So here is the thing. I'm using a cake recipe and making it into cupcakes. I'm baking them at 325 F and the tops come out cracked. The cupcake tastes good and it will be covered with icing and fondant so I'm not worried about presentation but I was wondering if anybody knows why that is...Is my oven too hot? Did I overmix the batter? Is there anything I can do to prevent it or are cupcakes like that? Like I said, they taste great but being a little bit of a perfectionist myself 
I wanted to know if there is something I can do to prevent that from happening.
Thank you.
Inma
Ps: My house smells so good!!!! (chocolate bourbon coffee cupcakes)
Might well just be the nature of that recipe, it may be a really rich recipe and this would be normal with it. Usually cupcakes are baked at 350F, not sure if the cake recipe bakes at 325F and that is why you have your temperature at that, but...
Sometimes cake cracks because it rises too quickly, sometimes because it cannot support itself on the sides of the pans when it rises because we tend to grease our pans. Not sure if you used paper liners or greased the pan but with a quick rising recipe, this could also be a factor. Alcohol can increase a recipe's ability to rise due to yeast action too.
Hugs Squirrelly
Thanks, Squirrelly.
I baked it at 325F because the original recipe called for 275 F but I thought it might be a little too low (when I bake it in the cake form I also bake it at 325). I'm making more cupcakes on Tuesday with my after school Spanish class and it's a different recipe (no alcohol for the kiddos) so I'll bake it at 350 and see if the top cracks. These cupcakes I made were for a baby shower. I'll post a pic tomorrow. They look really cute, I think.
Inma
Ps: By the way, Squirrelly, I love your new Avatar.... really cute.
Thanks, Squirrelly.
I baked it at 325F because the original recipe called for 275 F but I thought it might be a little too low (when I bake it in the cake form I also bake it at 325). I'm making more cupcakes on Tuesday with my after school Spanish class and it's a different recipe (no alcohol for the kiddos) so I'll bake it at 350 and see if the top cracks. These cupcakes I made were for a baby shower. I'll post a pic tomorrow. They look really cute, I think.
Inma
Ps: By the way, Squirrelly, I love your new Avatar.... really cute.
Hi Inma, thanks, Lisa made it for me.
Well, I would have to say that other than for a fruit cake like a Christmas fruit cake, I have never actually heard of a recipe that would cook at so low a temperature - 275F. Not that it isn't possible, I just haven't ever seen one. The normal temperature for most cakes is 325F to 350F with the odd one at 375F. Is it possible that the temperature you were told is incorrect?
Hugs Squirrelly
275 sounds reasonable for cupcakes.....I have seen several recipes for cupcakes that called for it. cupcakes are usually taller than most cakes and time for expansion prior to the outside crusting has to occur or the top will crack. My grandmother used to bake cupcakes in a waterbath....like you would do a souffle (not sure of the spelling). This was because her oven was old and not really acurate.
Ken
275 sounds reasonable for cupcakes.....I have seen several recipes for cupcakes that called for it. cupcakes are usually taller than most cakes and time for expansion prior to the outside crusting has to occur or the top will crack. My grandmother used to bake cupcakes in a waterbath....like you would do a souffle (not sure of the spelling). This was because her oven was old and not really acurate.
Ken
Interesting Ken because I don't have a single one for under 325F with most being 350F.
I have found that if you allow the cupcakes some rising time on the counter before placing them in the oven, you get good even results. This isn't something I would do with cake batters but the proofing does pay off when people are trying to avoid crowning for decorated cupcakes.
Hugs Squirrelly
Mymistake.......I went to my recipies......most were 375......I was thinking 275. Sorry. Thanks for pointing that out. My mistake for the day
Ken
Oh heck kid we all make mistakes and believe me you are more than entitled to kiddo! I was thinking the same thing, a lot of muffins cook much higher, some as high as 425F. But then muffins are a bit more dense and different consistency. I just thought that maybe with all of the recent cupcake books that are out there, I was out-of-date, haha! Ok, I am out-of date, but I meant with cupcake books, haha!
