How to Bake Perfect Cupcakes – Advanced Tips
Perfect Cupcakes are a science! In my previous post I covered all the basic errors that often occur when baking cupcakes.
Some of these errors include pointy cupcakes, overflowing cupcakes, shrinking cupcakes, etc. If you want to know the science behind these occurrences, click here.
I’m particularly excited for today’s post! It will be the first time I’m disclosing my top secret tips for baking EXCEPTIONALLY PERFECT cupcakes!
Error-free cupcakes are already a massive achievement, but over time I’ve discovered methods (some normal and some quite unorthodox) that have significantly improved the texture and quality of my cupcakes.
So with a cheerful and excited heart I am sharing this information with you 🙂 May there be myriads of perfect cupcakes baked across the world through these cupcake baking tips!
Please also share your thoughts below, if something is not making sense.
All Cupcakes are NOT Created Equal
There are obviously many posts on “How to Bake Perfect Cupcakes”. I will definitely share those tips as well. Some tips do apply to all cupcakes and are good methods to implement across the board.
I have found, however, that all cupcakes cannot be approached in the same way.
Butter based recipes respond completely differently to oil based recipes. If you want to bake perfect cupcakes, it is important to take note of this.
Through nearly 4 years of full time home baking, I’ve come to understand that cupcake recipes can be divided into 3 separate categories.
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Butter based Recipes
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Oil Based Recipes
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Recipes containing fresh fruit/vegetables
These 3 recipe categories respond vastly differently to the environment in an oven. They cannot all simply be baked in “the center of the oven”.
My Baking Equipment
Although I am a full time baker, I do not do the industrial oven thing. I bake from home in my own itty-bitty kitchen because I LOVE being at home!
Most people are shocked when they see the size of my oven and kitchen, but I am really just so happy and content baking here 🙂
I tried working in an industrial kitchen… ONCE. We went through a lot of effort to move everything into the new kitchen. Everything was all set up and ready to go.
The huge convection oven was there waiting for me in the corner of the large kitchen… The idea of baking 6 pans of brownies all in one go was overwhelmingly exciting!
3 hours later I was in tears. My cupcakes were pointy. My brownies had no shiny crust. I had come to hate that convection oven in just 20 minutes! Singlehandedly, I loaded the car (I’m very little and weak), drove back home and started all over again with my orders for the next day.
I don’t have a fancy mixer. I have an old Kenwood standing mixer I got from my dear mother-in-law. The model is from the 80’s I think, but it works brilliantly!
- My oven is just a standard electric Defy Oven with a 4-plate stove on top (you will see a picture of it later).
- The previous flat we lived in had a standard built in electric oven.
- At one point we were living with my cousins, their oven was also just a standard electric oven.
- As a student I baked at my boyfriend’s house in their standard built in electric oven.
These methods for perfect cupcakes worked in all 4 of these ovens!
Gas ovens are a bit tricky though. You will find that you might not be able to apply some of these methods. Take what you can use and comment below if there’s a particular struggle you experience with cupcake baking.
RELATED: 14 Tools You Need to Start a Home Bakery
Methods that Apply to All
I’ve read through most articles online that cover the topic at hand. There are quite a few tips that appear on all of them.
Here’s a summary for Cupcake Baking Tips that do apply to all recipes (I’ve included my own as well). These tips do make a difference in the quality of your cupcakes.
1. Bring ingredients to Room Temperature:
This is a very important tip. Ingredients just combine better if they are all the same temperature.
Butter can take quite long to come to room temperature – especially in winter! I usually end up putting the butter in the microwave on the “defrost” setting for 15 seconds at a time if it is still not soft enough to cream.
Eggs should never be stored in the fridge in my opinion. Keep them away from direct sunlight, in a cool area. Buy smaller amounts of eggs at a time at more regular intervals. This ensures that your eggs will always be fresh and not need to be stored in the fridge.
If you do insist on keeping your eggs in the fridge, take them out the night before you plan to bake. This gives them ample time to come to room temperature.
Shortcut: put your eggs in a bowl of warm water for half an hour to bring them up to room temperature faster!
