The best way to do it well and repeatedly is to use the scraper beater that comes with this mixer. The scraper beater scrapes the butter from the sides while it mixes to beat it all at the same time. WARNING – this is about 3 times faster than using the metal beater so keep an eye on it the first time you do it. Make a note of how long it takes then next time, set the mixer’s timer and it will turn off when it’s done so you don’t over mix.
Cream your butter faster for fluffier results!
The key to good aeration is to not over mix.
Mixing acts to heat and soften the butter and, because warm butter can’t trap air very well, if you mix it too much you start to beat the air back out of the butter. Be that as it may, the key to breaking the sugar crystals down is giving them a good beating.
So how do you dissolve crystals and still trap the air?
The key is to stop the butter from sticking to the walls of the mixer and not to over mix. If butter’s stuck to the walls, the stuff in the middle gets over mixed while you end up under mixing the sides. This means less air in the middle and more crystals on the outside.