How do you know if a recipe will work for cupcakes, and vice versa? I always thought it'd work for either (I have always used box mixes). I want to start making my cakes from scratch and have seen a couple of places that say their cake mix was a disaster for making cupcakes and they had to alter it.
You just have to try it and see. I don't make many cupcakes, but in my experience not all scratch cake recipes convert well to cupcakes. It helps to start with a recipe with reviews so you can see if it's been made into cupcakes.
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Original message sent by mommyb
[B]How do you know if a recipe will work for cupcakes, and vice versa?[/B] I always thought it'd work for either (I have always used box mixes). I want to start making my cakes from scratch and have seen a couple of places that say their cake mix was a disaster for making cupcakes and they had to alter it.
You've just got to bake it and see. Too many variables for anyone to tell you decisively whether it will work or not. Shoot, even the same cake recipes don't always bake up the same for different people, much less the same recipe baked differently. What kind of pans so you use? What temp do you bake at? Your brand of leavening? What do you consider your room temp vs mine? How much batter do you put in 'your' standard cupcake?
Some things you just gotta bake and see.
AYes definitely start out with good "bones" of baking. Good bakeware (Magic Line, Goldtouch), proper measuring equipment (use a scale!), and proper oven calibration will help you to be successful. I also recommend picking up The Cake Bible for baking fundamentals.
I have trouble with my cupcakes pulling away from the liners. I am not overbaking...they are moist. But it is a testament to me that not every cake recipes translates well to cuppies. I rarely get those nice rounded tops that cupcakes do, mine annoyingly flatten out a bit as they cool. I have tried the preheat to 350 and turn down to 325 when you put in the oven. Which did help. Also have heard that baking on the top rack creates the nice domed tops.
As far as liners, I have the best luck with the foil ones. And you don't see the greasy oil, butter, or whatever you are using that seeps through the paper liners. Any other thoughts on that?
Sorry if this was a bit of a hijack.
True - not all recipes convert to cupcakes because most cake recipes have way more leavening in them then a cupcake needs. So they dome really nice in the oven then flatten out like pancakes and pull from the papers. Your best bet is to find recipes that have been tested and are used for cupcakes unless you want to break into really learning the science behind baking and start doing your own leavening tweaks!
Good luck,
APer RLB one would think that the extra leavening would be okay for cupcakes since she advocates going down on leavening as the cake size gets bigger. Smaller cake, more leavening and vice versa. So by how much do you advocate going down on leavening in your white wasc for example?
True - not all recipes convert to cupcakes because most cake recipes have way more leavening in them then a cupcake needs. So they dome really nice in the oven then flatten out like pancakes and pull from the papers. Your best bet is to find recipes that have been tested and are used for cupcakes unless you want to break into really learning the science behind baking and start doing your own leavening tweaks!
Good luck,
Thanks, FromScratchSF! I will try tweaking on my own first since I love the flavors of my cakes!
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