2. Use top quality ingredients:
What you put in, you will get out. Use free range eggs, real butter and good quality vanilla extract.
Image by nutritionsecrets.com
3. Don’t over-mix:
Some recipes require you to beat the batter for 2 minutes, others only until the ingredients are just combined. Just be sure to follow the instructions given in your recipe. Over-mixing directly damages the rise and texture of your cupcakes.
4. Oven Temperature:
Preheat your oven till the exact temperature before putting the cupcakes in the oven. Gas ovens tend to slip up on accuracy – hang an extra thermometer in your oven to be sure.
5. Consistent accuracy in filling cupcakes:
If you want to bake perfect cupcakes, you can’t just eye-ball when distributing the batter. Some insist that using an ice cream scoop full of batter in each liner will give you perfect cupcakes. This still leaves some room for error in my opinion.
It might be overkill, but weigh the batter you put in each case till your eyes can tell the difference. If it’s a more liquid batter, you can use a measuring cup as well.
Do yourself a favour and invest in a digital scale
You can place your entire cupcake pan on top of the scale, “zero” it, and weigh each amount of batter that goes directly into each liner.
Images by bhg.com and rachelteodoro.com[/caption]
Here’s what I do:
- I make sure to remember the weight of my mixing bowl (or write it down).
- Then I weigh the mixing bowl with the batter.
- Subtract the weight of the bowl plus an extra 5 g for the batter that sticks to the bowl and spoons.
- Divide that amount by the amount of cupcakes your recipe makes.
- Place the lined cupcake tin on the scale and weigh the batter out cup for cup.
- Bit of a mission, but it gives me perfect cupcakes, so it’s actually a small sacrifice!
6. Proper greasing:
Even though I use cupcake liners, I also grease the top rim of each cupcake hole in the tin. This makes it easier to loosen the edges of the cupcake that did come into contact with the pan.
7. Don’t over-bake:
Don’t go shower and wash your hair while you are baking cupcakes! Give a peek through the glass every now and then to check on them. Once you can see there is no more shiny batter in the centre of each cupcake, wait for another minute and then test them.
You do want the testing pin to be clean, but do be careful not to leave the cupcakes in there for too long.
8. Turn or Burn?:
I do turn my cupcakes halfway through baking. Always. The odds of them deflating through doing this are really small. Obviously you shouldn’t do this with a soufflé! With cupcakes I think it is essential for an even bake.
All domestic ovens I have baked in tend to be hotter in the back left corner for some reason, so I insist on turning the cupcakes.
Rotate your cupcake pan with care. If you handle the pans gently, they will be just fine. Don’t bang it down on the counter; treat the pan like a sleeping infant.
9. Accurate measuring and weighing:
Weigh anything that is not liquid! This is my motto. I weigh my baking powder and baking soda while sifting the dry ingredients together.
Seriously 1 little gram does make a difference! Think about how dangerous measuring is. Some folks scoop out a compacted teaspoon of baking powder, while others pour it out of a refill pack. There is just too much room for error.
Write down on each recipe the exact weight of baking powder you use so that you will know for the next time you make that recipe and get consistent results. Also stick to one brand! All of them differ, even if it is just slightly.
I always WEIGH the amount of egg I use. Crack it in a cup, whisk it lightly with a fork and then weigh the exact amount of grams you put in.
If the cupcakes come out perfect, make a note on your recipe of the weight of egg you used, so that you’ll know how much to use when you make the recipe again.
If you feel the cake needed a bit more egg, make a note of that too. Weighing the amount of egg I use has made all the difference in my baking.
10. Fill, but don’t spill:
This may seem obvious, but I’m mentioning it anyway. Be patient when filling your cupcake liners with batter.
Rather scoop smaller amounts at a time (right into the center of each liner) to avoid spilling. Batter can easily end up between the liner and the tin. This will result in messy edges on your cupcakes! It can even let your cupcakes rise lopsided.
Advanced Tips for Baking Perfect Cupcakes:
As mentioned before, I have come to see that cupcake recipes can be divided into 3 separate categories.
