Cupcakes – we all love them! With literally thousands recipes available, you may be overwhelmed which to bake next. But what’s the secret to making a cupcake that will wow your taste buds? Here are 5 tips for baking the perfect cupcake.
Sweet or savory, classic or sophisticated, prepared for a day meal or a special occasion, these 5 most important tips will help you bake the perfect cupcake every time.
- Make sure to follow the cupcake ingredients ratio at all times.
- Always use room temperature ingredients.
- Mindful mixing is the key to baking the perfect cupcake.
- Be careful with preparation for baking and baking duration.
- The wrong frosting may ruin your cupcake baking efforts, seriously.
In short, these are the main tips for baking a perfect cupcake. Now, let’s dive deeper into each one and see how to master our skills.
#1 Tips for Baking the Perfect Cupcake: Ingredients Ratio
Making cupcakes is not rocket science, indeed. You pick a recipe, follow the directions as closely as possible and you end up with cupcakes, right? Yes … and no!
What if you come across a recipe that is not tested but you only discover that something was wrong with it at the very end? What if you eat a cupcake that you like and want to replicate that exact flavour at home but don’t have access to the recipe? And what if you want to create your own cupcake recipe?
The good news is that cupcake baking, just as anything else, can be easy. Why? Because there is a basic ingredient proportion rule that grants a delicious result every time. Follow it when you make your own cupcake recipes or check if it’s there if you find a recipe online or on a cool book.
So here it is – the first tip for baking the perfect cupcake: 1:1:1:1. Let’s explain what that actually means.
Since every good cake batter is also good for cupcakes, the 1:1:1:1 baking ratio rule is used for baking the perfect cupcake as well. These are the four basic ingredients for a cupcake – flour, sugar, fat and eggs.
- The fat should be equal to the flour.
- The sugar equal the flour or it could be less. Have in mind that this rule applies to granulated sugar.
- Eggs should equal the flour and the fat.
Now, having said all that, it’s good to keep in mind that there are exceptions. Some cupcake recipes are quite different and don’t always follow the cupcake ingredients ratio mentioned above – these are the so called high ratio cupcake recipes. Yet again, most of the cupcake recipes you are likely to bake will benefit from that tip for making the perfect cupcake.
#2 Tips for Baking the Perfect Cupcake: Ingredients at Room Temperature
Often cupcake recipe instructions mention “room temperature” next to ingredients that are typically stored in a fridge. Usually, these include the eggs, butter and milk, but there might be other ingredients as well such as yogurt or cream cheese.
A good rule of thumb is to have all your ingredients at room temperature (unless specified differently in the recipe).
Why this tip for baking the perfect cupcake is so important? Room temperature ingredients bond together very easily, creating an evenly textured batter.
The easiest way to bring cupcake ingredients to room temperature is to take them out of the refrigerator at least one hour before making the recipe.
#3 Tip: How to Best Prepare Cupcake Batter
Now, you have all the cupcake ingredients in front of you and it’s time to combine them into one. Mixing them together might seem like a pretty straightforward task and it really is. Yet again, if you want to end up with a great sweet treat follow the next tip for baking the perfect cupcake.
There are two basic guidelines to follow when preparing cupcake batter (or cake batter for that matter):
- Combine the ingredients in the correct order.
- Mix the batter just enough.
Let’s elaborate.
First, what does it mean to combine the cupcake ingredients in the right order. In short, that is to add them in groups instead of throwing everything in the mixing bowl at once.
A typical cupcake preparation process asks for sifting the flour with the baking powder together along with any other dry ingredients, except sugar. Next comes whisking the butter with sugar until creamy. The eggs should be first beaten in a separate bowl and then added to the butter sugar mixture. Finally, the dry ingredients are folded in.
Secondly, let’s explain what does it mean to mix the batter just enough. In short, that means to avoid undermining or over mixing it. You have to mix all ingredients together until they are fully combined. It’s easy to see when to stop – the mixture should look smooth and silky.
#4 Tip: The Perfect Cupcake Baking Process
Baking concludes most of the cupcake recipes and that’s probably the most important step. After all, even if you didn’t get the ingredients just right, or even if you didn’t excel with preparation, a cupcake that’s baked for just the right duration is still a great cupcake.
Baking the perfect cupcake is not just the act of putting it in the oven and letting it sit there for some time. I prefer to call it a process because it includes several steps that all relate to the way a cupcake will turn out once baked. Here is a combination of tips for baking the perfect cupcake:
- Use good quality, grease-proof cupcake cases.
- Fill each cupcake cake with the same amount of batter and not more than 2/3 of each liner.
- Bake one batch at a time placed in the center of the oven.
- Bake for the recommended duration but always check if ready before taking the cupcakes out of the oven.
- Let the cupcakes cool for about 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Baking duration is the trickiest part of the process. Typically, cupcakes need about 20 minutes at 180C to be cooked to perfection. Then again, some recipes may require less or additional baking time.
#5 Tip: Choose the Best Frosting for Your Cupcake
Cupcakes can easily go without frosting. In fact, there are lots of cupcake recipes that doesn’t require frosting at all. In fact, a great tip for baking the perfect cupcake is to make sure it is delicious on its own!
On the other hand, a cupcake with the right frosting is a match made in heaven, so it’s always worthwhile to walk the extra mile.
What’s the right frosting for a cupcake? Clearly, that would be something that compliments the flavours in the cupcake. However, cupcake baking is a creative endeavour so you may opt for a frosting that is unusual in taste or atypical for a cupcake. And that’s fine. Leaving that topic aside, what should you look for when frosting your cupcakes?
First and foremost never ever frost a warm cupcake. We’ve all been there – we are in a hurry or just eager to see the end result, we pipe our frosting over a hot cupcake and we end up with a layer of runny, unflattering frosting. Always let your cupcakes cool completely before decorating them with any kind of frosting. That’s it. No excuses!
Another common mistake is to add fresh fruit over your cupcakes or in the frosting. For best results, make sure your fruit is dry, coat the fruit pieces with powdered sugar before adding to the top of the cupcake or folding them in the frosting.
So these were my top 5 tips for baking the perfect cupcake. I try to follow there guidelines every time I bake cupcakes and so far the results have never disappointed me. Feel free to try for yourself!
Cheers,
Suzie F.