I have an order for a couple hundred cupcakes. I normally bake my cupcakes two dozen at a time, with both pans on the middle rack. However, given the current volume I would like to cook four dozen at a time. I normally cook the 2 dozen for 20 minutes in a 350 oven or else will cook the 2 dozen for 5 minutes on 400 and then 325 for the next 15 minutes.

For those who have baked 4 dozen at a time do you need to adjust your baking time or temperature to compensate for the additional cupcakes in the oven? Do you cook them on the middle and bottom racks? Also, I would imagine that you would need to rotate your pans halfway through, but I am a little worried that this could cause the cupcakes to fall. Has anyone had this problem?

What is the best way to cook 4 dozen cupcakes at once? Any help would be greatly appreciated; four dozen are a lot of cupcakes to mess up at one time.

I guess a lot would depend on your oven. Mine is great. I just recently started baking 24 cupcakes at a time and haven't had any problems. Both pans come out great. I don't put all 24 in at a time. I mix and put my first batch in, then I mix and put the second batch in, and alternate them so that they go in the oven at different times. I really don't know if that makes any difference, but it works for me. I want a high dome on my cupcakes, so I bake them at 375 for around 18 minutes. I have to watch them close, because I have ended up with some burnt ones, but not many. HTH.

I guess I was counting wrong. LOL I put 48 cupcakes in my oven at one time. I use the top and middle racks. Sorry about that. They come out really well. Just watch your oven. Everything else is the same.

I have not had any luck trying to bake more than 2 dozen. If I move them around they fall or don't bake evenly. If I leave them alone then the bottom ones burn. I'll keep an eye on this thread for ideas though because it would sure be nice to be able to bake more. I bake 12-14 dozen at least every Friday.

I haven't cooked that many at a time. However,I seem to recall someone who did and I don't remember who it was.

If I remember correctly, they put the first batch on the higher shelf for part of the cooking time. When it came to the second batch, the first batch moved down and the new ones went in the top. The cupcakes went assembly-line style like that until all were baked.

While the cupcakes do rotate shelves, once you start, it is simple. Twenty-four come out, twenty-four move down, and twenty-four go in. The oven always has 48 cupcakes except for the first few minutes and the last few minutes.

Does it make sense?

I have a home oven and I use the convection feature and I have baked 6doz at a time. I cook 3/4 of the way of the full time then rotate all the pans, they always come out fine. Sometimes I have to move the bottom rack to the top for a few minutes after I take out the others.

If you have a regular oven I would put in the two pans like normal then put one on the top and one on the bottom sideways not longways like in the middle. I would also turn the pans after 3/4 of your normal cook time. If you turn them that far in they are more stable and should not fall.

You know, after posting, I did have trouble yesterday, but I don't think it is so much baking on different racks that did it, is that I am trying to experiment with temperature. I burned some yesterday. It seem mostly my white based cupcakes. Chocolate, I don't seem to have a problem.
I want a high dome, so I started baking a 375, but they do tend to burn, I watch them very closely and start checking at 15 minutes. I don't loose a lot to burning only a few. I wonder if I have a "hot spot" in my oven. I did make certain that my "white or yellow" based cupcakes were on the top shelf, and that did help a bit. Do you think it is because of the temp or baking the 48 cupcakes?

Thank you for the suggestions. I will try doing the 48 while rotating assembly style and see if I have any luck. I will update this when I am done.

Ok. That wasn't as bad as I was thinking. I startred my oven at 400. I put my first 2 pans in the middle and cooked for 5 minutes. I then put the temp back down to 350 and cooked 5 more minutes. I opened the door and added my second 2 pans to the bottom rack and let everytrhing cook for 10 minutes. At that point I removed the middle pans, put the bottom oneson the middle and added 2 new pans to the bottom and continued this. It all worked very smoothly and the cupcakes turned out fine.

The only problem I had was with my white cupcakes (which I have to be careful with anyway.) On those I ended up having to pull them out a minute or two earlier which caused a lot of opening of the oven door. I then tried putting 2 on the midlde with only 1 on the bottom (in the center) and then put the bottom one on the middle rack when I removed the two middle pans. It worked ,but I ended up with a couple batches that got cooked a little too long. Perhaps with white cupcakes I will just stick with 2 pans at a time.

Ok. That wasn't as bad as I was thinking. I startred my oven at 400. I put my first 2 pans in the middle and cooked for 5 minutes. I then put the temp back down to 350 and cooked 5 more minutes. I opened the door and added my second 2 pans to the bottom rack and let everytrhing cook for 10 minutes. At that point I removed the middle pans, put the bottom oneson the middle and added 2 new pans to the bottom and continued this. It all worked very smoothly and the cupcakes turned out fine.

The only problem I had was with my white cupcakes (which I have to be careful with anyway.) On those I ended up having to pull them out a minute or two earlier which caused a lot of opening of the oven door. I then tried putting 2 on the midlde with only 1 on the bottom (in the center) and then put the bottom one on the middle rack when I removed the two middle pans. It worked ,but I ended up with a couple batches that got cooked a little too long. Perhaps with white cupcakes I will just stick with 2 pans at a time.