A sample text widget

Etiam pulvinar consectetur dolor sed malesuada. Ut convallis euismod dolor nec pretium. Nunc ut tristique massa.

Nam sodales mi vitae dolor ullamcorper et vulputate enim accumsan. Morbi orci magna, tincidunt vitae molestie nec, molestie at mi. Nulla nulla lorem, suscipit in posuere in, interdum non magna.

Why do cupcake papers separate from the cupcakes after baking?

Somayya asks: Why do my cupcakes separate from the paper a day later?  I have tried paper cups and foil cups and the same thing happens.

Baking S.O.S. says: I’m glad you asked this question. I have been baking cupcakes a lot recently, and I am having the exact same problem!

In my case, I assumed the reason the liners were separating from the cupcakes is that I was spraying the liners with cooking spray before I poured the batter into them.  My guess is that the cooking spray was not only preventing the paper liners from sticking to the cupcakes–which is what I intended it to do–but also causing the papers to slip away from the cupcakes completely.

One of the very first lessons I learned in culinary school was the proper way to prepare pans for baking cakes: “Spray, Paper, Spray.”  And I still use that method to this day.  When making cupcakes, I always spray the paper liners with cooking spray because otherwise, you have the reverse problem, and the papers stick so much that when you try to peel them away from the cupcakes, they take half of the cupcake with them!

When you asked this question, I decided to do a little more research to see if there might be any possible remedies for this problem that other bakers have used.  I found the following suggestions helpful:

– Be sure to fill the cupcake pans full enough so that the batter will stick to the top of the paper liner, keeping it adhered.  Cupcake pans should be filled 1/2 – 2/3 full. (any fuller than that, and the batter will spill over the top, making a flat, messy cupcake top)
– Turn the cupcakes out of the pans as soon as they are finished baking.
If cupcakes are left in the pan too long while cooling, steam will condense between the cupcake and the pan, causing the liner to loosen.

I hope these suggestions will be useful–both to you AND to me!  Good luck!

180 comments to Why do cupcake papers separate from the cupcakes after baking?

  • Anita

    Hi I had the same problem last week when i ended up having to make then 4 times due to the cases coming off. I found when i didnt add the yogurt they were fine but not moist, if i added the yogurt they came away from the cases but lovely and mosit, so annoying!

  • I baked a batch of vanilla cupcakes in plain white cases, filled them 2/3 full so they reached the top of the case, stored them in card boxes rather than air tight plastic containers and no cases came off. I don’t know if it’s the cases or the storage… I do think that the fact that the cake itself rose to the top edge of the case helped it to grab on to the case and not let it peel off!!!

  • I think it certainly helps to have the cake batter risen to the top edge of the cupcake liner. I, too, have noticed that they tend to stick better when that is the case. Good suggestion!

  • I’m facing the same problem of cupcake liners peeling off after baking too and I came across this site through google. Actually I’ve been thinking, could it be the grease and fat in the cake that actually causes the peeling? After all, spraying the liners causes the liners to peel off because there is too much grease. Then what about the grease from inside the cakes?

    Quality of liners definitely plays a part I feel. I’ve tried both cheap and really fancy ones and all of them peeled off. Think I’m gonna try those super study ones next time.

  • p.s sorry for double posting but be it half filled or 3/4 filled, the liners came off anyway.

  • In answer to your question–could it be the grease in the cake batter causing the peeling problem?–I would agree that ingredients must play some role in the problem, though it is so difficult to narrow it down to just one culprit.

    The one “rule of thumb” I have found that applies across the board, regardless of the recipe and the ingredients, is that paper liners should NOT be sprayed for cupcakes (cake batter), but they MUST be sprayed for muffins. I can’t explain exactly why this is the case, but I see it every time I bake any type of muffins vs. any type of cupcake. The paper liners stick way too much to muffins if they are not sprayed first. Perhaps it is a high sugar content (in proportion to other ingredients) that causes this in muffins. Perhaps it is the type of fat called for in muffins–usually a liquid oil rather than a solid butter, as is often used in cake batters. Whatever the cause, the recipe ingredients seem to play a role in the way the paper liners behave.

