Cupcake competition
Let me tell you something, I love baking but I’m terrible at making cupcakes. They usually sink and end up way to dense and heavy. At least they’re not dry though. Dry cake is my worst nightmare. Have you got any cupcake baking tips for me? I’ll exchange it for a general baking tip… put mixed spice in everything. it’s really delicious.
New print in the shop!
I have 2 pieces of advice for baking cupcakes:
1. Follow the recipe. Baking is an exact science.
2. Use cake flour instead of regular flour. It always makes for a better cupcake
I have heard of cake flour, and even seen it but never bought it before. I think now is the time for me to try it! I wonder what the difference is? Maybe a finer texture?
Yeah, cake flour makes them finer-textured and fluffier ^^
I think the texture is finer but cake/pastry flour is also traditionally made with summer wheat (as opposed to winter wheat, which is for bread flour). It has less gluten so it binds less tightly. I think “all purpose” flour is a mix ;b
Try replacing a tablespoon of flour with the same amount of corn flour. Also, mixed spice makes for good apple crumble!
Oh, and try different folding techniques. My personal favourite is a figure of 8. If you’re super lazy, try the “all-in-one” method where you throw everything into a big bowl and cheat like a big cheater by using an electric whisk.
Doesn’t matter if the cakes sink – Just use MORE icing!
mmmm cake is so yummy. Now I want cake.
Awww – the little guy looks so pleased with himself that he has a dog flavoured cupcake! <3
my mom has a delicious pumpkin muffin recipe, that I recently found out is actually a pumpkin [I]bread[/I] recipe, but poured into muffin tins. I wonder if other bread-type recipes would make good cupcakes/muffins?
Banana bread and zuchinni bread also make good muffins
cupcakes are easy…you just have to prepare ahead of time..and have the right ingredients.
have your eggs and butter at room temp. before you start. i dont recommend oil…i find the texture just isnt right. they just end up tasting like cheap crappy store bought.
use things like brown or natural/organic sugar instead of white…it will make them richer and just generally more awesome. (in a pinch you could make your own brown sugar by adding a touch of molasses)
if making chocolate anything, use the most expensive cocoa/chocolate you can afford. the cheap stuff isnt worth buying.
this continues with all ingredients..the better the ingredients, the better the finished product.
then, mix groups accordingly…
drys together…(flour, salt, baking powder/soda etc)
then wets together in the biggest bowl…eggs first (well whipped, this creates air which will keep your cupcakes light), then sugar (yeah, its a ‘wet’ ingredient’) followed by butter, vanilla etc.
any milk (or substitute etc) should be mixed into the wet mix alternately with the flour (1/3r dry, 1/3r milk mixing after each addition till done. )
with cupcakes batter should be very well mixed and smooth. then pour into muffin cups (greasing and flouring works, but i prefer the finished product you get with paper liners)
bake at 350 for….20 min or so…
i tend to check at 15 just to see how they are doing… not all ovens are evenly heated or even heat to the temp they say they are set to.
but, like Vicki said, baking is a science, so sill things like humidity, ingredient temp, elevation etc all affect the finished product.
lol…i said it was easy…but i made it sound so complicated.
Do you open your oven while you’re baking them a lot? The escaping heat can cause the cupcakes to sink.
P.S. I’m a lover of baking, also, but my cupcakes are never good, either. I’ve made two types of good cupcakes. Ever.
I have a baking tip too: make your own mixed spice and grind as much of it yourself as you can. It’s more delicious than the premix stuff and is the kind of thing you can be snobby about (Hierarchy: cake mix < spice mix < fresh spice < REALLY fresh spice that you grew and prepared yourself < cake personally assembled out of loose atoms).
If you’re an experienced baker it’s probably the recipes you’re using. But I don’t know what recipes you’re using, or how you’re making them, so it’s hard to give advice.
My cupcakes were never great until I got Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, but that book might not appeal to you.
Man, so many cupcake makers came out of the woodwork! Will you all marry me?
My favorite baking tip is to always use butter instead of margarine!
Make sure your baking soda is fresh!
Best tip for baking delicious things – make everyone in the household skip a meal or preferably two before whatever you’re baking is ready. Then it will me nommed away at light speed regardless of quality :3
Also, the sweetest thing on this picture is Colin.
I do not make a tonne of cupcakes but I know for muffins the trick to them not ending up dense and heavy is to mix them as little as possible (but no less ;). Just until there are no lumps. If you’re following a recipe that has you mix liquids and solids separately then combine them that should hold true. If it starts with creaming butter and sugar you’re in cake territory… The only cupcakes I ever made with much success were made using a chocolate cake recipe from the old (American, I think) classic Fanny Farmer Cookbook (Hungtington’s Chocolate Cake I think?) They never failed me and I was only about 10 so if you can get the book it might be worth a try
My sister bakes amaaaaaaaaazing cakes that she makes up the recipes for, which are never exact sciencey things and always taste delicious! She also does brilliant step by step blogging on them – see the second post here – http://somesomeandsome.blogspot.com/search/label/Cakes and make them NAOW. They are taaaaaaaasty.
Also, if they’re sinking, stop opening the oven before they’re done!
I love dog flavored cupcakes! I know, I’m such a sicko for eating cupcakes that a dog licked…. AND I’M PROUD OF IT!!!! XD
PANEL 3. COLIN’S FACE IS ADORABLE.
Oh! It really works for me, the best cupcake recipe ever! I have this cupcake book from PrimRose Bakery. It has reminders to get exact measures, sift everything, cream butter and sugar for 3-5 minutes, try to get top ingredients. You can buy the book yourself if you want, you can just search for it online :PrimRose Bakery Cupcakes. I used the vanilla cake recipe and used homemade self rising flour, it came out great possibly better than store bought.