What I really want is to be able to recreate are those giant overspilling muffing tops that some restaurants manage to bake. Granted I realize they're usually 500 calories each or something but do they use special molds or trays? Please let me know!

Great tip and I trust Shirley completely but I have to wonder...do I reduce the overall cooking time as a result?

I worked at a a place that is famous for muffins and we did not use special molds. just a larger muffin tin I can remember how many oz were spec. The batter came to us frozen, that's about it. I would try the high heat trick.

@rosebud - Yup, you'll need to reduce the cooking time by a few minutes. Keep an eye on them and take them out when the tops are browned and a toothpick inserted in the middle-most muffin comes out clean.

Wow, what a timely tip! I spent the past week-and-a-half tweaking a bran muffin recipe with only marginally successful results...The prettiest ones were bitter from too much baking powder. Can't wait to try this -Thanks!

re: overspilling muffins. just fill the tin a bit more, but don't forget to butter the top of the muffin tin. bearing in mind that if you don't use the paper cups, getting the muffin out can be an issue if you can't get a knife down the side.

second note, put the muffins on a lower shelf in the oven. this directs a bit more heat to the bottom of the muffin, and less to the top.

this can applied to cupcakes as well?

Our Semi Organic Life- Kim Boyce mentions in her book, Good to the Grain, that she buys 24-ct. muffin trays and only fills every other muffin well. I guess it gives muffins room to spread and get those giant tops without crowding and baking into each other.

Of course if you want to use your standard 12-ct muffin tray you can always just bake more batches of 6 muffins. Just grease the tops (not just the muffin cups/wells) of the muffin pan and fill every other well to the top of the well.

So many recipes say to reduce the heat if baking in a dark or glass pan. That's probably causes some of the problems.

I don't make many muffins but I've found that baking cupcakes at a high heat results in those little "tongues" because the inner batter keeps expanding once the top is completely set and squirts out the side.

If, while trying this, you get peaks instead of domes - the oven's now too hot and the muffins are rising and setting too quickly. Try again with somewhere in between your original temp and 400!

When I bake muffins at 400, I get to choose between burnt on the outside or still gooey on the inside. 375 is about right in my experience. Thought this does depend on the wetness of the batter-- runnier batter needs a higher temp, but drier batter is in danger of burning at higher temps.

This book is a wonderful, I remember reading that tip and it blew my mind! That's actually the same tip I read for a few madeleine recipes - start with a higher temperature, then reduce it slightly, to get this 'madeleine' dome.

25min baking time. First 5min is almost for heat transfer. Next 10 min steam and CO2 generation which leads to raising and doom formation. Rest for proper baking and little more raising. I use 400F for the first 12-15 min and reduce to 350F for the rest. Baking time reduced by 3-5 min in the recipe. When complete, switchoff the oven but dont take out the dish. Leave the oven door ajar for 5min. Slow cooling helps to retain the volume and structure. Sudden cooling makes any cake to collapse a bit.

lol! doom formation! i had to think about that one :)

Getting rid of the baking cups and just greasing the muffin pan will help as well. With the hot oven "spring", the batter will naturally want to move upwards. Paper cups will hold the batter down... probably not a huge difference but it's noticeable.

thank you for this post! I have been trying to perfect a chocolate chip banana muffin recipe recently, one of the goals to have a larger top. One question-most people are saying to ditch the paper liners. Don't they help keep the muffin moist? I freeze the muffins to use as a grab n go breakfast. I don't need the liners?

I have a cookbook that also says if you grease the sides of the muffin cups when the recipe doesn't specifically call for it, you can end up with those flat edges and a funny peak in the middle; the reason being that a lot of muffin batters rise at least partly by clinging to the side of the pan. So grease the bottom and half an inch max up the sides, not more.

I used to bake professionally so I've made lots of muffins in my time! I do a similar thing with a slight difference - I preheat the oven to about 220ºC (about 430ºF), put the muffins in and IMMEDIATELY turn the oven down to 200ºC (about 390ºF). Muffins in a normal-sized tin take 20 minutes in my oven, and always turn out perfectly with a beautifully domed top.