Why Do My Cupcakes Look Like This?

Baking By MoniCakes526 Updated 26 Jul 2012 , 5:12pm by pinkfluffycupcake

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MoniCakes526 Posted 26 Jul 2012 , 12:29pm
post #1 of 3

Hey all this is my first post. I prefer to use doctored mixes for my cupcakes and usually go with Pillsbury, but we had Duncan Hines in the house already. I used the Cake Doctor's Cinnamon Toast Cupcake Recipe and they look terrible. Didn't hold their shape, sunk in the middle. I'm just disappointed. I use a Calphalon pan which is dark, so I dropped the temperature from 350 to 325. What am I doing wrong? Any tips? Thank you!

(I took a picture of them, I'm just not sure how to put it in this post)

2 replies
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scp1127 Posted 26 Jul 2012 , 12:37pm
post #2 of 3

I don't know anything about box mixes, but the structure on cupcakes comes from a hot temp fast. In a light colored pan, 375 with a drop to 350 when placing in oven is good for structure. The dark pan may have needed a slight drop, but at 325, they will bake slow with a flatter structure like a cake. If you are using a liner, you should be fine with 350 or at least 340. You want a preheated oven, ideally hotter by 25 degrees and drop the temp when you put them in. The door opening causes a big drop in temp that a cupcake can't overcome in a short baking time.

Hope this helps and welcome.

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pinkfluffycupcake Posted 26 Jul 2012 , 5:12pm
post #3 of 3

Did you happen to notice the size in ounces of the box? DH reduced the size of several flavors last year, including the yellow cake mix. Anne Byrn's (Cake Mix Doctor) recipes are for the 18.25 oz. size of cake mix and the new size is something like 16.5 oz, so there might have been too much liquid. There are several threads on this site discussing work-arounds for this issue.

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