Cupcakes Baking Advice

The key to baking perfect cupcakes is preparation. Read the entire recipe to ensure full understanding of the methods being used. Gather all necessary cookware, utensils and tools, and then measure out all the ingredients. Fill the sink with hot, sudsy water to aid in cleaning bowls, utensils and tools as they are being used to prevent an unmanageable mess when the cupcakes are done. Place paper or foil liners in the pain, or grease and flour each individual cup on the muffin tray. For larger cupcakes, lightly grease the sides of the pans to ensure that any spillover will not stick. When all this is done, it is time to start mixing ingredients.The best tasting cupcakes start with high quality ingredients. Using cheap cocoa, sugar, or flour might not only affect the taste, but can also change the texture of the cake. The ingredients should be added gradually, not all at once, to ensure they are incorporated and well mixed. Prepared batter should be allowed to rest for three to five minutes before poured or spooned into tins. An ice cream scoop will make filling tins easy and will keep the amount of batter consistent from cup to cup. Equal amounts of batter will help the cakes cook evenly, as will rotating the trays halfway through cooking time. In the absence of cupcake tins, the tasty treats can be baked in coffee cups or ice cream cones.Preparing cupcakes for people with special dietary needs sounds challenging, but it can be quite easy. Substitute one tablespoon of ground flaxseed and three tablespoons of water for each large egg the recipe calls for, or replace the egg with barley malt. Applesauce can take place of eggs and oil and makes a great addition to spice cake recipes. When using a cake mix, replace the eggs, oil and water with 12 ounces of soda. Compliment yellow or white cake mixes with clear sodas like lemon-lime, or use strawberry or orange soda to add a bit of flavor. Cherry soda or black forest soda works great in a chocolate cake mixes, while spice mixes blend well with root beer or cream soda. Soda cakes taste great with whipped cream topping or whipped vanilla frosting.Although cupcakes are best when eaten within 48 hours, they can be frozen for up to three months. Cupcakes should be tightly secured in freezer wrap and frozen before they are frosted. When it is time to use the cupcakes, make sure the cakes are fully thawed before icing, glazing or frosting. Colored sugar or sprinkles is a nice treat, and they should always be applied over a layer of wax paper to keep the mess to a minimum. Once finished, the sugar or sprinkles on the wax paper can be returned to the original container to replenish the supply and prepare for the next round of cupcakes.

5 Tips to Baking the Perfect Cupcakes

With National cupcake week closing in on us, what better ay to celebrate than with a gorgeous baking experience in your own home? With that in mind here are my top 5 tips for baking the worlds most delicious cupcakes.1) Choose a good recipe
Use either the internet or your selection of cupcake books (which all home bakers should have), my favourite book is from Magnolia Bakery in New York. Search for a recipe that jumps out at you, you will usually find at least 1 that really tickles your fancy.
The basic recipe for making 12 cupcakes is:
125g butter
125g caster sugar
125g self-raising flour
pinch of salt
2 eggs
2 tablespoons of milk2) Perfect the mixture
A decent mixer can take a lot of the hassle out of creaming or mixing your cake mixture, it can be a great investment if you are a regular baker. You can also use it for any large batches that you need to make (I do this to fulfil large orders).When food processors and kitchen machines were tested a well known comparison magazine, each machine was tested to see how well it mixed batter, including variables such as speed, how evenly it was mixed, the volume in which the cake rose during baking.3) Use a good cooker
One of the most overlooked factors of making a great cupcake is the oven in which it is baked. You'll get the best results in a decent oven in which the temperature is distributed evenly. Otherwise some of your batch may be burned while others are left gooey and uncooked (believe me, I learned this from experience).Choosing a good oven is essential, to test your oven you can bake several strips of shortbread scattered around your oven to test heat distribution along with a large sponge cake to test how well a cake will rise (in terms of how even it rises and browns). You will know if you have a great oven if your cake is perfectly shaped and browned nicely.4) Decorations
A huge factor in how good your cupcakes are is the decorations, a good decoration can change the whole shape and perspective of your cakes. Try to make them look pretty but looks are completely secondary to taste. There is nothing more disheartening than seeing people eating your cakes and scraping off your icing.5) Cupcake makers
You can get a great cupcake maker (similar to a waffle maker) your general cupcake make will make a dozen cupcakes. They are simple to use, most do not even have an on button, simply plug them in and pour in your mixture, then the machine will bake them (almost to perfection). They will take around 10 minutes to bake your cakes and the majority of people wont even notice that they are not home baked.I have tried out several machines and they basically all do the same job. These are for the lazy cupcake maker and on the record I do not endorse them (off the record, they can be amazing).