The Creaming Method in Baking
The creaming method is one of the fundamental processes of baking and many cakes and cookies use this method! To make ourselves better at baking, it’s important to understand the science behind why we bake the way that we bake. So, read on to learn all about the what, how, and why of the creaming method in baking!
What is the creaming method in baking?
The creaming method is a fundamental baking technique used in many cakes and cookies (and sometimes cake like batters for muffins or donuts) to create light and fluffy baked goods. It’s an easy three step process of beating fat and sugar together, adding eggs, and alternately adding in dry and wet ingredients. This method prevents your baked goods from being dense bricks and enables them to be light and airy with a good mouthfeel and texture.
Equipment & Ingredients Used for the Creaming Method
- Granulated sugar: The sugar granules slice through the butter creating tiny air pockets to help aerate your baked goods.
- Butter: The butter shouldn’t be fresh from the fridge but lightly softened.
- Eggs and flavorings: Included in the second step and flavorings can be added alongside the eggs.
- Dry ingredients: Includes flour, salt, and leaveners, and added alternately with the wet ingredients.
- Wet ingredients: Can include milk, water, or buttermilk and usually only needed for cakes and not cookies.
- Hand or stand mixer: needed to do all that creaming! Mixing by hand will never achieve the same results that an electric mixer, hand or stand, will.
What Desserts Use the Creaming Method
Many different cakes and cookies use the creaming method depending on the type of cake and how much air it should have. For example, a chiffon or genoise would not use the creaming method while a basic chocolate, vanilla, or pound cake would use the creaming method. Most cookies use the creaming method (without the liquids part) with the exception of certain cookies and recipes.
How to Bake Using the Creaming Method
Why do we use the creaming method in baking?
The creaming method is one specific way to incorporate air into your cakes and cookies using the basic ingredients of butter, sugar, eggs, flour, and milk. This method adds a medium amount of air, perfect for pound cakes, bundt cakes, cookies, and a general, all around cake. Chiffon, genoise, or lady finger cakes do not use a creaming method as those cake types require more air. Without a way to incorporate air, your cakes and cookies would be dense and tough in texture. Air is incorporated in multiple ways: beating the butter with the sugar, the leavening agents, and by sifting the flour.
Cream the butter and sugar
The first step is beating together the sugar with the butter. The sugar crystals slice through the butter leaving behind micro pockets of air suspended in the fat. These air pockets help leaven your baked good in multiple ways. The leavening agents (like baking soda or baking powder) will fill up those air bubbles with carbon dioxide while baking. The melting butter will also create steam which will also fill up those air bubbles. This is part of the reason why your baked goods rise in the oven and rise is crucial to having good texture and mouthfeel.
Always use lightly softened butter. If it’s too cold then the sugar cannot slice through as easily and will create less air bubbles. Too soft and there won’t be enough resistance for the sugar to create air pockets. You should be able to put a good dent in the butter with a firm pinch. On medium to medium high speed, beat the butter and sugar until it is pale yellow, fluffy, a little gritty, and still cool. Time will depend on many different factors, so make sure to keep an eye on it. Also, make sure to frequently scrape down the bowl and any attachments, especially before moving onto step two.
Add the eggs one at a time
You can add your liquid flavorings like extract with the eggs and let them pour in naturally. I like to crack my eggs in a separate bowl to avoid any spoilage or egg shells. Reduce the speed to medium low and add your eggs one at a time scraping the bowl and any attachments between each addition and mixing until incorporated each time. Adding your eggs one at a time helps keep the emulsion you have going on with the air and fat and sugar. Dump them all in at once and you risk deflating your creamed butter and sugar.
Alternately add in the wet and dry ingredients and bake
Keeping the speed on medium low, alternately add in the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients. Because keeping the balance and stability of the batter is important, we always want to add alternately with 3 parts dry and 2 parts wet. Always start and end with the dry ingredients to balance out the liquidity of the batter, especially since the previous step was adding liquidy eggs. Again, make sure to scrap the bowl and attachment(s) frequently. The key here is to not overmix the flour which causes gluten activation and thus toughness. Only mix until mostly combined and then fully combined at the end.
Most cookies do not have any liquids to add at this stage so you would be just dumping all the dry ingredients into the bowl and mixing just until combined. Incorporating air is not as important for cookies as it is for cakes, so it’s okay to not add in stages. If the batter or dough has any add ins, gently fold in at the end. Post mixing, bake as soon as you can. Waiting to bake can cause deflation and over activation of the leavening agents.
Getting hung up or lost on all the baking terminology? Study up here.
Do’s and Dont’s For the Creaming Method for Baking
- Don’t use fresh from the fridge cold butter because the sugar crystals will have a hard time slicing through to create air pockets. And don’t use super soft butter either because there won’t be enough resistance between the butter and the sugar to create those micro air bubbles. The butter should be lightly softened where a firm pinch will create a dent.
- Do scrape down your bowl and any attachments frequently to ensure no ingredient gets left behind and unmixed. And don’t forget the very bottom! Butter and sugar tends to get stuck there, and you’ll be left with pockets of melted butter with your baked good.
- Don’t rush through the process dumping all the ingredients in at once. You will destroy any incorporated air throughout the mixing process, or worse, separate your batter!
- Do alternately add in the dry and wet ingredients, always starting and ending with the dry. This helps keep the batter stable.
Frequently Asked Questions:
- What is the creaming method in baking? The creaming method is a three step baking technique used to incorporate a medium amount of air into baked goods. While not all cakes and cookies use this method, most do and is important to understand the science behind the creaming method to improve your baking.
- Why do people use the creaming method? People use the creaming method because it helps incorporate air into many cakes, cookies, and other baked goods. Incorporating air allows for a lighter and more airy texture as opposed to a dense and tough one.
- What happens if you don’t cream butter and sugar properly? If you don’t cream butter and sugar properly then you will not incorporate enough air into your batter or dough. If you do not incorporate enough air then your baked good may be more dense and tough in texture and moutfeel.
Have another question? Reach out and I’ll try to answer it for you!
