Cupcake & Muffin Baking Tips

• Preparing Cupcakes
• Icing and Decorating
• Muffin Pans
• Sizes of Muffin Cups
• Substituting a Different Size
• Tips on Baking Muffins

Cupcake Tips

Line cupcake pans with cupcake papers, or grease the pans.

When baking cupcakes, place pan in the middle of a preheated oven.

Set a timer so that you don’t forget about your cupcakes.

Bake cupcakes for the minimum time suggested, then test them to see if they’re done.

Cupcakes are done when you can insert a toothpick into the middle of one and it comes out clean and dry.

Always wear oven mitts when removing cupcake pans from the oven.

Place cupcake pan on cooling rack for at least 5 minutes.

Remove cupcakes from the pan and place them back on the rack to cool further.

Let the cupcakes cool completely before you decorate them.

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Before you begin icing and decorating cupcakes, make sure they are completely cooled.

If you’re icing cupcakes, first brush them lightly with your fingers to remove any loose crumbs.

Place a dollop of icing in the center of the treat you want to ice. Using a table knife, make short strokes to spread the icing from the top of the dollop – this keeps crumbs from getting in the icing.

If your icing is difficult to spread, dip the knife in hot water.

Try using decorations other than candy, such as cereal, pretzels, chips, etc.

For special birthday cupcakes, ice each one, then place a hard candy ring or gummy ring on top and stand a candle in the center of each one.

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Muffin Tips

A special metal baking pan, sometimes referred to as a muffin tin, with 6 or 12 cup-shaped depressions. Most often this pan is made from aluminum.

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Standard muffin cup is about 2 1/2 inches in diameter and holds 1/4 to 1/3 cup batter.

Giant or Texas-size muffin cup is about 3 ½ inches in diameter and holds 5/8 cup batter.

Miniature muffin cup is about 1 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter and holds 1/8 cup or 2 tablespoons batter.

Muffin-top cup is about 4 inches in diameter but are only 1/2 inch deep.

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Substitute another size muffin cup for original size listed in recipe. If substituting a larger size muffin cup the recipe will yield fewer muffins and if using smaller size muffin cup the recipe will yield more muffins. The bake time will be changed also. Bake a larger muffin longer than the original time and smaller muffins a shorter time.

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Grease muffin cups by spraying each cup with no stick cooking spray or using a paper towel dipped in shortening to grease each cup.

For rounded tops on muffins grease only the bottom of the cup and halfway up the side of the cup.

Use paper liners in muffin cups for easy clean-up.

If muffin cups are filled more than 3/4 full the muffins will have flat, ‘flying saucer” tops. If sufficient room is not allowed for muffins to expand before reaching the top of the cup the muffin will flatten on top.

If some muffin cups will remain empty during baking, put 2 to 3 tablespoons water in the unused muffin cups to keep the pan from warping.

If baked muffins stick to the bottom of the muffin cup, place hot muffin pan on a wet towel for about two minutes.

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