How to Soften Butter Quicker

Have you ever wanted to start baking and realized that you forgot to take your butter out of the fridge to reach room temperature? It happens to me all the time! Which is why I found out this great hack to soften butter in ONLY 10 minutes!

How Long Does Butter Take to Soften?

Butter can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and 30 minutes. It depends on the temperature outside and how hot or cool you keep your home. I live in South Florida, where the temperature outside is usually pretty warm, but I keep my house cold, so it has taken me just a little over an hour to get the butter room temperature. Leaving it out for another 20 minutes will help your butter get softer, which is exactly what you’re looking for when making buttercream.

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Why Does Butter Need to be Room Temperature?

Valid question, and you might ask: “Can’t I just use cold butter?” “What’s the big deal?” The big deal is that if you start mixing up cold, straight from the fridge butter, it will not only be hard for you to mix, you might also end up with chunks of butter in your batter. Especially if you’re making frosting, you won’t have that smooth and creamy texture that you know and love.

Here are a few very simple steps to soften your butter, and it’ll only take a few minutes! That beats waiting an hour, right?

1. Take a medium-sized, microwave-safe bowl and fill it up about 2/3 of the way with water.
2. Microwave the bowl of water for about five minutes, making sure it’s really hot.
3. Once the microwave has steamed up, leave the bowl of water in there and add the butter into the microwave. Close the door, and leave the timer on for five minutes.

Three steps and you’re done!

Did this trick work for you?

Let me know in the comments! Or tag me @orlieskitchen