1. Butter based Recipes
2. Oil based Recipes
3. Recipes containing fresh fruit/vegetables
These 3 recipe categories respond vastly differently to the environment in an oven. I will discuss each category separately.
Most importantly: I do not agree that all cupcakes should be baked in the center of your oven. In fact, I do not think ANY cupcakes besides Vanilla Cupcakes should be baked in the center of your oven.
Step one is to divide your oven cavity into 3 equal parts using 2 oven racks, like this.
Let’s number the upper oven rack as Oven Rack A and the lower one as Oven Rack B. This is the basis of everything I do. You will understand why a bit later. This arrangement is THE FRAME WITHIN WHICH ALL MY METHODS ARE APPLIED.
1. Butter Based Recipes:
I do prefer the creaming method, but I find that standing mixers incorporate a bit too much air. Light cupcakes are fantastic, but if they are too light, they are very difficult to handle and little edges often end up breaking off.
For this reason I prefer to use a hand-held electric whisk. When baking large cakes, a standing mixer is perfect for mixing a butter based batter.
Mixing Batter & Filling Cases:
Add dry ingredients to bowl as instructed. Beat on low speed for 10 seconds to get most of the ingredients combined. Stop the hand mixer.
Take care to scrape around the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula to make sure all the butter gets incorporated into the batter. Resume beating on medium speed for a further max 10-12 seconds.
Remember, little lumps are not evil! They will disappear during baking. Your batter does not have to be smooth!
Obviously there shouldn’t be large lumps of flour. Squash a few of the lumps out with a spoon to check if they are solid dry flour or a harmless bit of batter that just appears lumpy.
After dividing the batter into the lined tin (aluminum preferably!), it is important to smooth out the batter before baking.
Smooth out the surface of the batter in each hole with a teaspoon. Push the batter up slightly against the edges of the wrapper. I find this helps the cupcakes get an even start in their rising process once in the oven.
Baking:
- Butter based Cupcakes bake best on Oven Rack A (or in the center of your oven) at 180˚C.
- The cupcakes deeper in the oven will rise faster than those in front. About 8 minutes in, you will need to rotate the cupcakes 180 degrees. Do not take the cupcakes out of the oven to do this. Gently rotate the pan in the oven.
- Once you can see there is no more shiny batter in the center of each cupcake, wait for another minute and then test them. You do want the testing pin to be clean. Butter based cupcakes tend to sink if they are under-baked.
- When they are done baking, there might be slight variations in size. To fix this is super easy, but it has to be done immediately when the cupcakes exit the oven. You only have a 1 minute window to do this before the cupcakes start firming up. Wipe a butter knife on some butter so it has a very light coating of butter to prevent the cupcake from sticking to the knife. Gently push in edges of the cupcakes that are not perfect according to your liking. Tada! Perfect Cupcakes!
- Allow them to cool for about 7 minutes in the tin before transferring them to a rack to cool further.
2. Oil based recipes:
This is where it gets weird. When I started baking more seriously in 2012, I still baked 2 trays of cupcakes at the same time. This saves time and electricity of course!
When it came to the Red Velvet Cupcakes, the cupcakes from Oven Rack A turned out vastly different from Oven Rack B.
The cupcakes from Rack B were so beautifully smooth on top and had a very slight dome – perfect cupcakes! The cupcakes on rack A were a bit cracked, did not rise as well as the cupcakes on rack B, and were a little too pointy.
I realized that this phenomenon couldn’t have anything to do with the batter as the same batter was used for both cupcake trays. The secret HAD to be in the baking.
Baking:
Over time I developed this technique:
Even though your recipe may say “Bake in the center of your oven at 180˚C”, don’t do it. Try this baking method for your oil-based recipes like Red Velvet and Chocolate.
- Preheat your oven to 170˚C.
- Place a clean and empty roasting tray on rack A.
- Place your cupcakes on rack B.
