Follow these tried and true bakery secrets to make High Domed Bakery-style muffins with your favorite from-scratch standard size muffin recipe!
So how many of you have bought a muffin at a bakery and just were in awe of high they rose without really spilling over? They domed so beautifully almost like you were getting twice as much muffin for the price of one. BONUS, right?! One thing to keep in mind, this is for MUFFIN batter, not cupcakes. There’s a huge difference between cupcakes and muffin batters folks.
…and I’m sure you went home, decided to try it by adding more baking soda/powder to your mix and instead of filling them 1/2-3/4″ of the way full, you filled them to the brim.
…and I’m sure about 6 minutes into the baking you started to smell that smell. You know that the smell. The smell of your gorgeous batter overflowing the cupcake pans and onto your oven floor.
… and I’m sure you’ve said one to 672 swear words, damning that bakery for teasing you with their perfectly high domed muffins while you’re left to scrapping burnt batter off of your oven floor.
It’s pretty basic and you’re going to love me FOREVER once I share this bakery secret with you. Actually, since you’re gonna love me forever, wanna help me open my bistro? 🙂
So here goes…
Most from-scratch muffin recipes tell you to do the following:
- Preheat oven to 325-350.
- Fill 1/2-3/4 full
- Bake 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean
Right?
Well, stop that! No, you can still make them that way but you won’t get high domed muffins.
Bakery Secrets to High Domed Muffins
There are 2 important steps here
-
Let the batter rest at least an hour or overnight in the fridge (preferred)
Do you know why you should let your muffin batter rest? During the resting period, starch molecules in the flour are absorbing the liquid in the batter.
This causes them to swell and gives the batter a thicker, more viscous consistency. Any gluten formed during the mixing of the batter is also getting time to relax, and air bubbles are slowly working their way out.
-
How you bake them temp-wise
By starting them off at such a high temperature is the initial high heat of 425 degrees F causes the batter to have greater oven spring or the rapid rise during the first few minutes of baking.
The higher heat creates a burst of steam that lifts the batter. Makes sense, huh?
Bakery-style High Domed Muffins – how do they do that?
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Ingredients
- Any from-scratch standard size muffin batter – try the Chocolate Chunk Zucchini Muffins!
Instructions
- Always use a From-Scratch muffin recipe, never boxed!
- Never use a mixer to incorporate your dry ingredients to your wet. Use a spatula or spoon. Do not over mix your batter.
- Cover your batter tightly and refrigerate for at least 1 hour (can go overnight as well).
- Preheat your oven to 425F. Yes, I know the recipe calls for 350 but trust me on this. I typically bake my muffins in the upper third of the oven. You see placing the muffins in the upper third of the oven it tends to be hotter and the heat more constant. You can most certainly use the middle rack as well if you want.
- Spray the top of your muffin pan with non-stick spray. Line the pan with cupcake/muffin liners.
- The batter will be THICK. You can gently stir it first. Just try not to deflate it. Fill the muffin papers almost ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP OF THE PAPER. (just leave about a 1/8″ from the top). Yes I know, it’s spilled over before but this works.
- If you have empty cavities in your muffin tin (not enough batter), remove the liner and add 1/2 cup water in each.
- Bake 6-9 minutes at 425. The muffins should be about a 1/4″-1/2″ above the paper. That’s the sign the heat can be turned down.
- Reduce heat to 350 (DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR TO DROP THE TEMP.. sorry for the YELLING.. lol) and bake for 6-10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out barely clean (crumbs are OK). *Note: this will depend on your actual recipe.
- Remove from the oven and cool in the pan on a rack for 1-2 minutes.
- Remove the muffins (they will be hot) from the pan and cool on the rack. Do not leave them in the pan to cool completely as the bottoms and sides will become soggy. Leaving them in the pan builds up too much moisture.
Notes
- I do NOT use boxed muffin mixes – ever nor would I recommend using this technique on a boxed mix.
- The reason why this works is the initial high heat of 425 degrees F causes the batter to have greater oven spring or the rapid rise during the first few minutes of baking. The higher heat creates a burst of steam that lifts the batter.
This works great! Thanks for the awesome directions!
★★★★★
You’re most welcome Tomi!
Best Kitchen Wishes!
My oatmeal-applesauce-chocolate chip muffin batter is resting in the fridge. I have tried starting it out on a higher temp before, but not for 9 minutes and not with overnight batter. These muffins are very hearty…heavy, even. Oh, this will be a triumph if it works! Thanks for the great article.
If you refrigerate the muffin batter overnight, does it have to be at room temperature before baking?
No it does not. I’ll add a section to the post about this.
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Would this work with any muffin recipe?
Every muffin recipe? I can’t answer that as there are bajillions out there. Plus I don’t know what recipe you’d use it on. I can tell you that on the hundreds of different ones I’ve made and other folks have, it worked.
That being said I’ve not tested it out on gluten free or vegan.
Best Kitchen Wishes.
Excellent tips, my zucchini muffins look fantastic!
★★★★★
Thank you so much Janel and YEAH!!! So happy it worked for you!
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My muffins looked like volcanoes. Wonderful
I don’t normally use muffin liners. Is this a necessity for high domed muffins?
Hi Barb,
I’ll be completely honest, I’ve never made muffins without a liner because I hate cleaning the pans LOL In all honesty, it *shouldn’t* matter if you use a liner or not but I would test it out on say 2 in the pan and see what happens. I’d love for you to let me know if it works.
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Very confusing site, it is not organized in a user friendly manner. I could never find the recipe I was looking for, although the recommendations on oven temperature, tray location and batter preparation were very useful, thanks.
I’m sorry you feel that way but each recipe and article has numerous keywords and meta tags associated with it to aid you in searching for a recipe. As someone that has worked as a Software Engineer for multiple decades these little items are important so when we redesigned this site, we took that into great consideration. Since you didn’t provide an example of “Hey I was looking for this recipe but can’t find it” I cannot help you. You need to provide what you’re searching for so I can best assist you.
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These tips are life changing. I do want to know if you would use baking soda & baking powder or just one or the other. I’ve looked at many recipes on the internet and am totally confused, because every one is different. Please explain. Thanks in advance.
You use whatever your recipe calls for. Some use both baking soda and baking powder, while others just use one over the other. Typically baking soda is used when an acidic element like sour cream, buttermilk, etc are in the mix to help activate it.
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Baking soda a when you use buttermilk, sour milk etc. Banking powder with sweet milk. I am pretty sure that is the usual rule
Made a carrot muffins recipe and tried your bakery secret method to make high dome bakery style muffins and it works! Real success for me at last! They dome so beautifully! It’s like a dream come true for me! 😄 Thanks you so much for sharing these tips. Love you forever indeed ❤️!
Yeah!!! So happy you loved the tips!
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Been longing for this secret…ooh God am so glad. Thank you 😊
You are most welcome 🙂
Best Kitchen Wishes!