DIY Cupcake Liners – Quick and easy!

by Aurelia Lambrechts | Baking Tips and Tricks

DIY Cupcake Liners

DIY cupcake liners are so simple to make!

I love using them for muffins as well because they give the muffin a fuller and more homemade appearance. It’s also WAY cheaper to make your own cupcake liners.

Marie-Anne Duarte asked me how I make my perfect DIY cupcake liners a few weeks ago, so this one is for you!

I can’t tell you how many times I have baked cupcakes and/or muffins and then, as you get to scooping out the last bit of batter, you realize you are 2 liners short!

This hack takes about 2 minutes from start to finish. In no time at all you will have your very own perfect DIY cupcake liners 🙂

Which Paper Works for Cupcake Liners?

Wax Paper does NOT work for this. It is too thin and a nightmare to get off the actual baked product. You end up peeling it away in shards.

Some of it you can’t even get off at all. Save yourself the hassle and just don’t even attempt to do this with wax paper.

Top quality baking/parchment paper, like GLAD, does not work either. It is TOO non-stick. It is brilliant for lining brownie and cake pans, but not for making DIY cupcake liners. The paper comes right off the cupcake.

What we need is a paper that sticks to the baked product just enough so that it only peels off when you actually peel it off.

In grocery stores and baking stores you will find medium quality baking/parchment paper that is typically brown or white in colour. Brands like Unsgaard and Sylko.

In baking stores, their baking paper is often not even from a particular brand. They buy it in bulk in giant rolls and make their own smaller rolls from it to sell to their clients.

This baking/parchment paper is often non-stick on just one side or not even really non-stick at all. THIS is the paper you need.

Want to add a rustic look to your cupcakes or muffins? Or maybe you've just run out of cupcake liners! Either way, these homemade DIY cupcake liners/cases are exactly what you need. They're quick & easy to make - and super cheap too! Click through to get the full step-by-step tutorial... #cupcakeliners #cupcakecases #cupcakes #homebaking #bakingtips

2 Sides of the Parchment Paper

As I said, some baking/parchment paper has one non-stick side. Make sure that this non-stick side does NOT touch the muffin or cupcake. Otherwise it will slip right off. Make sure the dull side ends up on the inside of your DIY cupcake liners.

1. Cutting Your DIY Cupcake Liners

If you buy your baking/parchment paper in a roll, it makes life super easy. These rolls are generally about 45 cm in width.

Place the roll horizontally before you on a counter top. With your ruler placed vertically, measure 13 cm and mark it with a pencil.
Fold the paper over. Make sure the sides line up 100%. Look out for your mark.
Press down with your one hand, on the mark, and hold it there.
Let your other hand slide and press along the paper to create an even fold all the way to the other side. Slide over the fold with your nail again to secure it. You have now folded one long strip that will be turned into 4 DIY cupcake liners.
You can fold over the paper again multiple times like an accordion if you need to make lots of liners.
Cut the paper along the folds so that you end up with long strips of 13 cm x 45 cm.
Place 2 strips precisely on top of each other. Fold them over in half. Press down and secure the fold with your nail. Cut along the closed end so that you have 4 strips of 13 cm x 22,5 cm.

Place 4 strips precisely on top of each other. Fold them over in half. Press down and secure the fold with your nail. Cut along the closed end so that you have 8 liners of 13 cm x 11,25 cm.

2. Folding Your Cupcake Cases

You’ll need a muffin/cupcake tin and a cup, measuring cup or ANYTHING that fits snugly into the holes of your tin. For me it is a large bottle of Cerebos Salt. Whatever you are going to use, let’s call it a “squeezer”.

Place a single piece of paper over a hole – as centralized as possible. Remember at this point to have the one non-stick side facing DOWN (if you are using a paper with one non-stick side). The non-stick side should not be in contact with the cupcake/muffin.
Press down with your squeezer over the paper, into the hole.
Roll around the squeezer to force the paper into the bottom of the hole.

The “ears” of your DIY cupcake liners will be a bit uneven and random. Use your thumb and index finger to grab each one and flatten it out. Especially the base of each ear. Do this with all 4 ears. You can twist you squeezer to access all the ears. You don’t need to turn the pan every time.
Press each ear tightly up against your squeezer.

Firmly roll around your squeezer again to really imprint that hole’s shape in the paper.

3. How to Spoon Batter into the Homemade Liners

Now you will notice that the ears of the DIY cupcake liners are facing up. This will give you cupcakes that bake with North, South, East and West points, instead of nice and round. Here’s how you fix that.

Spoon your batter into your liners. You need the weight of the batter to keep the liner down.
Press down and open up the 4 ears (see image above right).
Bake as normal!

Additional Notes

If you used the right paper it will not peel away from the cupcake/muffin by itself. You can lift the baked goods out of the tin by holding onto the ears of the liner – don’t be scared, it won’t pull away.

If you have any questions, please comment below because I would love to help!