Over the last few months, I have been working on some great scratch recipes. I absolutely love how they turn out as cakes. Now, I am trying to make cupcakes with my scratch recipes. I have 2 problems that pop up.

1. They come out gummy.
2. The liner pulls away from them.

Neither happens with my doctored mix recipes.
I have always used foil cups. Never, ever use paper.
My scratch recipes that contain cocoa powder bake through and are not gummy.

I have tried (individually and as a combination):
*baking at lower temps for longer times
*higher temps for shorter times
*adjusting fluids in recipes
*adjusting the amount of batter in the cups

I suspect the gumminess has something to do with the cocoa powder since my chocolates and red velvets bake through beautifully. However, the wrappers still pull away from the cupcake.

Can anyone make a suggestion on something else I should try adjusting?

For reference here are my base ingredient amounts:
2 cups sugar
2 sticks of butter
2 eggs
3 cups of cake flour
1 cup melted white chocolate
1 cup liquid (milk, buttermilk, juice, etc.)
salt, vanilla, leavening

Any help is greatly appreciated!!!

Your liner problem sounds like you are using the cheaper, pretty liners. They just don't work for some scratch recipes. You want to look for high quality greaseproof liners, as these can be cheap too.

As for the gumminess, I'm not sure. I'm not the expert on adjusting recipes that I haven't tried, but in my experience, all but Sylvia Weinstock's convert well to cupcakes. You may just be trying one of those types. Try a few more of your recipes and see if, with better liners, you have better results. I tend to bake the cupcakes at a higher temp and remove them asap. I use a cooling rack and cool completely before frosting or storing.

Thanks, ladies!

I am hitting it again today and will try the higher temp for the first five minutes.

As for the cups, I have had the best product results with the Reynolds foil cups (until now). They are sturdier than anything I have found anywhere, including the expensive ones in our local cake supply store. I try to steer away from the decorative ones or the Wilton ones or any found in a regular craft store.

Do either of you have a supplier you prefer for cupcake cups? I prefer quality over eye catching. I can make an eye catching wrapper post production.

To me it seems there are very few eggs. For your sugar/fat/eggs/flour/liquid ratio, my recipe would call for 1/2 c. more flour (I don't use white chocolate for vanilla cupcakes) and faaaar more eggs...

http://www.thebakerskitchen.net/Brown-Tulip-Baking-Cups.aspx

These are for the exact ones I use, but I also use the coordinating regular liners for school functions.

The Reynolds worked perfectly for me also. I just needed consistency and more quantity.

not all cake recipes transfer to cupcakes well...like the sylvia weinstock classic yellow cake is a delicious cake, bakes beautifully but for cupcakes they shrink and are small and just down right pitiful looking.

I believe you gumminess comes from the melted white chocolate. Not all cake mixes translate well to cupcakes. If you have gumminess try finding a base recipe without the white chocolate in it. It is a good idea to not use that as your base anyway as every one you use will have that base flavor that some people can detect.

And as for the liners peeling away, I responded on another post about my experience when we made 1,000 mini cupcakes using 2 different kinds of pans. One was a heavy duty commercial pan and the other was a lighter, Wilton mini pan sold just about any where. I couldn't get enough of the heavier pans, so I had to compromise and use the Wiltons. Because I knew exactly which flavors were backed in which pans, I noticed that the flavors used in the lighter Wilton made for the home pans all peeled away. I now believe that if the liners peel away that the pan is not heavy enough to evenly spread the heat to adhere the liners to the cake or bake the cupcakes evenly either. Then when they cool, the cupcakes will shrink slightly and then the liners will peel. It seems to be more prevalent on chocolate ones and citrus ones, but it can happen in all flavors as I found out. Needless to say, the cheap Wilton ones are no longer being used and I am hunting for more of the professional heavy duty pans.

So find the heaviest duty pan you can afford. That should help with most of the peeling liner problem. There are still other reasons, but this is one of them.

I use the very best WS Goldtouch pans and for me it's the liner. I really believe it has to do with our baking styles too. I know that I gravitate toward certain recipe types, even though I bake a wide array of crumb and moistness of cupcakes, and I'm guessing most scratch bakers do the same.

Those WS Goldtouch pans are good heavy weight pans also. You can feel the weight when you pick them up, not like the Wilton pans. Those things are lightweights.

Brenda thanks for sharing your information with us.

You guys have been great!

Okay, so today, I bumped up the temp for the first 5 minutes, then took it down 25 degrees for the rest of the baking. Gumminess is gone! However, now I have a slight crust, like a pound cake, which I believe has to do with my sugar content. I will work on that.

I also worked on weighing the amount of batter I put in each cup, rather than just measuring with my large or medium ice cream scoop. Too little, and of course it pulled away. Too much and it would rise, then fall over the edge, crusting and coming apart (That was new!). With just the right amount, it baked to the top edge and did not pull away. Perfect! (I use tall cups and prefer them flat topped, rather than using the short regular cups with a domed cake.)

Linda, I read the thread on the pans! Thanks for that information. I can't remember the brand of my pans (found them on Amazon 2 years ago), but they are much heavier than the Wilton's that I gave away several months ago.

You guys have been a plethora of information! Many thanks!

That crust may turn moist with cooling.

Linda, I can still have the problem with cheap liners. In the majority of my recipes, I bake classic southern cakes which are more dense and moist than many cakes. These were the problem cupcakes. On yellow, chocolate, etc., never a problem. That's why I think it is my recipes. Pans are great.

Your levening is causing your shrinking/flatening problem. When I first started my vanilla cupcakes shrunk, flattened and peeled from the paper. I also had gummy problems.

After adjusting my levening for my cupcakes now my scratch butter cakes bake just fine in no matter what pan I use and no matter what liners I attempt to use. They have a nice dome, don't crust too much on top, and never pull from the wrappers, no matter how cheep those wrappers are.

Lower your baking powder. Makes no sense, I know, but it works. Start with 1/2 tsp baking powder less, but add 1/8 tsp baking soda per 2 tsp of baking powder.

So, for example, my original 8" white cake recipe calls for 5.5 tsp. baking powder. If I was to make that into cupcakes, I do 3.5 tsp baking powder, and 1/8 plus 1/16 baking soda. Bakes perfect. I swear.

Jen