oily and liquidy, with a grainy texture, or may look white like whipped cream. This means it's been overmixed and cannot be used in your recipe. Watch your butter-sugar mixture carefully, keeping the speed of your mixer around medium-high so you don't accidentally mix past the point of no return.
When you overmix cake batter, the gluten in the flour can form elastic gluten strands – resulting in a more dense, chewy texture. The white batter looks airier, while the red looks thick and dense. You Can Taste The Difference: The overmixed cupcakes were gummy.
With this method, it is important to slowly incorporate the eggs and any other liquid. If too much liquid is added at once, the butter mixture can separate or become lumpy. This can ruin the final product, so it is important to take the time needed to slowly add the eggs.
With a 450-watt stand mixer set to medium speed in a 70°F kitchen, it takes about five minutes for eight ounces of 60°F butter (plus sugar) to hit the proper "light and fluffy" stage. Overworking the butter will eventually beat the air out, making your dough both dense and warm.
Creaming softened butter and sugar by hand using just a bowl and a wooden spoon is hard labor: It'll take 20 minutes compared with the mere 3-minute hands-off sprint in the mixer.