Okay so everyone else probably knows this, LOL...but I've discovered if I let my cupcake batter rest in the cups for 15-20 minutes before baking, that they tend to dome better.

Of course if you want flat cuppies, fill them a little less and bake them immediately...and usually mine turn out flat like that...but for the swirled tops its nice to have a dome.

I guess it depends on if you are doing icing or fondant!

Thank you for that info . I will try it next time I do cupcakes.

I know nothing about cupcakes, but it's interesting what you say...
I have a favorite recipe I took from here:
http://cakecentral.com/recipes/7507/chocolate-orange-cake
that is supose to rest for an hour but it doesn't dome at all... And it does have baking soda, which is what I think your cupcakes must have... something acid and baking soda, am I right?
But of course, if it's only some minutes the air won't have time to leave the batter....
Well, I don't know. I'm just wondering...

I tried to figure out what the difference was between cupcake and muffin batter (since muffins ALWAYS get a nice dome) and all I could think was that muffin batter is always thicker.

So I always just leave out about 1/4 to 1/3 c. of the liquid from my recipe and bake at 350 instead of 325 and I always get a nice dome. I use pudding in my cake recipe so I guess that keeps them from drying out with less liquid but they always dome nicely

If I want a nice flat top, I add all the liquid called for and bake @ 325.......nice and flat.

KHalstead - do you use regular or instant pudding in your batter. I have been wanting to try it but unsure which type to use.

Actually...the reason I tried the room temp thing is because I made muffins the other day (mini ones) and I had put in one batch and then had to let the rest of the batter sit until my pan came out and I could do a second one. well the first ones spread...the second ones (sat out like 30 minutes) were perfectly shaped!

So I thought maybe the room temp thing had something to do with it.

Actually my cupcakes don't have as much dome as I thought...my bad...haha...they did sink a bit when I took them out of the oven (not sunk, just flatter). Maybe it IS the liquid...

That's how I achieve nice domes on my muffins...allowing the filled tins to set 10-15 minutes....that AND using a preheated to 365 oven.

Cupcakes, If I bake them at 365-375(depending on what type of recipe I'm using), I get domes...if I want a flatter top, I reduce the heat to 325-350(depending on what type of recipe).

I use instant!

I totally agree with the lower heat......that has a HUGE affect on it as well!

I have found today (by accident lol) that if you start baking your cakes for the first 15 minutes at 250 degrees and THEN raise the temp to 325 they bake REALLY flat on top too...perfectlly level.........although they did take a while longer to finish baking than normal....but they're soooo flat!

I have had good luck getting domes on my cupcakes by turning the oven up to 375 and leaving the cuppies in at that temp for 7 minutes and then turning the oven back down to 350 for the balance of the time. I saw this on another thread here (I think it was on cupcakes) and it works great for me.
evelyn