Tips for Making Cupcakes

Seeing as we coming up on Valentine's Day in a couple of weeks, I thought it might be a fun idea to post some tips on making cupcakes. I'd like to make some for Valentine's Day and decorate them with little heart sprinkles ( I wonder if I can find such a thing here).

Tips for Making Cupcakes:

1. Fill your cupcake wells 1/2 to 2/3 full. Any more and you will get a gooey mess instead of a beautiful cupcake. If you use less than 1/2 a well of batter, then you will get wimpy cupcakes and will have to use extra frosting to make them look larger

2. Choose the right cupcake pan. Good cupcake pans are shiny and on the heavy side. They will cook 6 to 12 cupcakes at a time. Large muffin pans don't work well for baking precious little cupcakes. Make sure you have 2 pans available because then you won't have to cool a pan before you finish baking your cupcakes. Two 12 well cupcake pans should be enough for one batch of cupcakes.

3. Make it easy o remove the cupcakes from your pan. Either use paper or foil wrappers or spray the individual wells with a nonstick spray. If you are using the new silicone pans, wrappers or nonstick spray work fine in these also.

4. Don't overmix your batter. This will cause your cupcakes to be rather chewy instead of perfectly moist. Follow the directions in your cupcake recipe. If your recipe calls for a hand mixer and you are using a stand mixer, you will need to reduce you mixing time. Stand mixers mix batters faster than regular hand mixers. Consult your owners manual for mixing time adjustments.

5. Bring all ingredients to room temperature before mixing your cupcake batter. The items will mix evenly, and the result will be a wonderful cupcake batter. By mixing cold items into your batter, you risk having a lumpy batter which might cause you to overmix your batter. GASP! What a No No!

6. Bake your cupcakes at the proper temperature. Preheat your oven to the correct temperature BEFORE you put your cupcakes in the oven. An oven thermometer would also be a great idea to make sure your oven is set to the right temperature. If your oven cooks food faster at the rear of the oven, then make sure you rotate your cupcake pan halfway through the baking time.

7. Use your favorite cake batter to make cupcakes. Batter for an 8 inch layer cake usually makes 20-24 cupcakes. Just make sure you have mixed the batter well, and only fill the cupcake liners 1/2 to 2/3 full. Bake approximately 20 minutes, and check for doneness using a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center of the cupcakes.

8. Test for doneness after the minimum cooking time. If the cupcakes aren't finished cooking after the minimum time, then place them back in the oven for some additional cooking time. Cupcakes are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

9. Cook only one pan of cupcakes at a time. Place your cupcake pan in the very center of your oven. If your oven tends to cook items more that are towards the back, then rotate your cupcake pan halfway through the cooking time. If you absolutely have to bake 2 pans of cupcakes at one time, make sure you switch cupcake pans halfway through the cooking time. By this I mean put the bottom pan on the top and move the top pan to the bottom.

10. Cupcakes are best eaten the same day they are made. Undecorated cupcakes can be frozen up to 3 months.

A few more tips:

•Use the toothpick in the center test for doneness. In most cases, if the toothpick comes out clean, it's done and if cake sticks, bake a little longer.



 Cool cupcakes in pan 10 to 15 minutes, then turn out on rack to cool completely.



Cupcakes are best consumed the day they are baked.

You may freeze most cupcakes, unfrosted, for up to three months.

Cookies I'm Going To Try

Loretta Painter's Soft Sugar Cookies



Loretta Painter owns a restaurant and catering business in Stewardson, Illinois. She says that using margarine rather than butter keeps the cookies softer longer. I love this recipe because the cookies are indeed soft and chewy and have a wonderful flavor from the addition of sour cream. — Mimi
Yield: approximately 48 cookies

1 cup (250 ml) margarine

1-1/2 cup (375 ml) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon (5 ml) baking soda

1 teaspoon (5 ml) baking powder

1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon (2 ml) salt

3/4 cup (175 ml) sour cream

4 cups (1 l) all-purpose flour

In a large mixing bowl, beat margarine and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, sour cream, and vanilla extract; mix well. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Gradually stir the flour into the margarine mixture until well incorporated. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill several hours or until dough is firm enough to handle.

Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C). On a lightly floured board, roll out to about 1/4 inch (1/2 cm) thick and cut into shapes with cookie cutters.

Place on ungreased baking sheets and bake about 15 minutes or until edges are slightly browned. Let cool about 1 minute on the baking sheet and then remove to wire rack to cool completely. Decorate with your favorite icing (we recommend Royal Icing).

 Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 month if not frosted or up to 1 week if frosted. Makes approximately 48 cookies, depending on the size cookie cutters you use. These cookies ship well if cut into regular geometric shapes (such as circles or squares) and packed very carefully. They can break during shipping if you cut them into irregular or delicate shapes like Santa Claus and snowflakes. If you want to use fancy cookie cutters, it is best to hand-deliver these cookies.

Source: Christmas Cookies Are for Giving by Kristin Johnson and Mimi Cummins. The book features 48 other great Christmas cookie recipes, plus baking tips, tips on packaging cookie gifts, tips on shipping cookies, and tips on making Gifts in a Jar.