Burnt-Butter Cupcakes From Nigella
I fell in love with Nigella Lawson’s baking book, How to be a Domestic Goddess, from the moment I first saw it. The pictures are gorgeous, the recipes seem simple and delicious, and from a writer’s standpoint, the title is just brilliant. At first, I really loved Nigella. That unabashed love turned a little dubious after actually watching her cook on her Food Network shows Nigella Feasts and Nigella Express. From her sometimes unreasonable instructions (“Just cook the whole chicken for five minutes till it’s done.”) to the way she makes things a little uncomfortable by looking directly into the camera and seductively purring “The tender, succulent meat will be just dripping off the bone,” there’s just something… amiss. One moment, I’m charmed; the next moment I’m thinking “What the…?” The closing scene of each show when she opens the fridge in her bathrobe for a midnight snack? That’s either genius or crazy. So basically what I’m trying to say is I started baking these cupcakes with one very inquisitive eyebrow raised.
The result? Well, it’s mixed — a lot like my feelings for Nigella. There were some beautiful aspects of these cupcakes. The cupcakes? Pretty tasty. The icing? Incredible. There were also some seriously out of whack aspects of this recipe that must be discussed, so here’s everything you need to know about Nigella before proceeding…
Nigella wants you to get dirty.
Well, it’s more like she wants to get every dish in your house dirty. I don’t know if I just wasn’t being smart about it, but it seemed like I dirtied every dish in my cupboards making these.
Nigella either lives somewhere very cold, or she lies big time.
In the instructions, it says to preheat the oven and then start burning the butter in a saucepan. Now, she does give a little warning to those in warmer climates saying that you might want to wait to start pre-heating the oven until after you’ve burned the butter because it will obviously take longer to solidify again. Umm, right Nigella. Try four hours longer. That liquified butter just sat there. It’s warm in Texas, but not that warm in my air conditioned kitchen. I’m sensing a flaw in this recipe.
Nigella doesn’t like her friends.
The recipe is supposed to yield 12 cupcakes. Meticulously following the recipe and using a normal sized cupcake tin, I was able to eek out 10 half-filled cupcakes. This turn of events was crushing. I should have probably seen this coming, based on the fact that the batter is really only 1 1/2 sticks of butter and 3/4 cup of flour plus some tablespoons of sugar, eggs, and flavoring. That’s not a lot of stuff to deal with. Let’s just say that all that excitement going on in the kitchen to produce only 10 small cupcakes made some people in our house very unpleased (mostly me, but oh well…)
Nigella knows how to make a mean frosting.
The cupcakes were a little dense. I think it’s because there wasn’t very much flour in them. (Faithful readers would be very proud to know I kept my resolution and used cake flour instead of all-purpose!) So while the cupcakes weren’t the best ever, the burnt butter frosting was supreme. Later, I actually ended up making another batch of cupcakes (Betty Crocker from the box) and using the extra frosting on those. *sigh* C’est la vie.
Keeping these points in mind, I’d make these again (doubling the batch and burning the butter further in advance). I think there’s a lot of promise here, especially with the frosting. It’s fantastic. Burnt butter has a rich, sweet flavor that’s unlike anything else. As for Nigella in general, I think the verdict is still out. I’ll let you know next time I make another recipe of hers…
Burnt-Butter Brown Sugar Cupcakes
From How to be Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking
For the cupcakes:
1/2 c. plus 2 tbsp. unsalted butter
3/4 c. self-rising cake flour
3 tbsp. sugar
5 tbsp. light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. baking powder
2-3 tbsp. milk
12-cup muffin pan lined with 12 paper baking cups
For the icing:
1/2 c. plus 2 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 2/3 to 2 c. confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2-3 tbsp. milk
Preheat the oven to 400°F and then get on with burning your butter. Put it in a small saucepan on medium heat, stirring all the time until it turns a dark golden color. Take the pan off the heat and strain the butter into a bowl or cup, as it will have a sediment. In other words, this is like clarified butter, but with a smoky note. Let the butter solidify again but don’t put it in the refrigerator; you need it to remain soft for the cupcakes. This shouldn’t take long, except in hot weather, in which case leave the preheating of the oven till after the butter’s been burnt.
When the butter is solid, but still soft, put all the cake ingredients except the milk in a food processor (or mixer) and blitz to a smooth batter. As normal, add the milk down the funnel, pulsing sparingly to form a soft, dropping mixture.
Divide among the paper cups, and cook for 15-20 minutes. While the cupcakes are baking, get on with the icing. It’s the same procedure for the butter–burn, strain, solidify–then beat it with half the sugar or enough to make it stiff. Add tablespoons of milk and the remaining sugar alternately to reach a good consistency, and finally the vanilla. While the icing’s still soft, smear messily over the cooled and waiting cupcakes. Makes 12 **Editor’s Note: NOT.**
Michelle, it sounds like Nigella got the important part right: the frosting. My lovely wife would disagree: to her, cake (cup or sheet) is Life Itself. Me, unless said cake is really good, I’m often content to eat the frosting and throw the rest away!!!
I made these in January and had similar results (I posted about them right here.) I just chalked it up to my baking inexperience that the cupcakes were less dreamy than I had imagined. Thanks for your thoughts; knowing that I wasn’t the only person with problems with the recipe gives me a little more confidence!
meghan, you made them too??? i’ll definitely check your post out.
thank you for reading!
good review! i too am curious about how nigella translates to real world recipes…
oh and the one fact that really concerns me is the butter per serving… two and a half sticks of butter, divided into ten cupcakes… i’m just feeling gross about that.
“Nigella doesn’t like her friends.” Wow, I know I would be ticked if I made cupcakes for a party and the recipe yielded far less than it claimed. Planning is essential in entertaining.
That was hilarious!
I love her! how can you not? i love her midnight snack. i vote genius. and i want her kitchen real bad!