My cupcakes are never nice and moist.... - Page 2

After you check to make sure your oven temps are correct, try originally setting your oven thermometer to 400, then as soon as you put in your pan, turn the temp down to what the recipe calls for. I get beautifully domed cupcakes with that trick I learned on this board!

Also, I ran across this recipe that calls for both butter and sour cream; maybe you could give it a whirl and see if it bakes up any differently?
http://www.marthastewart.com/355559/devils-food-cupcakes

After reading many, many threads about cupcakes and being too dry, I decided to use the vanilla cupcake recipe in the Hello, Cupcake book. It is a scratch recipe. My oven is calibrated to be on temp, I put a large cookie sheet on the lowest rack to help disburse the heat (per Sharon Zambito's Back to Basics DVD), all ingredients at room temp, the recipe uses oil, butter and milk. Baked for the shortest time called for, cooled them on a rack for 10 minutes and then placed on a rack to finish cooling.

And guess what??? The cupcake texture is good, but the cupcake is dry!!! WTH?? So I wrapped them in Saran wrap, then tinfoil and put them in the freezer. Will take them out tomorrow night, and taste test another one. Made simple syrup tonight to cool for tomorrow night in case they are still dry. Don't know what else I could have done. Any ideas? Has anyone else ever used that recipe? If so, what were your results.?

Thanks for the help
Pam

I've never tried that recipe, but I know straight from the oven my vanilla cupcakes taste different and seem less "moist:" they they do after a few hours, and I personally live by my sub zero - all my cake goes straight from the oven into it to stop overcooking and to trap in all that condensation that evaporates out of hot cake when it meets cold air.

The freezer should solve your problems. If you don't think it's "moist" after being frozen, then maybe you just have a cake mix palate, meaning you are looking for a flavor and texture out of your scratch cake that just doesn't exist without using a mix. That's OK, I hate shrimp which apparently everyone else loves. Not that I haven't tried to love it too, but I just hate it. I also hate curry, all melons, mango, lamb, mint... different strokes for different folks

I can't seem to find the reference for this advice, I suspect it might be Bakewise (book) but as I got it out of the library can't double check. But in any case, I seem to remember reading that if your oven is on too high a temp, the cuppies will rise up quickly, but not have enough structure to maintain that dome once they have cooled. I'm starting to doubt my memory though, after reading the tips here:

CAKE SINKS IN THE CENTER -
- batter over mixed
- too much fat and/or sugar or leavening
- not enough liquid
- oven temperature too low
Read more: http://www.joyofbaking.com/ButterCakeTroubleshooting.html#ixzz1leooszKw

While searching for my source of the above, I found a few other things which back up what fromscratchsf said about your addition of fat being the problem. This is verbatim from another forum which no longer exists, so I can't point you to the post, but I copied & pasted it into a word doc:

"Basically, your recipe is failing because you do not have enough of what is called a structure builder.

(Prepare for the baking chemistry lesson!)

In any recipe, proper balance mus tbe achieved between structure builders, tnederizers, moisteners and driers.

Structure builders are the ingredients that ensure your cake will hold its shape once cooked and cooled.

The cake structure is formed when all 4 components interract chemically, both while in the mixing bowl and while being heated.

A minimum amount of structure is required for all cakes, but too much and you will have a tough end result. However, too little, and you will not have enough structure to hold the cakes shape upon cooling, which is the issue you have epereienced."

Also from one of Lindy Smith's books (regarding the conversion of cake recipes to cupcakes)
"You can use any sponge cake recipe to bake cupcakes, but to avoid domed tops you will need to reduce the amount of flour used. As a general rule, reduce the flour by 15ml (1tsp) for every 150g (5oz) of flour in the recipe."

Hope some of that helps!

Thanks, FromScratch I'll see what happens tomorrow when I get home from work and see what happens. It'll post the results then. BTW, this recipe made nice domed tops, which I like.

Whatever happens, I have to figure this out, as I just booked a wedding for June and have 4 different favors of cupcakes to make.

Fingers crossed