I made these cupcakes from Martha Stewart (http://www.marthastewart.com/316419/snickerdoodle-cupcakes) only I made my own cinnamon buttercream not the 7 minute frosting. They taste FABULOUS...but they are a little dry for me. How can I moisten them up a bit?

One thing I can think that I did do....I did not have cake flour so I used all AP flour, took 2 tbsp our and replaced with 2 tbsp cornstarch..could that have made the difference?

Not having the cake flour probably did make a difference. I Know it's said taking out 2 tablespoons from a cup of AP flour will equal 1 cup cake flour, or to add 2 tablespoons corn starch to the AP flour as another option, but it's never going to be the exact same as following what the recipe says to use.
Recipes are tested using the ingredients listed as that's the ratio that worked the best after trail and error before publishing, tests so to speak. When you adjust/change the ingredients, especially the flour, you take the chance of the recipe not turning out the way it should.

How you measure your flour can make a difference too. If you scoop your measuring cup into the flour then level it off, you'll have more flour per cup that spooning the flour into the measuring cup and leveling it off.

Sorry your cuppies were dry, but look on the bright side.. You say they taste good even though they're a bit dry.. All you need to do now is remake them with the right ingredients, and they'll taste awesome!

You can simple syrup your cupcakes after they come out of the oven. Equal parts water to sugar and if you want you can flavor it also.

also, depending on your elevation, you may need to adjust the temperature or time, or even add a bit more liquid to the batter

one trick I was told which has resulted in all my cupcakes being much more moist is instead of adding the whole of the egg at once, seperate the egg whites and whisk to soft peaks then when the receipe says add the eggs just add the yokes. After adding the flour, fold in the egg whites it add much more air into your mixture. It works for me anyway and I have never had a problem with my cupcakes being dry since changing to this method. xx

You should have taken 2 T of flour out first. That will make the AP equal the weight of cake flour. Then after that you take out another 10% in weight in AP flour and add back in 10% of the corn starch. You are probably not using a scale, so just go with 2T of cornstarch and take out 4T of AP flour.

Stir for 30 seconds, whip for another 30 seconds and then sift 5 times. Yes, all of that. You need to thoroughly mix in the corn starch with the flour.

I add one package of dry pudding mix to all my cake/cupcake batter and have had many compliments on how moist my cakes are! Just use a complimentary flavor to whatever cake flavor you are making.

I add a package of dream whip and a little extra oil or butter to every recipe that I use. It always makes for a very moist cake.

i add sourcream that works as well

I made snickerdoodle cupcakes twice. I used cake flour and mine too were dry. I think its the cinnamon taking the moisture away. After my first attempt I told myself that I would need to add sour cream the second time, well I forgot. So on the second attempt they were dry again. My third attempt I will definately remember, 3rd time a charm.

I used a cream cheese cinnamon frosting. So delicious, I wanted to eat just the icing.

Thanks, everyone! I'll give some of these a try.

I've made that recipe too and mine were dry, I also think it's from the cinnamon. They are also really easy to overbake which makes it worse. Martha has some great recipes, but I personally don't think this is one of them.

Now if I want a cinnamon cake I just use my regular vanilla cake recipe and sub out equal parts of flour to cinnamon and get perfect results. Little cream cheese SMBC and nom nom.

Jen