Hope this question isn't to silly, but could someone tell me how to make cupcakes level with the top of the paper liner. I just want to ice them and put a drop flower on them for my neice pre-school class. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

i normally fill mine about 1/2 full and they come out pretty even.. if they dont i use a trick i readon cali4dawns tutorial. place a heavy cutting board and heavy bowl on top of the cutting board as soon as they come out of the oven . this normally does the trick

Thanks so much I will give that a try, I have leveling cakes down pat, thanks to everyone here on CC, you folks are just a life saver and so quick to reply. I guess I will be doing more cupcakes now that my neice is starting school this year, her mom my sister just isn't into baking so I expect to be doing the baking for her which I love, so again thanks.

To make all your cupcakes perfectly even and the same size as one another, scoop the batter with an ice cream scoop. I use one that is about 1/3 cup and it works perfectly. They come in all different sizes...so find one that is the right size for you.

I was going to suggest the icecream scoop idea as well. Some times I even just use a 1/3c measuring cup and fill it to the top and then pour it into the cupcake pan then they come out the same size as well.

oh...and bake them at a lower temp than it suggests. I do mine at 325 degrees instead of the 350 degrees the recipe calls for. They bake up, but not too peaky!

Thanks to everyone who replied, I don't know what I would do without CC since I found this site, so many friendly people and always willing to help others.

I use the ice cream scoop also. Have even used the cookie sheet method also. Do you tap your pan to release air bubbles before putting in the oven?

Yea I tap the pan ever so gently, I made these today with everyones advice they came out just like I wanted them to. Instead of putting a drop flower on them I made enough to put all the letters of the alphabet on them, again thanks to all.