I decided to make a cake yesterday. It called for softened butter, but all we had were sticks of butter straight from the fridge. Without a microwave, I needed a way to soften the butter. I took a gratin dish, filled it half way with hot water from the tap and put the sticks of butter in for about 20 seconds on each side. And viola, softened butter. All the other techniques have yielded melted butter, not softened.
