How About A Thread To Seriously Discuss Making Cupcakes?????
Baking By Cookies4kids Updated 11 Dec 2020 , 12:18pm by -K8memphis
Laura,
I am really excited to quit the business. Isn't that ironic since most are excited to get in to it? hee! Customers can be evil I tell ya! And expect you to work 24/7. And for nothing. Go figure. And I dare you to find good reliable help. Boil water? What is that? You mean I am supposed to work in the kitchen more time than I spend in the smoking area? And I can not drop things on the floor and then serve them??? sigh. That was probably one of my maid reasons for wanting to quit. Customers are one thing but they eventually go away. Sometimes employees can just drive ya to want to drink!
I am really hoping to now have enough time to enjoy my kids and create really fun things.
My next endeavor is to master that airbrush. It is next on my list of purchases. But I want one that allows me to keep my cocoa butter fluid without ruining the parts of the airbrush.
Just think of how much more time I can spend drooling over CC pics?!
What size dixie cups do you buy ? They can bake in the oven ???Probably the same idea as baking in the nut cups ? thanks
I use the small ones for cupcakes and large ones for muffins. 4 to 5 oz for the cupcakes and 8 to 12 oz for muffins. You can easily cut these down to any size you want. Decide how deep you want them, make a mark with a marker on the side of your scissors and then use that mark to cut a consistent slit into the side of the cup. Then cut around the perimeter. Really, any size will do. Just turn your heat down half way thru if you feel that they are going to get over done on the outside before the center is done if you are doing very large ones.
Yes, they are after all CUP cakes. Which implies using a cup, right? heh heh
I prefer to use the waxed ones as the unwaxed ones will absorb fats and look just plain yucky with grease spots.
eta:
If you like that......this one I love.....
use a pretty coffee cup and bake your cupcake or cake in that. Fill to about 1/2 inch from the top egde as usual. Fill the cupcake with a mocha/coffee filling and top with a swirl of frosting. I use ABC , I fill my piping bag with white, chocolate and coffee flavored frosting and then pipe it on with the huge star tip. Then I dust with chocolate powder and stick a pirouette cookie in for effect. So good.
tiggerbounceThanks ! Yes I have baked in the coffee mugs before ! Turnes out very well ! Whats ABC ?
"now that is one great idea..... no more whirly cupcakes.. "
Well, the first bouquet I made I did the top like those from that famous cupcake shop from NY, is that right. I call it my Monet Bouquet. Soft colors and sort of impressonistic looking.
It was beautiful. I had greenery and babies breath all around. Breathtaking. So, I put it in the fridge to get out the next day for the auction that I had donated it for. Ok, butter based batters, cold, and cupcakes/bouquets = a very sad thing.
Because of the butter in the batter, when the cupcakes began to warm up, the cake was slightly shrinking and pulling away from the papers!!!! gasp! It was cupcake disaster!!! Cupcakes falling from the bouquet like petals in the wind!!! 
Tigger was disturbed. 
And needed a solution.... 
Icecream cones? nah, to tall. Souffle cups? Not sturdy enough. (while sipping on a lemonade in a paper cup.....) eyes paper cup...... eyes nasty tv dinner on the counter....... hmmmmmmmm........... 
solution handed down from the heavens.!!!!
eta:
If you like that......this one I love.....
use a pretty coffee cup and bake your cupcake or cake in that. Fill to about 1/2 inch from the top egde as usual. Fill the cupcake with a mocha/coffee filling and top with a swirl of frosting. I use ABC , I fill my piping bag with white, chocolate and coffee flavored frosting and then pipe it on with the huge star tip. Then I dust with chocolate powder and stick a pirouette cookie in for effect. So good.
Ok, now you've done it... I have to go eat breakfast..... you are killing me here......
ABC = american buttercream........just the shortening and butter/crisco recipe. Any recipe you love is great though.
What if........
you took a pretty ceramic mug
made chocolate cake in it
filled with dollop of fudge frosting and fresh raspberry filling
topped with a smooth layer of meringue buttercream,
used a squeeze bottle filled with chocolate or a raspberry coulis (or use BOTH flavors!!)
and did latte art on top so that it looked like a latte? Servie with a spoon shaped cookie.
Ok, I am getting hungry AND thirsty now!
Stop inspiring me. I am quitting I tell ya! 
(heads to the espresso maker............. 
)
AND, get this, I bake my cupcakes in paper cups. Like dixie cups, ya know? White are my favorite but the decorated ones look nice too. If you can drink hot coffee from them they are equally food safe for baking. These work perfectly for stability for cupcake bouquets.
OMG!! I am NOT kidding when I tell you that Friday I was staring at the bulk packages of Dixie cups at the restaurant supply store wondering if I could bake in them!! I was worried that maybe they were wax coated and that would affect the safety of the cake... but you say they are ok?? That is so funny! I was looking for a specific size of paper nut cups but they only had the super large and the little bitty, but the Dixie cups were suspiciously the right size!!! I am SO glad you've joined us... we need more good info like yours!! I am totally going to try the cups... I'm so glad you brought that up because I was going to start a thread to ask!