- Pour about 1/2 cup water (boiling or not, doesn’t matter) in the bottom of the oven. Truthfully, I cannot even remember how I ended up doing this in the first place, but it really helps the cupcakes rise so much better and keeps them super moist! (DON’T TRY THIS with BUTTER BASED RECIPES. The cupcakes end up overflowing and come out too soft and fragile.)
- Turn halfway through baking.
- They are usually done baking when there is no shininess left in the center of the cupcakes – which you can see through the glass door.
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool in tins for about 7 mins, then transfer to a cooling rack.
- Once again, if there is an edge that didn’t come out perfectly round, don’t panic! You can push it in slightly, while the cupcakes are still hot and slightly malleable, with a butter-wiped-knife. Tada! Perfect Cupcakes!
- Another handy tip (applies to Fresh Fruit/Vegetable Recipes as well): Just before you pop your cupcakes in the oven, drag the batter right up the sides of the liner all the way around. This not only gives your liner an even appearance on the outside, but also helps your cupcakes to rise evenly. Don’t do this too early or the batter on the sides will dry out and actually cause your cupcakes to rise poorly.
3. Recipes containing fresh fruit/vegetables:
This includes recipes like Carrot Cake, Zucchini Chocolate Cake and German Apple Cake. You probably know that these recipes end up releasing a lot more moisture during baking. The fresh fruit/vegetables release liquid as they bake.
Mixing Batter & Filling Cases:
The biggest tip for making perfect cupcakes from these batters is in the dividing of the batter between your cupcake cases – for 2 reasons:
1. These recipes contain lots of bits. Carrot Cake, for example, can contain grated carrot, raisins, nuts and crushed pineapple! If you fill your cupcakes fully from cupcake 1 down to cupcake 12, the last cupcake often ends up with 1 nut, 1 raisin and a whole lot of batter. The rise is also drastically affected. The last cupcake will rise beautifully, or even too much, while poor cupcake number 1 is an under risen lump of carrot and raisins.
2. Sugar and salt draw out liquid from fresh fruit & vegetables. The longer your batter stands, the more liquid it will become. If you fill your cupcakes fully from cupcake 1 down to cupcake 12, the last cupcake will get batter with a higher liquid content compared to cupcake 1.
To solve these problems, fill all your cupcakes halfway first, from cupcake 1 to cupcake 12. Make sure each one gets a helping of all the bits in the batter.
At this point it is important to give your batter a fold or two, just to distribute the additional fruit/vegetable liquid that has been released.
Then distribute the batter again, going from cupcake 12 to cupcake 1. This method gives me the most consistently perfect cupcakes.
Another handy tip: Just before you pop your cupcakes in the oven, drag the batter right up the sides of the liner all the way around. This not only gives your liner an even appearance on the outside, but also helps your cupcakes to rise evenly.
Don’t do this too early or the batter on the sides will dry out and actually cause your cupcakes to rise poorly. *See image above for this tip.
Baking:
- I find Oven Rack A at 180˚C to be best for baking these recipes. No rocket science in the baking here.
- Turn halfway through baking.
- They are usually done baking when they have an even colour on top. If the center of the cupcake is lighter in colour, they are probably not done yet.
- When done, remove from the oven and leave to cool in tins for about 7 mins, then transfer to a cooling rack.
- Once again, if there is an edge that didn’t come out perfectly round, don’t panic! You can push it in slightly, while the cupcakes are still hot and slightly malleable, with a butter-wiped-knife.
A shout out to all these lovely posts on how to bake perfect cupcakes! These were the most helpful and accurate ones 🙂
“Cupcakes 101: 10 Tips to bake the perfect cupcake” (This is my favourite one), “5 Steps to Perfect Cupcakes”, “10 Tips for making Perfect Cupcakes”, “How to Make Perfect Cupcakes”, “Top tips for Baking Better Cupcakes”, “10 Tips for Baking a Perfect Cupcake”
Gosh, this post was quite intense!! I need a drink… dark hot chocolate… Made with cream… With a cinnamon doughnut on the side… yes please!
I really hope you find this helpful. These tips have transformed the quality of my cupcakes forever. I trust they’ll do the same for you!
