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.
TJ says
Just curious, can this method of resting the batter be applied to cupcake recipes? I know there’re mild differences between the two baked goods, but I’ve always been taught that cupcake batter should be baked almost immediately, as the leavening agents in the batter will be done doing their chemical reaction process & rise will not be achieved. I’m having a particularly hard time with raised domes on lemon, lime & most zesty cupcake recipes. So far, all are baking almost at the same height as the raw batter, leaving quiet an empty cupcake liner & it comes off as a portion inconsistency, when compared to our more properly baked vanilla & chocolate cupcakes.
TKWAdmin says
Hi TJ!
Check out this post I wrote (http://www.thekitchenwhisperer.net/2016/06/28/tuesdays-tip-with-the-kitchen-whisperer-cupcake-vs-muffin-difference/).
So a few things about the issues with your batters and baking:
1. Is your leavening agents fresh?
2. Are you over mixing the batter?
3. How much fat are you putting in?
4. How full are you filling them? Cupcakes should be filled no more than 3/4 full as they need to expand and rise.
5. Cupcakes you can preheat your oven to 400F. Bake just for a few to get that puff rise then reduce the temp to your baking temp. Do not open the oven door.
Best Kitchen Wishes!
Gloria says
Thank you so much for posting this information. Many years ago, a friend whose father was a baker told me about the tip to bake muffins and cupcakes at a high temp for a short period of time…but I forgot about it until I saw your post. So happy to be reminded! I tried it this morning, and the muffins definitely baked up better than my usual little squatty ones! They were better, but not impressive yet. I’m going to try another recipe because I know I’m on the right track now. The only concern I had about the recipe is that it has a wide range of times for both stages of baking: 6-9 minutes at a high temp, and then 6-10 minutes for the second stage. I realize that a range is necessary due to the different ovens people have, however, that is a pretty wide range: a 3-minute range during the first stage, and a 4-minute range for the second stage. I was pretty terrorized about not opening the oven door so as not to affect the temperature, so I ended up taking the muffins out a little early. Now I know to take them out a little later next time. I can’t wait to try this again. THANK YOU AGAIN for a winning tip!!
TKWAdmin says
Hi Gloria!
You are most welcome for this tip! I would say the best gauge to knowing when to turn the temp down is just to look through your oven door (provided you have a glass front). If the muffins are well raised above the muffin tin then you’re good to go on reducing the temperature. The 2nd stage is something you’ll have to adjust per the recipe as say chocolate muffins will bake up a bit faster than say a wetter muffin batter. Make sense?
Best Kitchen Wishes!
Cindy Costa says
Hi TKW, Can I make muffins your way out of my banana bread, zucchini bread and or pumpkin bread recipe and still get the same results? Always wondered if I could make muffins out of my bread recipes. thank you for the high domed info can’t wait to make muffins now. 🙂
TKWAdmin says
Hi Cindy!
Banana bread and quick breads have just slightly a different batter than say as a muffin. I would add a trace more leavening agent to it and also raise the temp for muffins like how I have in this tutorial. Give it a shot though.
Best Kitchen Wishes!
Rune says
Hi!
Thank you for this great advice on how to get perfectly domed muffins!
I followed these instructions somewhat. Not exactly, but almost. I got perfectly domed muffins. Not that I have baked muffins too many times, very few times, in fact. So maybe i have had them domed all the time, can’t remember.
The muffins came out perfect except from 1 thing. They were slightly rubbery, not much, but. I don’t know if that is due to the batter resting over night in the fridge, the fact that I added some corn starch to the wheat flour (to make cake flour, we don’t have such things in Norway). Or just because the “recipe” I followed made rubbery muffins. I did not follow the recipe 100%, no. Or maybe that I crushed the blueberries, so the batter got really purple, and also used a lot of them.
I do suspect it is the corn starch making the rubbery feeling. I have only made cake flour once, and then I used potato starch. But I did not have any left, so I had to use corn starch. But will never do that again. Potato starch works perfectly.
But anyway, the rubber problem was not huge, and they tasted good.
I did not dare to put them at the top racks. So I used the middle. And I threw in some water when I put the muffins in the oven, to make steam. Well, if that helped or not, I don’t know. But they got really domed, beautifully! And very crispy on top, super crispy. I guess that is from the steam, actually. Bread will get a more crispy crust when steam is added to the oven, so I guess it’s the same for muffins.
Another thing I think is important, is to NOT stir the batter after the resting period. I just dug down to the bottom to see if it had separated or something, but everything was fine. It had lots of air inside after the night over in the fridge. Like a mousse. That air will help to get a beautiful rise. If you stir the batter, all that air will be stirred away and you start from scratch again. I guess that is the main point with the resting period, to fill the batter with air pockets.
Rune says
Hi!
Thank you for this great advice on how to get perfectly domed muffins!
I followed these instructions somewhat. Not exactly, but almost. I got perfectly domed muffins. Not that I have baked muffins too many times, very few times, in fact. So maybe i have had them domed all the time, can’t remember.
The muffins came out perfect except from 1 thing. They were slightly rubbery, not much, but. I don’t know if that is due to the batter resting over night in the fridge, the fact that I added some corn starch to the wheat flour (to make cake flour, we don’t have such things in Norway). Or just because the “recipe” I followed made rubbery muffins. I did not follow the recipe 100%, no. Or maybe that I crushed the blueberries, so the batter got really purple, and also used a lot of them.
I do suspect it is the corn starch making the rubbery feeling. I have only made cake flour once, and then I used potato starch. But I did not have any left, so I had to use corn starch. But will never do that again. Potato starch works perfectly.
But anyway, the rubber problem was not huge, and they tasted good.
I did not dare to put them at the top racks. So I used the middle. And I threw in some water when I put the muffins in the oven, to make steam. Well, if that helped or not, I don’t know. But they got really domed, beautifully! And very crispy on top, super crispy. I guess that is from the steam, actually. Bread will get a more crispy crust when steam is added to the oven, so I guess it’s the same for muffins.
Another thing I think is important, is to NOT stir the batter after the resting period. I just dug down to the bottom to see if it had separated or something, but everything was fine. It had lots of air inside after the night over in the fridge. Like a mousse. That air will help to get a beautiful rise. If you stir the batter, all that air will be stirred away and you start from scratch again. I guess that is the main point with the resting period, to fill the batter with air pockets.
Mariana says
I’m currently out of cooking spray for the top of the pan (I do have liners), will it work anyway? Thanks
Reluctant Cook says
Thank you for these wonderful tips! I’m not a very good cook, and I don’t really like to cook, but I love good food (prepared, served and cleaned up by others). Unfortunately I have my family on a tight budget right now, so if I want good food I’m going to have to up my skills. Your tips changed my zucchini muffin recipe from “pretty good” to “unbeleivable”. I’m excited to try out the recipes and tips on the rest of your site. This “budget” thing may not be so bad after all!
Jackie says
What are the cooking times for mini muffins?
TKWAdmin says
Hi Jackie,
It honestly depends on the type of muffin and batter. I typically go about 10-13 minutes.
Best Kitchen Wishes!
M. Gowan says
This is great information, thank you.
Does this technique apply to all quick breads? Particularly banana bread.
M. Gowan says
This is great information. I have a question…does this technique apply to all quick breads? Particularly banana bread.
TKWAdmin says
Quick breads are different than muffins – different measurements. When I make banana bread I cook mine at 350F for 50-60 minutes with the pan more than 3/4’s full.
Best Kitchen Wishes!