  • Anna

    I’ve just made dozens of cupcakes over the weekend and not sprayed a thing, the pan or the paper cases and all of them have peeled away from the paper…. I’ve never had this before and its so frustrating!

    Some straight away because the hole in the baking tin restricted the diameter of the foil case too much. So when I took the cupcake out of the pan the foil expanded back to where it wanted to naturally be. The smaller paper cases peeled away after I cooled them for hours and put them away in a plastic storage container.

    So maybe it is the fat content of the batter?

  • nelly

    this problem is so annoyin if you leave the cupcakes on the tin after cooking it can stiffen them up a little but also the condensation from the steam in the coolin down process could cause the cases to come away anyway i still looking for an awnser to this problem

  • I think the reason the liners pull away is from the moisture in the recipe. Super moist cupcakes tend to have liners that pull away- possibly the liner is soaking up someof the moisture. I think its worth while to try different liners- it’s hard to find a good recipe!

  • Rhonda Woods

    Glad to know I am not the only one with this problem. I am stumped. My culinary arts students and I make cupcakes often for various orders throughout the year and the paper coming off the cupcakes after baking is a big problem. We generally take the baked cupcakes immediately out of the pans and do not allow them to cool in the pans. We do not spray the paper liners, either. HELP! Have to bake 32 dozen this week. Gues the only hope I have is to position them closely together on the trays and hope the frosting will hold the paperclosly to the cake.
    Do you wash your cupcake pans after each batch is baked in them? Wondering if any oily residue might be causing the separation???

  • Hi Chef,

    In answer to your question, I do wash my cupcake pans in between every use, so there wouldn’t be any oily residue to exacerbate this problem. I wonder if cupcake liners are simply made differently now than they used to be because we never used to have this problem in the past. I have had better success with the foil liners than with papers. Or if all else fails, use the decorative paper wrappers to place the finished cupcakes in. They’re expensive, but they can help hide the peeling paper problem. Good luck! ~Chef RB

  • I have read this thread with sheer releif !!! was terrified it was just me and i am just about to start my own small bakery business…. after alot of thought experiment etc, i beleif the quicker the cakes are out of the tins the better , therefore cook Qucikly and has to be less water reatined surley? also the container has a big part to play as many of you have said, mine are fine right up until they have been sealed up for the night in airtight container as we are supposed too but the cupcakes appear to “sweat” in this situation and the frosting goes wet again? Someone mentioned that business bakers dont have the prob and it must be as was said they dont store them how we are ment to, seems to me the cupcakes are protesting : )

  • oops sorry ment “cool quickly”

  • cheryl

    I too am having a problem with paper cases peeling away from the cup cakes. The odd thing is I made some chocolate cup cakes and some lemon cupcakes last week, I used paper cases from the same batch for making a dozen lemon cup cakes and two dozen chocolate cup cakes. NONE of the lemon ones pulled away at all but the 2 batches of chocolate ones nearly all did pull away. The chocolate cup cakes were much more moist than the lemon and always tend to be. I stored them all in tins when cooled. It always seems to be my chocolate cup cakes that have this problem. Is it the cocoa in them???? I have tried lots of different ways of cooling e.g. cooling completely in baking tins, part cooling in baking tins before transferring to wire rack and removing straight away to then cool on rack but still they always peel away. They are also completely cool when going into storage tins etc. So why oh why is this happening, drives me mad especially when the cupcakes are made for a social event or given as a gift. I end up putting them in completely new paper cases to look more presentable…..£££
    Would cardboard storage boxes be better? I worry will they stay fresh in card board boxes? I wonder do any famous cooks have this problem?