Want Perfect Cupcake Recipes?
Today’s your lucky day because I’m giving you my Home Bakery’s 3 most popular, perfected Cupcake Recipes for FREE! I’ve spent 7 years perfecting these recipes and have baked and sold literally THOUSANDS of these cupcakes.
- Perfect Vanilla Cupcakes Recipe – join the free Resource Library for Home Bakers to get the recipe.
- Ultimate Carrot Cupcakes Recipe – click here get the recipe on my blog.
- Ultimate Chocolate Cupcakes Recipe – click here get the recipe on my blog.
Chat soon!
Aurelia 🙂
POPULAR BAKING TIPS
POPULAR BAKING TIPS
Got a question? Something to add? Let’s chat in the comments section down below! (I respond to every single comment)
Hi Aurelia,
Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed reading your posts.
I have been baking for over 40 years but have mostly avoided cupcakes. The recipe I alway used was one from a old country cooking book for a basic butter cake which said to add slightly more flour when baking cupcakes.
My question to you is can any cake mix be successfully made into cupcakes?
Julie
Thank you so much Julie! I think it is best to follow an actual cupcake recipe for best results, but with that said you can usually turn most cake recipes into cupcakes without a problem in most cases. I would suggest that it really depends on the actual recipe. Here is a link to get access to my perfect vanilla cupcake recipe, it is free when you sign up to my resource library. https://philosophyofyum.com/free-resources Enjoy!
Hi. I have a problem, and I’m wondering if you have any tips or ideas to help me solve it. I used to bake cupcakes in my old house using a gas oven with an oven thermometer. They would all bake perfectly at 350° for 20 minutes, and I was making plans to start baking to sell. Now I’ve moved into an apartment with a new oven, also gas, but the two lowest temperature settings are at about 280° and 400°, with nothing in between.
So far I’ve tried baking banana bread and a coffee cake. The banana bread was a little dark on the outside and a little underdone on the inside, and the coffee cake was fine, just a bit crunchier on the bottom than usual. Both baked for less time than the recipe called for. I plan to do a trial batch of cupcakes this week after I get my mixer, but I’m afraid the oven will be too hot for them and they won’t bake properly. Do you have any tips on what I can do to ameliorate the issue?
Hey Katie! Darn, it’s so frustrating switching to a different oven – and one that doesn’t work properly is even more frustrating. If you’re renting this apartment, I’d have a chat with the landlord to see if they’ll get a new oven put in. Even if you weren’t baking for customers, the oven they provide you should allow you to bake as well. Baking is a normal thing every household should be able to do in the oven they get from their landlord.
Hi there, i am going to be making cupcakes in my gas oven for the first time tonight, do you have any advise for me?
Hey Nicola! How exciting 😀 The first time baking in any oven is always a bit of a gamble. You’ll have to see how the cupcakes turn out and then make adjustments for next time.
Hi, I have a query regarding this… for baking butter based cupcakes , if i put it in Rack A as recommended, should both the top and bottom heating elements be switched on or just the bottom?
Wont the top heating element brown the cup cake?
Thank you.
Hey Oopa! Thanks for your question – it’s a good one! Both the top and bottom elements should be on so you get an even bake. Just make sure your oven is NOT on the convection/fan setting. Cupcakes bake quite quickly, so they shouldn’t brown too much on top. That being said, each oven is unique, so you’ll need to test and see what works for you.
Hi Am vegetarian so use only eggless recipes . Recently my cupcakes flop in the middle and after i remove them from the oven they are soft and moist but as they cool they go crisp round the edges a d are hard .even after icing they are hard . Also i do t grease the cases so
Sometime they stick to the cases which is annoying
Hey Kirthi! I’m so sorry to hear about your cupcakes… It sounds like there might be something wrong with the recipe as a whole here. So, the best advice I have here is to make sure you use the best eggless recipes you can find with a high star rating AND lots of reviews. You could also use egg cupcake recipes with appropriate egg substitutes for cupcakes >> https://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/egg-substitutes-for-baking/
Hi Aurelia, great tips thank you so much! I am a fellow South African starting my business in Australia, I am so grateful for all your advice! What if I have an oil (coconut) based recipe containing white cannellini beans ? It contains 5 eggs and coconut flour and maple syrup so not standard ingredients. I’ve made it a couple of times and kids love it…but the image can improve a bit. Should it go on Rack B because it it oil based or Rack A because it contains vegetables? The beans are blitzed in a blender to smooth, so no bits.
