Make cupcakes dome! - Page 3

Very helpful, everyone. I stopped baking last night when ALL of my cupcakes fell. I'll try again tonight.

The 400 degree idea works. I made three batches all different flavors. The last batch I forgot to turn the oven back up to 400 and wouldn't you know it they came out flat. I was wondering though does adding a little more flour make a dome? The batter was thick but just wondering?

To get a more leveled cupcake, try running a toothpick around the outer edges of the cupcake batter, making SURE the batter adheres to the inside of the paper liner. You can also make a tad thinner batter by adding an extra tablespoon of water than your recipe calls for (which does not affect the taste or texture of the finished cupcake). Whopping the cupcake pan a few times on your table also helps to level it even more. But the main key to a more level cupcake is adhering the batter to the inside of the paper liner. Usually a 'domed' cupcake is from not having a 'level' batter in the cupcake liner to begin with and also from overbeating your batter, which incorporates more air into the batter, making it a bit stiffer when you scoop the batter into the cupcake liner.

To 'intentionally' get a domed top on your cupcakes, beat your batter longer (to incorporate more air into the batter) and after scooping your batter into the cupcake liner, peak your batter up in the center. You can also decrease the liquid your recipe calls for by a tablespoon (which does not affect the taste or texture of your finished cupcake).

I hope this helps someone! I'm a newbie here and look forward to sharing with you all! I used to do cake decorating years and years ago when my kids were young. Now I have grandkids and get to do it all over again. They call me 'Nana' and I'm starting my own home cupcake business called 'Nana's Cupcakes'.

wow! I'll definitely try this 400 degree technique for dome cupcakes. I was actually looking for a tip on how to make perfectly leveled top, but I know I'll be needing the perfect dome for some other designs like bugs, etc.

thanks so much for this. now off to finding a way to look for perfectly leveled cuppies. =)

thanks all for being so generous in sharing your ideas.

Do you refrigerate all of your batters before baking? what does this do to the cakes?

Thanks

Bride wants 200 cupcakes for reception. What is the trend today? Domed or flat? If they are domed, are you using BC and flat, is the fondant better? I am basically doing flat cupcakes with BC designs...what are you all using. I have to be a trend setter

Thanks, everyone. I was just wondering about this topic myself. I'm planning Valentine cupcakes for the office. Now I don't know if I can wait that long. ha!

I can't speak for anyone else as to what works and what doesn't because everyone has their own way of doing things but I would never refrigerate my batter before baking. It seems to me that this would just cause all the air you have just beat into it to make the batter light and fluffy to fall flat and not raise like it should. I would recommend doing a trial run on this method before ever trying it out on an actual order.

Also it has been my experience (just the one time that I did it) that increasing the oven temperatures DURING a baking session does cause SOME of your cupcakes to dome but to dome just in the 'center 'of the cupcakes (as opposed to evenly domed across the whole cupcake) that are 'directly' below the heat elements and also in some cases lopsided or to split because of the sudden increase in temperatures. That is why recipes call for PREHEATING your oven which allows enough time for temps to distribute EVENLY around the inside of your oven BEFORE your cake batter is exposed to the heat. I don't know if any of that makes any sense but what I ended up with the one time I tried it was pointy cupcakes just below the heat elements that were spit and unevenly domed, not to mention drier tops on those cupcakes. From that point on it made more sense to me to find other ways to create my cupcakes to dome and to dome evenly, such as double checking the freshness of my batter mixes or ingredients, heaping the batter in the center of the cupcake liners and leaving it that way and getting them in the oven as quickly after mixing as possible. Of course my problem with unevenly domed cupcakes that were split on the tops directly under my heat elements could also have just been my oven acting up too!

Becki

I have been having the same problem getting cupcakes to dome. I always followed the rule of baking in the top 1/3 of the oven. The last few times, using different recipes, I baked the cupcakes on the very top level of my oven. Every cupcake had just the right dome and it did not fall when cool.
This may not work for others, it may just be my crazy oven, but it might work, who knows?

Has anyone been able to make the Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate recipe dome? Every time I've made it as cupcakes, they end up flattening out and becoming level on top, even if they looked domed in the oven. I was thinking of slightly reducing the amount of sugar and water in the recipe...would that do it? I read somewhere that I could also slightly reduce the amount of leavening (in this case, baking soda and baking powder)...should I do ALL these things, or just one? Or a combo?

Anyone have success with getting cupcakes to dome using this recipe?

I refrigerate the batter that is waiting while I have the other cupcakes in the oven. They seem to dome much better! Don't know why but they do. This is with a WASC.

I am confused...I thought I only wanted my cupcakes to be flat for decorating...Please give advantages of the dome on the cupcake...

I am confused...I thought I only wanted my cupcakes to be flat for decorating...Please give advantages of the dome on the cupcake...

The only way i've ever been able to get this recipe to dome a bit was when i sifted all of the dry ingredients and left them overnight. I don't know why in the world this would have worked, but it's the only thing i can think of that i had done differently. let me know if it works for you!

Cupcakes usually are flat for decorating but sometimes I think a dome is just pretty when you just need that swirl on top. Also, you can add more filling in them!