How to best store cupcakes?

Question

When I put them in the fridge, they developed a kind of a moist surface by the next day. Should I just leave them outside in an air-tight jar? If yes, then for how long will they stay fresh?

Asked by Uday Kanth

Answer

Yes, you should store them in a air-tight jar, and the best is to store the jar in a cool place in the house. The fridge is to moist for storing cupcakes. You can store them in the jar for about 3-4 days, but they won't taste fresh any more. So I would suggest if you want to store them longer then 1 or maybe 2 days, freeze them right after they cooled down from baking. If you use a topping, you can top your cupcakes when they are thawed.

Answered by Lotte Laat

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Is there any other difference between the cakes and the cup cakes besides the size?

Question

I don't have the small cups, so I place the cup cake batter in big vessels, and I think I have prepared cakes.

Now, I'll get the small cups and place the same batter in the cups, and call them cup cakes.

Does this make sense? Or I am missing a point?

Asked by Anisha Kaul

Answer

You are correct: cupcakes are just regular sponge cakes cooked in approximately cup-sized tins.

Answered by ElendilTheTall

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What temperature and time should I use for a cupcake recipe?

Question

I am having difficulty baking a vanilla and chocolate cup-size cake. The ingredients are as follows:

12 (1 ounce) squares semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup butter, cut into pieces
1 cup cold milk
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 pinch salt
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup white sugar

The problem is that the cake burns on the outside, and then the inside is not completely done. If I reduce the amount of batter I use in the tin to a half-size cup, they end up as cookies. I have also tried to reduce the temperature from 200 degree to 100 degree, extending the time from 15 minutes to 30 minutes but still do not get a well-balanced end result.

I would like to know if I have a bad mixture of ingredients, or a completely wrong temperature and timing for cupcakes.

Answer

Firstly, it strikes me as odd that your recipe has no raising agent - no baking powder, no bicarbonate/baking soda, no self-raising flour. Unless you're whipping a lot of air into the batter, the cakes will barely rise, and you will end up with 'cookies'.

I would add 2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) and see if that helps.

As for the temperature of your oven, I wouldn't go so far as to halve the temperature and double the time. The idea is that you need enough heat for the cakes to rise at a decent rate then form a crust on the outside. 100 degrees will do little but slowly dry the cakes out.

Domestic ovens are rarely well calibrated, so your oven may be running hotter than the dial indicates. Invest in an oven thermometer to make sure you are setting the temperature correctly: I have had an oven run 40 degrees hotter than the dial said before now!

If you haven't got the time to get a thermometer, try setting the oven about 20 degrees cooler on the dial, to around 180 degrees.

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How do I change cake recipes for cupcakes?

Question

This is a three-part question:

• Which classes of cake are unsuitable for cupcakes? Can I do angel food cake or pound cake?
• What changes do I need to make when converting a normal cake recipe for cupcakes? Temperature or baking time changes?
• Roughly how many cupcakes should I expect from a recipe scaled for a 9x9 pan, a 9" springform pan, or a 12 cup Bundt pan? I'm not looking for precise counts, just a rough estimate to the nearest 5 cupcakes.

Answer

• I've not yet found a cake recipe which I could not use for cupcakes instead.
• I always change the baking time and only the baking time. I rotate the tray of cuppies after about 7 minutes, and after another 7 minutes or so I use the "clean toothpick" method to see when they are done.
• It does vary greatly, but from most cake recipes, I expect to get 18-24 regular cupcakes, about 40 mini-cupcakes, or 9-12 large ("Texas") cupcakes.

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