Whether you're busting out cupcakes from scratch,
or making Pillsbury do all the work via its boxed magic,
there are some definite no-no's when it comes to baking the precious little treats. To steer
clear of any future fails, you'll want to avoid these cupcake-baking mistakes everyone makes.
With cooking, it's pretty easy to improvise without wrecking the final product.
“If I want a cupcake, I'll just make it myself.” Baking, however, is like science,
and the measurements have to be exact. For example, when measuring one cup of flour,
you should spoon it into the cup lightly, then use the flat side
of a knife to smooth over the top of the cup to get the flour as even as possible.
If you dump a heaping cup full of flour into your mixing bowl, your results are going to suffer.
Or, if the cupcake batter requires a one-fourth of a teaspoon of salt,
make sure you don't put even a dash more than that, or you're asking for some salty cupcakes.
The same goes for your wet ingredients. Ensure it's the exact amount by getting down to read
the measuring cup at eye level before adding it to your mix. Keep in mind, if the recipe
calls for a stick of room temperature butter, for instance, the butter should be unwrapped
and placed in the mixing bowl right out of the fridge because as the butter softens,
more of it will stick to the paper when you unwrap it, which can throw off your measurements.
While baking itself can be creative, if you're following a recipe, assume the author knows
what's best for this particular creation and follow their steps like it's the law.
If you're planning to make cupcakes that need eggs, it's better to use eggs that
are room temperature as opposed to straight from the refrigerator.
The room temp eggs mix easier into cake batters and tend to rise more effortlessly in the oven.
Using cold eggs can also impact the length of baking time—if the ingredients list specifies
room temperature eggs and you use cold ones, the cupcakes will need to be in the oven longer. Pro
tip: You can quickly warm up cold eggs by placing them in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes.
It's also advisable to use room temperature butter, unless otherwise specified. This is
especially true when you have to cream the butter and sugar together. Butter that's one or two hours
out of the cold fridge is much more pliable and easy to whip. This is also applicable when the
frosting calls for butter since that will also need to easily blend with other ingredients.
For both butter and eggs, taking them out of the refrigerator one to two hours before you start the
baking process should be sufficient. It may seem counterintuitive since these two items normally
live in the fridge, but trust us, your cupcakes will reap the benefits of taking these steps.
"Cupcake?"
Creaming butter and sugar is an art form,
and doing it the wrong way can screw up your cupcakes. When you cream the two,
ideally the sugar granules poke tiny bubbles in the butter to capture air, which ultimately
creates a much lighter and fluffier cupcake. According to the King Arthur Flour blog,
"Butter that is too cold won't expand very easily and it'll never capture much air [...] if the
butter is too soft or melted, the air bubbles will be created but then will collapse again."
You also have to be mindful of not under- or over-creaming. Under-creamed ingredients feel
like wet corn mush and over-creamed feels like greasy sugar. Be careful with the settings on
your mixers and how long you cream. Two to three minutes on a moderate speed is ideal,
but you should use your instincts to make sure it's the right texture. Per King Arthur Flour,
"Your well-creamed mix will be moist and light and the sugar will be nearly dissolved.
You'll barely feel any grit when you rub it between your fingers."
It's definitely going to affect the outcome of your cupcakes if you don't take the care
to cream what are arguably the best two ingredients properly.
If you don't bake often, chances are you forget you even have items like baking powder or flour
in your cabinet. It might not even occur to you that they could go bad since they don't really
show outward signs of spoilage. But your flour can indeed go bad and your baking powder or soda can
lose their lift if they're expired. Baking soda and powder should be replaced six months after
opening, and flour should be replaced after eight. While these past-their-prime ingredients might not
cause a blatant fail in your final product, they can cause cupcakes to sink, so fresh is always
best if light and fluffy is what you desire. The same goes for spices, which can
lose their gusto over time. Bottom line: Keep your pantry
supplied with fresh baking staples if you're planning to be the next Cupcake Queen or King.
If you're a novice baker ready to embark on your first cupcake journey, your intuition might be
to use cake flour if the recipe doesn't specify otherwise. In this case, don't trust your gut,
because the flour you should use really depends on the type of cupcake you're making.
What makes each flour unique is its protein level. Flours with higher amounts of protein are
considered "hard wheat," while flours with lower amounts are often called "soft wheat." In general,
breads tend to work best with hard wheat, and baked goods like their wheat on the softer side.
Cake flour usually yields a finer crumb, which is why it's normally used for lighter cakes like
devil's food and sponge. All-purpose flour is the most common and produces a more rustic cake,
while whole-wheat flour can be a better choice for denser cakes. For instance,
if you plan to make fruitcake cupcakes, the recipe might call for whole-wheat flour.
Bottom line: It might be tempting to use whatever you have on hand, but if a cupcake recipe calls
for a certain flour, there's a good reason, and substituting another kind could cause the
texture to suffer. If a recipe just calls for "flour," you're safe with all-purpose.
If you want to make cupcakes out of a box, do it. Betty Crocker clearly knows her stuff,
so why mess up a good thing? But there is a secret for making boxed cupcakes so good
that you can deceive someone into thinking you slaved away for hours in a hot kitchen
making them from scratch. And it involves using ingredients you probably already have.
