Brighten up your mornings with these fluffy orange cardamom muffins topped with some crunchy demerara sugar and paired with a must-have whipped cardamom butter!

Let’s bake, friends!

Whole Wheat Pastry Flour vs. All-Purpose Flour

When I set out to make these orange cardamom muffins, the one thing I knew I wanted to achieve was a light and fluffy texture. So for this, I turned to whole wheat pastry flour instead of the typical all-purpose!

Yes–you should easily be able to find it at your local grocery store (or grab some from Bob’s Red Mill here, it’s my go-to).

The Difference

Whole wheat pastry flour is typically milled from a softer white wheat, meaning it has a lower protein count than all-purpose flour. This results in a more tender texture for your bakes! Basically just remember that the softer the wheat is, the lower the protein count, the lighter the baker.

It’s also more nutrient-dense and can even add a subtle nutty flavor to your end result, which can often be welcome depending on the flavor profile you’re looking to build.

So the next time you’re looking to make some muffins, breads, cakes, or cookies–give whole wheat pastry flour a try! It may end up become your go-to, you never know!

How to Get Higher Domed Muffins

You’ll notice in the recipe I ask you to first bake the muffins for 5 minutes at 425°F and then lower the temperature to 375°F before continuing to bake them. This is what can help give your muffins more of that “dome” on top. Depending on the accuracy of your oven temp. (also the ingredients you’re using), you may get different results.

The idea is that this quick burst of heat at the beginning helps the muffins get that rise and then you lower the temperature to help them bake through properly for the rest of the bake.

Ever seen those huge bakery-style muffins with the mile-high dome tops? This is how they’re achieving that! With that said, however, I will never turn down a good muffin, no matter how tall or flat.

Materials You’ll Need:

Various sized mixing bowls
Measuring cups & spoons (love these adjustable spoons)
Whisk
Spatula
Citrus Zester
Standard 12-cup muffin pan (this one from USA PAN is my favorite!)
Muffin cup liners
Hand mixer (if making the whipped butter)

How to Make Whipped Butter

Whipped butter sounds super fancy, but I promise you it’s just about the easiest thing in the world to make. All you’re doing is incorporating softened butter with some milk and then whipping a bunch of air into the mix–hence “whipped butter.”

Just follow these simple steps:

Add 1/2 cup softened butter (as close to room temp. as possible) to a large mixing bowl, then pour in 2 Tbsp. of milk.
With a hand mixer, whip together on low for 2 minutes. Then whip on high for an additional 3 to 4 minutes until light and creamy.

You may have to scrape down the bowl a couple times with a spatula to make sure you’re not missing any little bits. It can feel a little “splashy” or messy at the beginning, but by the end (once all that air is in there) you’ll have some fluffy delicious whipped butter! The softer your butter, the easier it’ll be to mix with the milk.

Storing Whipped Butter

Whipped butter is more perishable than regular salted butter, so keep it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. It’ll started to harden after a few days, so it’s best enjoyed same or next day.

Quick zesting tip: Whenever you’re zesting anything, try and do it as close to adding to your mixture as possible. The oils from your zest start to dissipate rather quickly. So if left out too long, you’ll start to lose those oils and in turn a lot of the fragrance/flavor your bake needs!

I hope you enjoy these orange cardamom muffins as much as I do! Perfect for a bright little breakfast moment to start your day. Let me know below if you run into any issues or shoot me a DM on Instagram @joshisbaking. Tag me in your bakes too!

Happy baking, friends!

Orange Cardamom Muffins with a Whipped Cardamom Butter

Author: joshisbaking
Prep Time: 30 min.
Cook Time: 20 min.
Total Time: 50 min.
Yield: 12 standard size muffins 1x

Print Recipe

Description

Fluffy orange cardamom muffins topped with some crunchy demerara sugar and paired with a must-have whipped cardamom butter!

Ingredients

Scale

Orange Cardamom Muffins

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (love this one from Bob’s Red Mill) (248g)
1 Tbsp. baking powder (10g)
1/2 tsp. table salt (4g)
2 1/2 tsp. ground cardamom (~5g)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted & then cooled to room temp. (~114g before melting)
1 cup granulated sugar (205g)
1/2 cup whole milk greek yogurt at room temp. (120g)
1/2 cup vegetable oil (100g)
2 large eggs at room temp. (110g)
1 tsp. vanilla extract (3g)
2 Tbsp. orange zest (20g)
Demerara sugar for topping

Whipped Cardamom Butter

1/2 unsalted butter at room temp. (~114g)
2 Tbsp. whole milk (~30g)
1 1/2 tsp. ground cardamom (~3g)

Instructions

Orange Cardamom Muffins

Prep a standard 12-cup muffin pan (I use this one from USA PAN) with muffin cup liners, lightly spraying each with cooking spray. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
Whisk your cooled melted butter & sugar together in a large bowl. Then whisk in your eggs one at a time until each is fully incorporated. Whisk in your greek yogurt & vegetable oil next until fully combined. Then whisk in your orange zest.
In a separate medium-sized bowl, whisk together all of your dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, cardamom) until fully combined.
Add your dry mixture in with the wet, folding together with a spatula until JUST combined and no clumps of flour are visible.
Fill each muffin cup about 3/4 full with batter. Top each generously with demerara sugar (the more you add, the more crunch you’ll get on top which I love).
Bake at 425°F on the middle rack for 5 minutes, then lower heat to 375°F for a further 15 minutes (keeping the muffins in the oven the entire time). Muffins should be golden brown on top & a toothpick inserted should come out clean, so adjust baking times as needed.
Let cool completely in the muffin pan while you make the whipped butter (recipe below). Then slice and slather each muffin with butter as desired!

Store muffins in an airtight container. They’ll keep for a few days at room temp. and about a week in the fridge.

Whipped Cardamom Butter

Add your room temp. butter to a large mixing bowl, then pour in your whole milk.
With a hand mixer, whip them together on low for about 2 minutes.
Add in your cardamom and then whip on high for an additional 3 to 4 minutes until light and creamy.

Store butter in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week. The butter will get a bit harder overtime, so just heat in 5 second intervals in the microwave until desired consistency when using (just be careful not to overheat, as it can melt quickly).

Notes

Why are you baking at two different oven temps. you ask? Great question! This helps give muffins more of that “dome” look to the top. That quick burst of heat helps give muffins their rise (think of those high-top bakery muffins you love).
Keeping your wet ingredients at room temp. allows them to incorporate and mix together much easier. It also allows for a more even bake. The opposite is true when you’re making something like pie dough, where then you WANT the butter to be cold so it releases steam during the bake and puffs everything up.
Whenever you’re zesting anything, try and do it as close to adding to your mixture as possible. The longer zest sits out, you start to lose some of their juice and in turn a lot of that fragrance and flavor your bake needs!
Whole wheat pastry flour is softer and has a lower protein count than regular all-purpose flour, which results in lighter & fluffier bakes!
- You could sub in all-purpose flour, but I have not tested this recipe with it so I can’t attest to the consistency or flavor you’ll get in the end.

Keywords: muffins, muffin, orange muffins, orange, orange cardamom muffins, muffin recipe, cardamom muffins, cardamom, breakfast