Cupcake Queries
 

I'm baking cupcakes from a Betty Crocker mix and I always end up with HUGE high crowns when what I want is a delicate hill. How do I fix this problem? I've googled and I can't find anything addressing this.

How full are you filling your cups?

. . .

I mean, of course, that the baking cups should be no more than 2/3 full. Other than that, the only thing I can think of is it might be an altitude-adjustment problem.

I'm filling them NO more than 2/3 full. maybe I need to go to 1/3 full...or less. do your cupcakes do this?

You shouldn't be getting high crowns from a box mix. Shit it was over twenty years ago that i worked in a bakery, I think high crowns are the result of rampant leaving activity. Out of the box means it is not likely you used too much baking powder so the problem may be too much liquid. Things getting too loose allowing the crowns to go bonkers. Although the difference is minimal a dry cup measure is different from a wet cup measure. I don't recall which is greater. Try decreasing your liquid by a very small amount, say 10% (remember the whole potato question? tw can help)

The old Joy of Cooking used to have muffing trouble shooting. I'll check some of my books, but off the top of my head it is from either too much leavening, or too slack a batter.

Is your oven temp correct? Singed outside and raw ish inside = too hot, dry and not so well browned = too cool.


Just checked. reasons for peaked muffins: Oven too hot, over mixing (will also give you a tough and chewy muffin, mix should be just barely incorporated, lumps ok), mix too dry ( I had it wrong, but the kind of peaks from too dry a mix are rough and craggy and you see it when you fill the cups. smooth peaks are from one of the other reasons) and finally over filling the cups. 2/3 is correct. Another cause can be greasing all the way to the edge of the cup. (assuming you aren't using paper cups)

Ok--maybe I AM using too much liquid. that makes sense (I cheat and use a dry ingred. cup instead of a liq. cup measure) but my oven temp. is fine--they come out v. moist--just with these weird high crowns. remember the movie Encounters of the Third Kind? Well, my cupcakes look like that mountain.

you have no green light either...

the plot thickens.

Yeah, I agree--check your oven. Get an oven thermometer and stick it in there. Some ovens run hot.

I also suggest you try to make cake from scratch. It's not that much harder, and you can control the amount of baking soda or powder in it. Making it from scratch also lets you control the quality of your ingredients, and reduce your intake of food additives.

(psst! It is Brianna we're talking to here... ;) )

I sometimes let my batter sit a few minutes before I proceed to filling the baking cups. Sometimes the "settling time" helps with the crowning.

Don't know if this helps, but I believe some queries reduce the size of the mound by taping it back.

Implants? ;)

:lol:

Sheldon told you that, didn't he?

all very clever and nice.

NONE of this is helpful, re: cupcakes, re: need for slight mound.

Sorry. Big cups will make a nicely shaped mound, but you'll need plenty of batter. So try jiggling the cups while you heat the batter up, then quickly pump it all on there once you've got enough pressure built up. Be careful not to spill any, or you might end up with a bun in the oven.

See what i mean?