Cupcakes Pulling Away From Paper Cups After Baking. Need Help Asap

Baking By peco16 Updated 1 Jan 2013 , 3:50pm by -K8memphis

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peco16 Posted 7 Dec 2012 , 4:03pm
post #1 of 13

ACan anyone help me? If I use a from scratch recipe for chocolate cupcakes or vanilla, after they cool the cake pulls away from the cup paper. Why is it doing that? I need advice asap as I have several orders for this weekend.

12 replies
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ChrystysCreations Posted 7 Dec 2012 , 5:12pm
post #2 of 13

AI have found that not all recipes for cakes can be turned into cupcakes for the same reason. They bake nicely, but when they cool, they shrink and peel off from the cupcake liners.

Are your recipes for cakes or cupcakes,

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peco16 Posted 7 Dec 2012 , 5:18pm
post #3 of 13

AThey are for cakes I guess. Its usually a basic devils food cake recipe.

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ChrystysCreations Posted 7 Dec 2012 , 5:39pm
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AIt must be something in the ingredients... I know I came make the All American Chocolate Butter cake but I can't turn them into cupcakes.

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luddroth Posted 7 Dec 2012 , 6:05pm
post #5 of 13

Think about slipping the whole cupcake into a new, decorative wrapper -- then it really doesn't matter.

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sweetflowers Posted 7 Dec 2012 , 6:38pm
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I don't agree.  I have cake recipes and will work fine for months and then all of a sudden will pull away.  Do agree it is shinking and pulling away, but it could be the moisture that does it (which is definitely the case for me).  It all depends on the weather and moisture in the cake in my area.  Or as Chrysty says, the shrinking when cooling.

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sixbittersweets Posted 24 Dec 2012 , 11:19pm
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This can be affected by a number of factors, over OR under-baking, not filling the cups high enough, a problematic brand of baking cups, and letting the cupcakes cool in the pan too long and thus letting the steam produced loosen the wrapper from the cupcakes.  The last 2 in that list turned out to be causing the problem for me.  I get baking cups in bulk now from the Webstaurant Store for a really great price and they work great.  I also remove cupcakes from the pan 3-5 minutes after they come out of the oven.  Any longer and you risk the steam leading to more wrappers unpeeling.  Hope that helps!

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FromScratchSF Posted 25 Dec 2012 , 12:29am
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Your leavening is off.  Think about it - when you make a cake and take it from the oven, what happens?  It shrinks and pulls away from the pan sometimes as much as 1/8th of an inch.  If you put that same batter in a cupcake paper, why would you expect it to act any different?  It's going to pull from the papers too.  Cake batters work as cakes because of the gas expanded per volume of the pan + temperature it is held at + proper structure in the chemistry of the recipe.  If you alter any of one of those things, the other 2 must be adjusted to compensate.  So in this case, you've shrunk the amount of batter + lessened the amount of time baking...so you must alter the chemistry of the recipe to compensate.  

 

People will say its the papers or suggest other tricks you may try, but the bottom line is if the structure of your cake does not hold when cool air hits it, the problem is the chemistry of the cake, not the vessel you baked it in, and the recipe must be adjusted to get consistent results.  

 

There is no such thing as a 'basic devils food cake recipe", especially since "devil's food" is a marketing term and not a thing.  Each recipe is unique and completely different - and there are a ton of extremely BAD recipes out there.  Unless you want to re-tool it to work, my suggestion is to find another recipe that states it can be used for cupcakes.

 

Good luck!

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cazza1 Posted 25 Dec 2012 , 1:36am
post #9 of 13

Thanks for the info.  I had always presumed that I could just use a good cake recipe and put it in cupcake wrappers.  I haven't had any problems so far but if I do I will know why. 
 

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SugaredSaffron Posted 27 Dec 2012 , 6:24pm
post #10 of 13

After I bake I put them someone very cool to cool quickly and that solved me problems so far. Also you might be slightly over baking them so they peel away from the liners.

I've used the same recipe and sometimes they've peeled and sometimes they haven't, so I don't think its an issue with the leavening/chemistry of the batter.
 

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sixbittersweets Posted 30 Dec 2012 , 4:07am
post #11 of 13

I bow down to FromScratchSF's expertise as I've had incredible experience with her wonderful white/yellow cake recipe BUT I just want to say from my personal experience that I've had success translating a lot of different cake recipes to cupcake recipes without a problem with peeling wrappers and/or rising.  I do think baking just the right amount and removing the cupcakes from the pan within 5 minutes of removing from the oven are VERY important.  If you don't already, I'd buy 1-2 oven thermometers to make sure you're baking at the right temperature. I would also check on the cupcakes around 16 minutes into baking even though they probably won't be ready yet.  You can use a toothpick to be sure, but I find a good gauge is to tap the top of the cupcake lightly with a clean finger. You want to bake JUST UNTIL the cake springs back a tiny bit instead of just leaving a permanent dent where you push. Don't let it bake any longer than that. If you're looking for a high-quality cupcake liner, I get my plain white ones from here and they're great quality (no peeling) AND a great value: http://www.webstaurantstore.com/white-fluted-baking-cup-2-x-1-1-4-1000-pack/999602450200.html

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AnnieCahill Posted 1 Jan 2013 , 3:00pm
post #12 of 13

Absolutely agree with this.  I don't bake cupcakes often, but when I do, I remove them at the earliest baking time generally.  I also pull them out immediately from the pan.  This can be tricky because the pan and cupcakes are hot, so you have to work quickly.  I have never had any issues with scratch or box cakes pulling from the liners.
 

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-K8memphis Posted 1 Jan 2013 , 3:50pm
post #13 of 13
Quote:
Originally Posted by AnnieCahill 

Absolutely agree with this.  I don't bake cupcakes often, but when I do, I remove them at the earliest baking time generally.  I also pull them out immediately from the pan.  This can be tricky because the pan and cupcakes are hot, so you have to work quickly.  I have never had any issues with scratch or box cakes pulling from the liners.
 

 

Me too--and do you ever watch cupcake wars? i'm always shouting at the tv--"take 'em outa the pan before you put them in the chill-box"--because they are crashing into a hard deadline and running late--gotta chill 'em quick so icing doesn/t melt off--and placing the hot pan in there with the cupcakes slows down the process that much more.

 

o i feel so much better now--getting that outa my system--sorry for hijacking icon_biggrin.gif

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