help! everytime i make cupcakes, i end up with shriveled up cupcakes! they look beautiful and full in the oven, but as soon as i take them out, they seem to shrink before my eyes. they not only sink, but the sides even seem to implode! i've tried leaving the cupcakes in the pan after baking, and i've tried taking the cupcakes off the pan immediately. both ways don't work. i've tried underbaking and baking longer than is necessary, those ways don't work either! what am i doing wrong? :O(

Cake mix or scratch? What is the brand name of the mix?
How do you mix them?

I personally would need more info before I can help.

What are your ingredients? One theory - too much leavening to flour or too much air beaten in (overbeating). If you work the gluten of the flour it becomes very elastic - like pizza dough.

In your cakes, somehow you've got more gas expansion during baking than the cake can support. The cooling cupcakes shrink because they don't have the structure to hold up after the hot(expanded) gasses leave.

The recipe needs fixin'. I'm guessing you are a scratch baker - review your technique for mixing - could be off.

I had this happen too, even after over 25 yrs of baking! I couldn't figure it out! I explained this to my "baking" aunt on the phone, and she thought it could be our new convection oven. The next time I baked them, I turned the setting to regular bake, without the convection fan, and they worked! Still a mystery as to why, but very relieved that I found how to improve the problem! Thanks Auntie Karin!

If it is a scratch recipe, your baking time could do it also. There is a fine line between underbaked and overbaked. Underbake and they will not be able to have baked enough to create the structure needed to hold up and they will implode. Overbake and they look nice, but are dry.