It is not insurmountable at all — the butter is too warm. It doesn’t have to be straight from the refrigerator, but if the butter is at room temperature, especially on a warm summer day, the batter will be too loose, greasy and will resemble curds. With cooler butter, you have to use more elbow-grease to cream the butter and sugar together, but that is a vital step, and although our children can’t imagine it, people have been doing it by hand for generations. After the butter and sugar are really well blended, add an egg and mix thoroughly to incorporate it before adding the next one.

And would it be out of line to ask you to share the recipe with the rest of us???