Well, they serve tv dinners in them, hot beverages, hot soups, etc. I think cupcakes are perfect for cups, don't you?
Do you suppose we could take tv dinner trays and make cake tv dinners? chocolate meatloaf cake, icecream potatoes....??? Sounds like a good dinner to me! 
Cheryl,
LOVE those cupcakes.
Are you bringing them over for breakfast this morning???
If you live to far away, I am good for a late tea as well......... 
Here, you will LOVE this if you hate doing buttercream roses....
The trick is this........
1) ALWAYS make sure that when you start a petal your tip is touching the wooden part of the dowel
2) work your way down the dowel, do not try to build the rose out, when you lift it with your scissors it will collapse into a perfect rose for you
I can whip out zillions of roses an hour (ok , so slight exaggeration) this way. You will love this once you get the hang of it.
eta:
Oh, make rose and place lovingly on top of cupcake......phew! that should keep me on topic....
CherylB.. Great cupcakes ! Also there was a show one time on Food network that they made like meatloaf etc.. out of cake and icecream! Not sure which show it was that showed it !
See, now that's my kind of dinner!
errrr....cupcake........
tiggerbounce.. I have that saved to, Love it ! I have been trying to get my roses to work on the stick GRRRRRRR!!! I do ok on the flower nail but on the stick they keep wanting to slidedown after the first row ! LOL! You should post some pic,s of you creations?
Fiddlesticks........hold your stick at an angle or sideways....that helps me when my frosting is soft or warm
Vicky, I am by Kansas City, Missouri, a bit further than michigan....but since I am basically geographically in the center of the US, I can be there in no time. hee!
melody25, those cupcakes look and sound delicious!
vickymacd, your "roses" are so pretty...got me to thinking(just when I thought I was over cupcakes too)
cherylb, those are beautiful flowers.
tiggerbounce, that chocolate recipe is posted all over the chocolate cake to die for forum...it is the most awesome chocolate cake recipe....I'll ask you what I asked them...do you bake it at 300? I tried three different sized pans and with subsequent batches, raised the heat...first batch 300 sunk...second batch 325 sunk but not as badly...third batch 350 no sinking...cupcakes slight dimple.
Ok do not throw tomatoes at me (well, ok, I love tomatoes so feel free), but I am about to make a HUGE confession.
I do not eat what I make. Or at least very rarely. I am primarily practicing raw vegan. (health reasons) Defined: raw fruits and veggies, nuts, seeds, berries Avoiding processed foods and chemicals. Keep heat to 188 or less. I do treat myself once in awhile, but I can replicate most things that are chocolatey or desserty in raw form and it is actually healthy for me. BUT.........cake.
Soooooo,........how do you get something to have a cake like texture without heating it? Any ideas??? Have you ever accidentally made something and set it aside and gotten a cakelike or brownie like texture without putting in the oven??? I miss the texture of cake because raw cakes are quite dense, made with nuts and dates primarily.
Feeling sorry for myself because I want a piece of cake............
Anyone got any ideas?
all4cake,
Well, that is a tough question to answer. I bake in a commercial oven and do bake at 300 degrees. The author of that recipe is a chef and I am willing to be he wrote it according to that. Home ovens can generally be adjusted anywhere from 25 to 50 degrees hotter to get the same results.
I have never had it sink. BUT when I check on it I can tell that if I were to take it out earlier that it would most definitely sink. Try leaving in longer? It is so hard to give answers without actually peering over someone's shoulder while they are working. So many variables to consider. Sounds like you were getting to where you wanted to be with it by adjusting your temps though.
Sorry I can not be of more help. Are you getting such a large sinking center that you are unable to trim the top? Does the center part that is sinking look a darker color than the edges?
Each cake was done...no wet spots at all...they sunk while baking not after I removed them...They baked a bit longer because of the sink hole.
I was only curious as to how many people had success with it at 300...and if anyone else adjusted their temps to reach success with this recipe.
That's about all I have for pics right now. I never intend to make more cakes so I never take pics. The last set I took is in a regular camera though because I dropped the digital and broke it. Which is a bummer because my cupcake bouquet pics were on it.
Cakes are not the main part of my biz though, so mostly I do chocolates, pies, cinnamon rolls, muffins, and various smaller pastries and cakes. I hate being responsible for large even cakes because I never have an appropriate amount of reliable help and do not want to stay up 3 days straight getting that and my daily tasks completed.
I was bummed the first batch...like"greeeeeeeat, another *&%^$( recipe that is no good". I allowed it to cool, trimmed off top(which was about half way down the layer), tasted it and thought..."This is INCREDIBLE! oh, no, I'm redoing it. THIS one I've got to get right!" That is when I started messing with the temperature. Had it not been so delicious, I would've tossed the paper it was printed on.
all4cake.
LOL! I understand completely! To many bad recipes. Or maybe the techique is not explained properly.
I have come to look at it like this........$5 to $10 in research and development, cost of doing business. I hate bad recipes!
But you are right, AWESOME recipe. Worthy of retrying again and again! You did great!
it is a chocolate band filled with mousse and chocolate fudge topping
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