The batter stick to the lining allot, so much that when you remove the lining half of the cupcake remains behind. I also find that with some recipes the lining becomes very oily and unattractive, would you say it is because of the batter or the quality of the lining? I tried expensive liners, but the same happened. Perhaps it should be made of a different type of paper if the batter is quite wet?
Hi Anita! Thanks for your comment… Wow it sure sounds like a very unique cupcake recipe. If I may be honest, I never really deal with alternative/healthy baking recipes so I’m not the best person to give advice. I recommend searching for alternative/healthy baking blogs online – I know there are many!
Hi Aurelia, I’m now thinking all the times I was trying to know why I can’t get consistent results. Thank you very much for sharing your tips.
Thank you for your comment! I’m SO happy to hear that the tips have already helped you to see where you’ve gone wrong in the past. It helps so much to understand WHY things didn’t work out 😉
Hi there, love the tips and hope they will help me bake the best cupcake ever! Just wanted to clarify, does the half cup water go in a shallow tray at the bottom of the oven ? ( underneath the cupcake tin)
Hi Eva! So glad you’ve enjoyed the tips 😀 Yes the water needs to go inside the tray.
Wow, these tips are amazing! They are so detailed and will be so useful!! Thanks Aurelia. I am South African, but living in France at the moment and can relate to every single story you tell about your personality to loving being at home in your own kitchen. I have enjoyed baking for a long time but only recently have found the burning desire to want to take it further. 🙂 I’m glad I found your website!!x
Hi Genevieve! Your name is actually a perfect representation of where you find yourself 😀 French name with a South African surname! I’m so glad to hear that you’re acknowledging your desire to do more with your baking – that’s awesome! Happy to help if you have any questions xxx
Hi
Would you mind clarifying the steps of the oil based cupcakes?
The tin on rack A sits empty throughout the baking time?
Does the 1/2 cup water sit on the floor of the oven? And in what kind of tin?
Yesterday I tried baking cupcakes in heart-shaped silicon moulds.
It was a frustrating experience as the batter puffed up unevenly and didn’t leave the end product looking like a heart.
Do you have any comment on silicone moulds as opposed to metal?
Hey Pearl 🙂 To answer your questions:
YES, the tray on rack A is empty all throughout the baking time. It’s just there to absorb the harshest heat from the top elements in your oven and thus your cupcakes get more even domes on top.
YES, the 1/2 cup water sits on the floor of the oven OR you can put it in any tin (roasting tin, brownie tin, loaf tin…)
Personally I never work with silicone moulds because I find they’re super difficult to handle and make it SO MUCH easier to drop a bake or spill batter. They flop all over the place and just aren’t my cup of tea. I’ve always gotten great results from metal tins 🙂
If my oven only has heating element on the bottom of the oven… Does it still serve a purpose to place an empty tray on rack A?
Or in my case should I be flipping the order and place the empty tray on rack B to absorb the harshest heat from the bottom elements?
Hey Pearl! If your oven only has a heating element on the bottom, you can leave out the empty tray on rack A yes 🙂 I actually recommend that you do bake your cupcakes on a rack in the MIDDLE of your oven because you only have a bottom element. No need to add an empty tray on rack B.
Thanks so much. Worked a treat for oil-based cupcakes. I’ve used a water soaked cloth around larger cake pans to make them rise evening, but never thought to put water in the bottom of the oven to do the same for cupcakes. Never thought I’d be putting a try on top either. So simple. X
Hi Deborah, thanks for your comment! I’m so thrilled to hear that the tips have improved your cupcakes 😀 I also fasten wet towels around my cake tins – best trick EVER! xxx