Easy Cupcake Tips!

We all love some tasty cupcakes! Here are some tips on making the perfect one for you !

Start by taking a good look at the recipe. It might seem logical that you’d just take any old cake batter, pour it into cupcake liners and BAM perfect cupcakes. Recipes that are meant for layer cakes just aren’t as great in baby cake form, producing flat or sunken cupcakes from having too much

Get yourself an oven thermometer. The cardinal rule of all baking is to make sure that your oven is baking your cupcakes at the right temperature and that the oven has thoroughly preheated. Cupcakes are especially temperamental because of their size. Accurate and even heat for baking is important.

Don’t overfill the cupcake liners. The golden rule of cupcakery is about 2/3 full, and no more than 3/4. I like using an ice cream scoop to make portioning easier and consistent.

Bake one tray at a time if at all possible. Sometimes if you’re pressed for time, you just can’t bake the trays individually, but if you can, baking them one tray at a time in the center of the oven usually gives you the most even baking of all the cupcakes in the tray.

Once you get the cupcakes in the oven, don’t bother them for at least 12 to 13 minutes (and about half that time for minis). They need a good blast of heat to get some structure going, and if you rotate the pan and jostle them too soon, you might knock some of that air out.

Don’t overbake! Because they’re so small, cupcakes can go from perfectly done to dry and overbaked in a flash. Test them with a toothpick and pull them from the oven when a just a few moist crumbs still cling. The carryover effect from the heat held in the pan will finish the baking from there.

Take your cupcakes to the next level with interesting frosting and cake pairings. I am a sucker for a classic vanilla-vanilla combination, but doing something decadent and unexpected like a sweet spice cake with a bittersweet chocolate fudge frosting is dynamite! Get creative with your flavors!!