Oh yeah and if you only make one mistake a day kiddo, well you are ahead of most of us, haha!
Get some sleep kiddo!
Hugs SQuirrelly
I know, it does sound way too low. The recipe is Collete Peter's. I found it in the Food Network website and the reason I have never baked it at 275 F is that the only review the recipe had said that after having baked it at the recommended temperature for the recommended time the cake wasn't done so they went ahead and baked it some more at 325 F. I thought that maybe it was a misprint but I have Collete's Cakes to Dream On and this recipe happens to be there too (with a few minor changes) and she also recommends baking at 275 F.
I included a few pictures of the cupcakes. It is my take on the Wilton baby cupcakes idea.
Inma
Ps: Now I'm looking forward to making those cupcakes on Tuesday and try the tips you guys suggested.
Those are just adorable, so sweet! Lovely job on them. Are you baking them in the foil cups? Just wondering if that plays a role in the temperature.
I have a convection oven and just am never as pleased with the baking when I run things on convection and use all of the racks. But you are right, normally you bake 25 degrees lower than normal temperatures haha, which is still lower than normal for these. I don't have the book so I don't quite understand what would be different in the ingredients to make the cake be baked so low. It is a mystery!
Hugs Squirrelly
Yes, I baked them in foil cups. Now that I think about it, I read somewhere about foil cups affecting in some way how the cupcake rises. I also read that the cupcake top must be flat (is that true??).
It also makes sense that Colette might have been talking about a convection ove. Mine is not.
Thanks for your nice comments. I enlisted my room mate's help to assemble the little cupcakes (lots of hair to color and blankets to put on... still lots of fun! 
)
Inma
Yes, I baked them in foil cups. Now that I think about it, I read somewhere about foil cups affecting in some way how the cupcake rises. I also read that the cupcake top must be flat (is that true??).
It also makes sense that Colette might have been talking about a convection ove. Mine is not.
Thanks for your nice comments. I enlisted my room mate's help to assemble the little cupcakes (lots of hair to color and blankets to put on... still lots of fun!
)Inma
I asked about the foil cups because they are very shiny and attract the heat so might just have made the cupcakes rise a bit faster and not quite cook the same way that muffin tins would. I find this a challenge making tarts in them too because they do cook faster.
Well people are going with the flat cupcake top because it is easier to decorate but actually, your cupcakes should have a rounded crown unless you are deliberately setting out not to get this rounded top. In fact at one time it was considered the sign of a good cake or cupcake, to have a raised crown. It is just as decorators that we want to avoid this.
Hugs Squirrelly
im in australia and not sure about farenheit degrees but i bake all my cupcakes at 170 degrees celcius. if a cake or cupcakes are baked in an oven that is too hot, it causes the cake or cupcakes to rise and crack in the centre. this is called "oven bloom" this is why muffins are baked at 220 degrees celcius so they get the peak on top.
My mother always said that that was a sign that the cake was good tasting.
im in australia and not sure about farenheit degrees but i bake all my cupcakes at 170 degrees celcius. if a cake or cupcakes are baked in an oven that is too hot, it causes the cake or cupcakes to rise and crack in the centre. this is called "oven bloom" this is why muffins are baked at 220 degrees celcius so they get the peak on top.
Edited because my response didn't appear when I submitted it:
Normally the temperature for most recipes or cookbooks for cupcakes in Canada and the U.S is 350F which is 180C or in rare cases 325F which is 160F. Muffins are normally baked at between 400 and 425F which is 200 to 220C.
With decorated cupcakes in recent times people are trying to avoid any form of crown on top at all even though a crown is the natural result so they are allowing the batter to proof somewhat or rise while on the counter or underfulling the cupcakes to get a flatter top to them.
Hugs SQuirrelly
AHi everyone.... I'm new to the forum but I read great tips from all of you all the time! I've had problems with cracking cupcakes as well. What I do now to prevent it is put a flat tray on the very top rack in the oven when I bake them. Sort of like a shield from direct heat on top. I just use a cookie baking sheet. The cracks are hardly there anymore. Hope it'll help!
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