December is here, making it the perfect time of year for cozy candles and comfort foods. You could scour the shelves of Bath & Body Works for something that smells like pine or peppermint, or you could pop a cheesy casserole in the oven, but why not set your table with a craft that is part appetizer and part ambiance? Enter: the butter candle.
TikTok users cannot stop talking about butter candles. A recent video from @foodiaz on the video sharing platform has racked up over 5,000 shares, dozens of comments, and almost 800,000 views. Like a lot of creative sensations, the tutorial has solicited both horror and admiration. While some viewers feared that a candle made of butter would ruin Christmas as we know it, others noted that the kitschy dish was reminiscent of retro food trends.
As a fan of both lighthearted controversy and cutesy foods, I decided to try to make my own butter candle at home using the original video as my guide.
I set out four sticks of butter to soften while I roasted a head of garlic drizzled in olive oil for 45 minutes. Once the garlic had cooled outside of the oven, I squeezed the caramelized cloves into a bowl with the butter and stirred. From there, I transferred the mixture to a paper cup while attempting to hold a string of baker’s twine in the center. The butter was still soft and spreadable so it was a bit awkward attempting to shape it around the wick. After letting the butter cup rest in the refrigerator until hard to the touch, I cut the cup off of the “candle,” — it was almost impossible to shake the candle from the cast without breaking it. Unfortunately, the result was an ugly lumpy sculpture with a wick lost somewhere in the middle.
I was determined to adorn my kitchen with dairy decor, so I melted the mixture again, this time in the microwave for about a minute until the butter was almost completely liquefied. I poked a small hole in the bottom of the cup to thread the twine through, leaving a bit of excess on either side so as not to lose the wick. I poured the melted butter and garlic into the cup and placed the cup in a bowl in an attempt to hold in any excess butter. I let this sit in my refrigerator overnight.
In the morning, I ran the cup under warm water to loosen the candle and flipped it over onto a cutting board. What emerged was a butter structure a little more “rustic” than something you’d find in the home goods aisle, but more innovative than your average charcuterie board fixture.
Despite the trial and error, the final product was something actually resembling a candle, and when lit, it made the surrounding butter pool into a warm melted dip, perfect for sopping up with crusty bread. While the process of roasting the garlic definitely made my apartment smell like a Thanksgiving feast, from what I could tell, burning the candle itself did not fill the room with the aroma of eau du garlic (for better or for worse). I’m not afraid to admit that I would do this project again. The butter candle is whimsical and delicious. You can’t really go wrong with warm garlic butter. I look forward to subjecting my friends and family to edible home decor.