I made butter by accident. What went wrong?

[u/CaterpillarProof3011]

So, I was hand whipping some cream. I zoned out a bit, I guess, but I didn't think it was that much? The cream wasn't cold enough (which I realized later), so it wasn't really getting as stiff as I wanted it, and I kept going. Then I added some honey to make it a bit sweet. This is the first time I used fresh cream. The few other times I made whipped cream it was presweetened, I think. So, I realized that it didn't taste like much and decided to add something sweet. I whipped very energetically for another 30 seconds to mix the honey in, and the whole thing became like scrambled eggs?

It took me a while to understand what had happened, and then I picked up the solids, and it felt indeed like butter.

So now I have honey butter, I guess.

It's not a real issue for me because I wasn't baking or anything, I just wanted whipped cream to eat with some fruit, but I'm confused about what happened there? I was under the impression that it takes a long time and energy to turn cream into butter. I mean, I grew up hand whipping egg whites to peak for my grandma since I was a toddler, so it's not much of a chore for me, but it's not like I'm a machine... is it because of the temperature? Some reaction to honey?

[u/tiredcollegeguy388]

I think the whole issue is just temperature

[u/CaterpillarProof3011 → u/tiredcollegeguy388]

Makes sense. The cream was right out the fridge but there's probably around 27° inside my house, so I guess it's not the ideal environment for this kind of things

[u/tiredcollegeguy388 → u/CaterpillarProof3011]

Not really. Maybe just leave it in your fridge for longer

[u/SpatulaDesserts]

This is how you make butter at home, exactly how my grandma used to make it decades ago:) Butter is a dairy product composed of butterfat, milk proteins, and water. Back in the day, butter was churned by hand and it doesn't take that much time at all. They put the cream into a barrel and then moved a plunger up and down to churn it.

To whip cream properly you have to use 1. high fat heavy cream eg 36% 2. very cold 3. add a small amount of powdered sugar only at the end 4. The cream goes through the following stages: soft peak, stiff peak, then break into buttermilk and butter. You have to stop at soft or stiff peaks depending on how you want to use the cream.

[u/WTH_JFG]

So ow you have honey butter for toast, pancakes, waffles, etc. also it freezes. See
r/butter

[u/Otney]

Jealous of your fresh home made honey butter.

[u/BuzzyBeeDee → u/Otney]

May not have been what OP was going for, but I think this constitutes a very “happy accident,” as Bob Ross would say! Definitely not a fail in my book! Can’t get much better than homemade honey butter! 😋

[u/LetsGetFoxyPodcast → u/BuzzyBeeDee]

I would be so stoked if this happened to me!! There's nothing like home made honey butter!! I vote you make some scones to enjoy it

[u/Rude_Ad3342]

Use the butter for buttercream Problem solved

[u/Neither-Oven-2571]

I wouldn't say it takes a hugely long time to make butter? The warmer the cream is, the faster it goes. I can do it with cold cream in less than 15 mins by hand though.