The back of the box usually tells you the only ingredients you need to add are an egg, water,
and some vegetable oil. Instead, use two eggs, whole milk, and melted butter. For the butter,
just double the amount of oil that the recipe asks for, and the amount of milk should be the
same as the amount of water. You can add one or even two extra eggs—depending on how decadent
you want those Duncan Hines cupcakes to be. These secret additions are really no surprise
since butter literally makes everything better, except maybe a heart condition.
This might seem like a no-brainer, but a lot of folks go batter-straight-to-cupcake-pan and
hope for the best. While you can technically grease the hell out of the pan and still bake
a successful batch of cupcakes, there are so many advantages to using paper liners. In addition to
the most obvious reason—it will make your life much easier when removing the cupcakes from the
pan and cleaning it—they also keep the cupcakes moist. If they're removed from the pan without
one, they are more likely to dry out quicker. It's also more hygienic to use a paper liner.
Wouldn't you rather pick up a cupcake at a party that's in a liner? Using colored liners is also a
cute way to distinguish cupcake flavors and types. Transporting cupcakes is easier when
they're in liners, too. Honestly, we could go on and on about the merits of using paper liners,
not the least of which is saving hours of your life scrubbing bakeware.
"Hey! A cupcake!"
Nobody likes a dry cupcake. Baking them too long is a surefire way to dry out
that mini cake before it even exits the oven. Katherine Kallinis of Georgetown
Cupcakes wrote in Better Homes and Gardens, "We always recommend erring on the side of
under-baking. If you over-bake a cupcake, there's no way to
save it. And it won't be moist on the inside." If you really want to get legit with your baking,
check the temperature of your oven with an actual oven thermometer, which can determine whether it's
technically hotter or cooler than what you've set it to. That way you can adjust accordingly
to ensure you're following the recipe to a T. A toothpick should come out clean when inserted,
and the top of the cupcake should look slightly sunken, not peaked.
It's also important to pay attention to baking time if you're using a cake recipe to make
cupcakes instead. While the temperature of the oven should still be whatever the original recipe
calls for, the baking time will change. You'll bake the cupcakes one-third to one-half less
time than you would the cake. When in doubt, though, go for the shorter amount of time.
Using the oven correctly can really make or break your baking efforts.
A lot of people don't realize it, but there is value in putting the raw cupcake batter
into the oven as soon as you're done preparing it, and you'll want to preheat the oven before
you start making the batter and make sure the cupcake pan is primed for filling. That's because
when you add an ingredient like baking powder to the liquid mixture that makes up the batter,
it immediately initiates the chemical reaction that creates tiny air bubbles, and it should go
into the oven right away so the heat can set the air bubbles. You'll know the batter sat too long
before going in the oven if the cupcakes come out with tons of little holes all over the top.
You'll also want to go easy on opening the oven door while the cupcakes are baking.
If you're not able to contain your excitement at the prospect of fresh cupcakes, or just want
to check if they're done, wait until they have baked for at least three-fourths of
the total time before opening the hatch. And if you decide they need to go longer,
don't crack it open again for at least another five minutes.
You may be tempted to slap some icing on those beauties as soon as they're out of the oven,
but for the love of God, have some restraint. First, cool the cupcakes out of the pan on a
wire rack. This not only stops them from cooking so they don't dry out, but it also ensures the
bottoms and sides of the cupcakes cool completely. If they're not fully cooled when you start to
smear the icing, the frosting can melt, or the tops can crumble into the frosting as you spread.
Allow at least an hour from the time they've come out of the oven before you frost.
If you're not planning to serve them that day, store in a zip-top bag or airtight container
in the freezer or on your counter until ready to serve, and then apply the icing. If they've been
stored at room temp, they might have sticky tops when you try to frost them. Let them sit outside
the bag or container for a little while to allow the tops to dry out before tackling the frosting
again. For unfrosted frozen cupcakes, let them thaw about an hour before you apply the frosting.
If there is anything better than biting into a cupcake, it's biting into one
that has a magical surprise filling. “Yeah, I've had cupcakes like that.”
Whether it's more of the frosting or a special pie-like filler that's complementary to the
overall flavor, this extra step can put your cupcakes on another level.
Want to give it a try? When the cupcakes have cooled, you'll cut out the center of
each cupcake with a small round cutter, then carefully spoon or pipe the filling
into the hole so that it's slightly less than flush with the top of the cupcake.
Next, top the cupcake with frosting. Piping it into a swirl formation might be better than
spreading it with a spatula in this case. If there is too much of the filling in the hole,
the frosting could catch it and spread some onto the top.
Whether it's making sure the cupcakes stay fresh for as long as possible,
or guaranteeing the ones you want to make now and serve later at an event are at peak freshness,
storing them the right way is clutch. The biggest no-no is putting the cakes in the
fridge. Don't do it—it dries them out. Either keep them at room temperature or freeze them.
In either case, make sure the cupcakes have completely cooled on a wire rack before you
put them in an airtight container where they can sit upright. Ziploc bags are usable for
storage but not ideal as they don't protect the frosted cakes from getting squished.
If you're going to freeze them, gently wrap them in plastic wrap prior to putting them in
the airtight container—nobody wants freezer-burned cupcakes. They can be frozen for up to two months.
The three biggest things to remember when storing cupcakes: no residual oven heat,
no air, and no refrigerator. Check out one of our newest
videos right here! Plus, even more Mashed videos about your favorite desserts are coming soon.
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