Moist Cupcakes.... A Myth?

Baking By zespri Updated 21 Aug 2010 , 7:18pm by brincess_b

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zespri Posted 18 Aug 2010 , 8:23pm
post #1 of 13

I have never been able to make moist cupcakes. I am starting to wonder if what I bake is what cupcakes are SUPPOSED to be like. Are they even supposed to be moist, or would that make them too dense? Are they supposed to be a bit dry so they can be airy?

I've lost sight of the goal post, all the recipes I keep trying aren't producing anything I'd be proud to give to someone. The only suggestions I've seen in here for amazing cupcakes are for recipes which involve a boxed cake of some sort as the base, which isn't an option.

I guess I keep expecting them to be like cakes, only smaller. Is that fair, or not realistic?

12 replies
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adamsmom Posted 18 Aug 2010 , 8:27pm
post #2 of 13

Have you tried baking them at a lower temp and for less time? I had to adjust both the temperature I bake at and the time that I bake them for. I bake at 300-325 for cupcakes and bake for less time (15-18min). I'd play around with those two things. Good luck!

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scp1127 Posted 19 Aug 2010 , 6:31am
post #3 of 13

I only bake recipes that are moist. Look for sour cream or buttermilk in the recipe. Alton Brown's book, "I'm Just Here For More Food", is a textbook on how to bake. It gives the science behind baking, how the ingredients affect the outcome, how to manipulate the batter, etc.

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zespri Posted 19 Aug 2010 , 8:01am
post #4 of 13

That's a good idea, thanks icon_smile.gif I had a quick look, and he's also published 'I'm just here for the food'. Just checking that you're recommending 'I'm just here for MORE food'?

Quote:
Originally Posted by scp1127

I only bake recipes that are moist. Look for sour cream or buttermilk in the recipe. Alton Brown's book, "I'm Just Here For More Food", is a textbook on how to bake. It gives the science behind baking, how the ingredients affect the outcome, how to manipulate the batter, etc.


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bakescupcakes Posted 19 Aug 2010 , 11:41pm
post #5 of 13

It can take a while finding a really good cupcake recipe from scratch, especially vanilla and chocolate. I use the Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cook Book. They have a lot of really good recipes that are moist. I've tried flourless choc cupcakes (really yum, used them for a wedding, requested alot,tastes like a choc brownie! )white choc mud with raspberries, choc mud, coconut, mocha spice, apple sauce, carrot, just to name a few and they are great! Even their vanilla is pretty good. In my opinion it's a book worth buying.

I do freeze my cupcakes, which does seal in the moisture.

I've recently found a really good white cake recipe which I made into cupcakes and it's a keeper! from Wren's Cottage, under Karen's Kitchen. HTH

Happy baking icon_smile.gif

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zespri Posted 20 Aug 2010 , 12:10am
post #6 of 13

Excellent, love recomendations!

I've added the crabapple bakery book to my wishlist, but I can't seem to find the Wren's Cottage/Karen's Kitchen book... am I misunderstanding, is it a book you're referring to?

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scp1127 Posted 20 Aug 2010 , 2:38am
post #7 of 13

"I'm Just Here For More Food" is baking only. The first one, "I'm Just Here For The Food" is about cooking techniques... braising, roasting, stewing, etc. I have both but the baking one is my favorite. I read it with highlighters, markers, and post-its, like it was a college textbook. It will answer most every question about how to manipulate batter with great results. He says don't come to him for the best recipes. Learn the techniques and apply it to you recipes or to recipes from chefs who are better than he is. There are very few recipes in the book.

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bakescupcakes Posted 20 Aug 2010 , 3:37am
post #8 of 13

Oh so sorry, I wasn't very clear. Wren's Cottage is a website. Scroll down to bottom of page and click on 'Karen's Kitchen'. It's just called 'white cake'.

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zespri Posted 20 Aug 2010 , 8:11am
post #9 of 13

@scp1127: thank you for the clarification, they both sound like great books, and are on my wish list icon_biggrin.gif
@bakescupcakes: I found it! Can't wait to try it out. It looks like a big recipe. That raises another question, how many cupcakes would an average cake recipe make? Maybe one cake = a dozen cupcakes?

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bakescupcakes Posted 20 Aug 2010 , 11:08am
post #10 of 13

So glad you found it! I haven't made the full recipe yet. I made 2/3 of it, which made 24 medium(base 4.5cm) cupcakes. When I first try a recipe I usually cut it down to using one egg if possible. So if the recipe calls for 4 eggs, I'll try and quarter the recipe or three eggs, thirds, that way if I don't like the recipe, it's less waste. Then from their I can work out how many the full recipe would make, lol if the recipe is a success.

Most cake recipes do translate really well to cupcakes, but I have come across a few that don't. The chocolate mud cake from the Planet Cake Book is my favourite mud 'cake' recipe, but it's terrible in cupcakes, so I use the recipe from the Crabapple Bakery, but I do reduce the amount of coffee in recipe. HTH

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KristyDi Posted 20 Aug 2010 , 12:54pm
post #11 of 13

I recently made this chocolate cake

http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/07/project-wedding-cake-the-cake-is-baked/

for my brother's wedding. We scaled the recipe up so we could fill 6",8"and , 10" pans with one batch.

There was just enough batter left for 3 cupcakes after filling the pans. I went ahead and baked them (I have individual ceramic cupcake cups and hate wasting) and they were awesome. Moist and chocolaty. They took about 18-20 min at 325.

Plus the recipe is really easy to scale up and down since all the measurements are 3's. 3 cups, 3 quarters of something, or 1 and a half.[/url]

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scp1127 Posted 20 Aug 2010 , 11:02pm
post #12 of 13

bakescupcakes, thanks for the Crabapple Bakery suggestion. I will be getting that.

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brincess_b Posted 21 Aug 2010 , 7:18pm
post #13 of 13

also, i recommend a victoria sponge recipe. simple, and pretty fail safe.
xx

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