Soft butter at about 65 °F, the flat beater, and medium speed for 3 to 5 minutes until the mixture is pale and fluffy. It is a job of time, not power — a hand mixer does it as well as a big stand mixer.
What creaming actually does
Sugar crystals cut tiny air pockets into the butter, and the fat holds them. Those bubbles expand in the oven and give cakes and cookies their lift and tender crumb. More time at a moderate speed means more, smaller bubbles — high speed does not do it faster.
How to cream butter and sugar
- Butter at about 65 °F — soft enough to dent, still cool.
- Flat beater, or standard beaters on a hand mixer.
- Start on low for a few seconds to combine, then medium.
- 3 to 5 minutes, scraping the bowl once or twice.
- Stop when pale, fluffy and increased in volume.
- Add eggs one at a time, beating each in before the next.
What goes wrong
Butter too warm — greasy, shiny, will not hold air: chill the bowl 10 minutes and try again. Butter too cold — lumpy: let it sit, or beat on low until it softens. Curdled after adding eggs — the eggs were cold: use room-temperature eggs, or add a spoonful of the flour.
What it asks of the mixer
Low load, long running time. Any working hand mixer or stand mixer has the power; what matters is a steady medium speed and a beater that reaches the bowl. A flex-edge beater scrapes as it turns — on this site the KitchenAid KFE5T at $29.95, the New Metro BeaterBlade at $28.99 for 5-quart bowl-lift models, and the Vaxaape flex-edge beater at $9.99 for tilt-head models.
Hand mixer or stand mixer
Both cream well. A stand mixer frees your hands for the 3 to 5 minutes; a hand mixer takes a minute or two longer. The Hamilton Beach Classic at $62.95 is both in one. See the stand mixers page and can I make meringue with a hand mixer.
Prices quoted in this text were read on 2026-10-18. The live price is at the top of the page.
What readers want to know
How long should I cream butter and sugar?
About 3 to 5 minutes on medium speed in a stand mixer, 4 to 6 with a hand mixer, scraping the bowl once or twice. It is done when the mixture is noticeably paler, fluffy and has grown in volume, and feels only slightly gritty between your fingers.
How soft should the butter be?
Soft enough to dent with a finger, but still cool — about 65 °F. That usually means 30 to 60 minutes out of the fridge. Butter that is greasy or shiny is too warm and will not hold air; cold butter breaks into clumps instead of creaming.
Which beater should I use for creaming?
The flat beater on a stand mixer, or the standard beaters on a hand mixer. The dough hook is for bread and the wire whip for cream and egg whites. A flex-edge beater with a silicone scraper — such as the KitchenAid KFE5T for tilt-head mixers — saves stopping to scrape the bowl.
Last reviewed 18 October 2026