Let's talk butter

So i have always been into baking, but when it came to cupcakes it usually consisted of the funfetti cupcake mix you buy in the store. Well since i have started making my own from scratch everything matters. Sifted flour versus not sifted, unbleached versus cake flour. Do i add baking soda or baking powder. Then the most important question of all European butter versus normal butter. The salted versus unsalted butter was always a dilemma for me, that was until i made the saltest cupcakes ever when i used salted instaed of unsalted and still added salt to the mixture...YUCK. Well i am over that butter hurtle and onto the next one, what kind of butter to use. I started with just using normal unsalted butter and my cupcakes came out really good, then i saw this recipe that called for European butter. Now i had no idea there was different kinds of butter, i thought butter was butter. Well when i used European butter for the first time WOW the cupcakes tasted amazing, so so so good. Now my cupcakes were really good before but now they are so so so yummy. So why such a change? Whats so special and different about European butter that my cupcakes were so good. I have decided to do a little research and this is what i came up with.

European butter contains less water than average table butter. They also have a higher percentage of butterfat. So what does this mean for my cupcakes, well less water means the cupcakes are going to rise better. American butter contains about 80% butterfat, European style has about 85% butterfat which makes for a yummier cupcake. It is often made with cultured cream as opposed to plain, unfermented cream, which has a less complex flavor.

So when baking use European butter its a little more expensive but so much better.

So tell me what you think. When baking do you prefer american butter or european style?