How To Make a Butter Candle for Sourdough Bread

If you've seen the viral butter candle on tiktok, but didn't quite know where to start, this is for you! Learn how to make a butter candle with sourdough bread to wow your family and friends next time you get together!

Sourdough bread is the perfect accompaniment to this homemade butter candle because of its incredible flavor and robust texture. Sourdough can be hollowed out and cut (kind of like making a sourdough bread bowl) to hold the melting butter candle, yet it will still hold its shape. I've used my beginner's sourdough bread recipe to make the loaf of bread for this recipe, but you can really use any sourdough bread you like!

And if you're obsessed with butter (seriously who isn't) then make sure you check out this recipe for homemade cultured butter, whipped Brie butter, honey cinnamon butter and spicy jalapeño honey butter!

Why You'll Love This Recipe!

Something a Little Different - If you're looking for something unique and a little bit different than a butter board or traditional charcuterie board next time you need an appetizer, a butter candle is what you need.

Can Be Frozen Until You Need It - You can make a few butter candles at once and have them in the freezer ready to go whenever friends or family drop by.

Makes a Beautiful Gift - this creative way to serve butter makes a lovely gift along with a fresh loaf of sourdough bread. You could use it as a hostess gift, sourdough Christmas gift for your neighbours or a take along to your next dinner party invitation. It also makes a special way to celebrate Valentine's Day with your loved one!

What You'll Need To Make a Butter Candle

This is such a simple make, but you will need a few special pieces of equipment to make your butter candle successful. Here's a quick overview of what you'll need to make your butter candle:

• Paper or plastic cup - this will be the mold for your butter candle. I've used a 12oz disposable coffee cup and found that it worked perfectly for the shape. You could also use a plastic cup. The key is something that you can cut down the side if you need to get the butter candle out. I found that the butter candle popped easily out of the paper cup.
  
• Food-grade wick - you'll need to make sure the candle wick you use can be used with food. You don't want anything dyed or scented or it will ruin the butter and make it inedible.
  
• Wick Holder - I found these cute little wick holders to keep the wick in the centre of my butter candle. You could also use pop sticks or tape to keep the wick secure.
  
• Sharp Knife - to cut the sourdough bread easily. I love using my Mercer Bread Knife.

What Bread Works Best With A Butter Candle?

You can really use any type of sourdough bread with this homemade butter candle. I have tested the butter candle with both sourdough batards and boules and it really works well in either shape. It's really comes down to personal preference.

Some of my favorite types of bread to serve with this butter candle are:

• Dutch Oven Sourdough Bread
• Sourdough Jalapeño Cheddar Loaf
• Sourdough Country Loaf
• Small Batch Sourdough Loaf

How to Make a Butter Candle with Sourdough Bread (step by step instructions)

I've made my butter candle with 250g of butter (a stick of butter is approximately 113g of butter, so you could just use 2 sticks of butter if you want to, it won't make too much difference to this project). I've used dried herbs and seasonings, but you can use fresh herbs and garlic if you prefer. 

First, melt the butter. You can do this in a saucepan on the stove, but I find melting it in a batter jug in the microwave to be the easiest. Depending on your microwave power, this will take around a minute.

While the butter is melting, place the wick into the paper cup and use the wick holder to hold the wick straight.

Once the butter is melted, add the salt and other herbs and seasonings and stir it well.

Carefully pour the melted butter into the paper cup, ensuring you don't disturb the wick.

Place the butter candle into the freezer for around one to two hours to firm up. The butter candle can stay in the freezer for as long as you need.

When the butter candle is set and you're ready to use it, take your loaf of sourdough bread. Using an identical paper cup to the one that you used as a mold for the butter candle, use a knife to cut a hole in the centre of the loaf of sourdough.

You only need to cut the top of the bread with the knife, then use your fingers to pull the bread out of the middle to form a hole for the butter candle to sit in.

Once you have a hole big enough, use your knife to cut the outside of the bread into pieces, without actually cutting the bottom of the bread. This will make the bread easy to tear off and dip into the melted butter.

When you're ready to serve, place the butter candle into the centre of the loaf of sourdough and light the candle wick. It will take around 15 to 30 minutes for the butter to start to melt after you light the wick.

Once the butter has melted a little, tear off pieces of sourdough bread and dip the bread into the puddle of melted butter that forms around the top of the candle.

As the candle continues to melt, the pool of butter will get bigger and as you tear the bread it will spill out, so make sure you serve your butter candle and sourdough bread on a platter that can catch the warm butter mixture as it melts.

You can watch a video of my making a butter candle on Pinterest.

Butter Candle Safety

Please exercise caution when making, using and eating this butter candle. Here are some safety tips to ensure your safety and success with this recipe:

• Use a food safe candle wick. It's up to you to check that the wick you use is safe to use with food.
  
• Ensure that when you serve the butter candle, it's on a platter that will catch the butter drips and the puddle of butter if it escapes the loaf of bread.
  
• Do not leave your butter candle unattended.

Share the sourdough love!