Baking The Perfect Cupcakes

One of the favorite things to bake and send to school with your children, happens to be cupcakes.  Cupcakes are easy to handle and they seem to be just the right size for everyone.  There are several ways to make cupcakes, from scratch using your favorite recipe, grandmothers recipe that has been handed down to you, or from a cake mix. 

A secret to a perfect Cupcake is to let your ingredients come to room temperature before mixing them together.  Don’t over mix the batter; you don’t want to have a chewy cupcake!  If you are making from a recipe, use the correct flour to give the texture you want it to have.  Yes, flour makes a big difference in baking the perfect cupcake.  If you want a cupcake that is light in texture you will want to use cake flour, and if you want a heavier texture use all-purpose flour.  Don’t use self rising flour for these Cupcake Recipes. 

When using a electric mixture make sure you scrape the sides and the bottom of the bowel before pouring the mixture.  Unmixed ingredients will not bake and the out come is not a good one.  Use paper cups or tin liners for easy cleanup and handling.  Fill each cupcake 2/3 of the way full.  If it is less they have a tendency to burn on the bottom, and if you over fill, they will run over into you oven and will not bake all the way done.

Don’t over bake them, as this will cause them to dry out.  Always pre-heat your oven to the proper setting.  If you put the cupcakes in to soon they will not bake evenly and the centers may still have raw centers.  Before you put your cupcakes into your oven tap the bottom of the pan on the counter several times to help release any air bubbles trapped in the batter to come to the top and pop.  

You have so many different kinds of Cupcake Recipes to choose from – chocolate kisses or even a mini peanut butter cup placed in the center before baking.  How about a maple pecan, or cranberry cupcake, eggnog cupcake, strawberry swirl with real strawberries, even lavender with lemon zest?  What ever you can dream up you can put into a cupcake.  Decorating Cupcakes can be just as much fun as making them.  One real cute idea for a birthday party is the Ice Cream Cone Cupcake.  You pour the batter into a ice cream cone and bake it.  Here is a recipe for the Ice Cream Cone Cupcake:

Ingredients:

•     1 box favorite cake mix
•     1/2 cup cold water
•     2 eggs
•     3 tablespoons water
•     1 teaspoon vanilla
•     1 tablespoon cooking oil
•     24 flat-bottomed ice cream cones

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  
2. Combine cake mix and 1/2 cup cold water.  
3. Beat 1 minute.  Beat in eggs, water, vanilla and oil.  Mix well.  
4. Place ice cream cones in muffin tins or on cookie sheet and fill each 1/2 full with batter.  
5. Bake 15 minutes or until cake springs back to the touch.  Frost and decorate when cooled.