  • I understand your frustration completely, having experienced it repeatedly myself! And I, too, ask the same question: Why don’t professional bakeries have this problem? What I am finding is that more and more professionals ARE, in fact, experiencing the same problem. So perhaps it has something to do with the way paper cupcake liners are now made these days–maybe the products have actually changed in recent years to create this problem that never seemed to exist before.

    If you read through the list of suggestions from other readers–both professionals and home bakers–you may find some good tips and ideas that have worked for others, including best methods for storing cupcakes. Good luck!

  • pamb

    I was having problems with my cupcake cases coming away from the cake. I didnt spray anything. I put it down to inferior cases. Foil cases didnt stick but I do believe that if you fill you cases 2/3 full then you wont have the problem. Its just a case!!!! of trying things out for yourself.

  • Irish Baker

    Oh my goodness – I’m glad it’s not just me. Just made a batch of Oreo cupcakes and they’ve all peeled away. The cakes are sooooo moist and are really tasty (even if I do say so myself), but it seems you pay for having moist cakes!! I’m going to try using butter next time instead of margarine and see if it makes any difference. Good luck!

  • Im starting to think that the best way to deal with this problem is to bake in plain cases ans then pop into fancy ones before frosting. Chocolate cupcakes are definitely the worst

  • Julie

    I’m so glad to hear that I’m not the only one experiencing this problem! I have purchased both expensive liners and used the cheapo ones and the foil ones with no luck. I have baked cupcakes from a box and from scratch with the same results-about 50/50pulling off by the next morning and 90% pulling off throughout the day! My solution? I finally quit baking in liners! Now I just put them in liners after they are decorated!

  • Genna Clarke

    I been looking at this today as got same problem

    These cup cake cases been recommended

    http://www.cakeymakey.co.uk/shopfront/cat_424908-Cupcake-Muffin-Cases.html. Not sure if they will work!!

    Also I have seen on the America sites paper cup type things being used which look stronger and better!!

    This is a pic of them

    http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cupcake-Bakeshop-by-Chockylit/175678008327. Can’t find them though!!

  • Zoe Vanhoose

    This is such a frustrating problem! Odly enough, it never happens when I use store-bought cake mix…only when I use my homemade recipes? Anyone have this same problem? I have to bake 4 dozen to get 2 dozen out of them becuase of this problem. It’s crazy!

  • Cupcake Cottage

    I am convinced this is down to particular case brands! i use the same recipe and method every time and 24 of mine peeled away last night – they were pirate cake cases. last weekend i baked 36, same recipe and method – all held together through baking, handling, decorating and selling and were perfect

    i will stick to the same brands of cases in the and wont risk ones i dont know

  • Liza

    I too am having this problem. It happens with all types of flavours. I think it is the cases – in order for the cases to keep any pretty design on them once they have been cooked, the case makers need to make them very greaseproof as it’s the fat in the cakes that is absorbed by the cases and makes the colours or designs on the cases fade. I’ve come to the conclusion that the case makers have made them so greaseproof that they are coming away from the cakes????

  • Sometimes the best solution is also the most obvious! It makes much more sense to bake without the liners, rather than trying to force the liners to stick when they simply won’t. Great idea, Julie!

  • I think you’re right: the waxier the cases are–making them more “greaseproof”–the more likely they are to peel away from the cupcakes. Plain paper seems to work best.

    Interestingly enough: I never seem to have this problem when I bake MUFFINS in paper liners, only cupcakes!! (perhaps that is a topic for another conversation thread!!)

  • Jacqueline Olson

    I just made 3 different flavors of cupcakes. I used 3 different types of liners and they all peeled away. I don’t spray my liners. I have a wedding consultation tomorrow. How am I going to do a taste test with peeling liners? I am so frustrated. I have made cupcakes for years and I have never had this problem before.

  • I wish I had an answer for you…..I just tried a NEW cupcake liner product that I found in the grocery store recently, Reynolds brand StayBrite baking cups. These cupcake liners, with foil on the inside and decorative papers on the outside, are the perfect solution to the problem of the decorative papers fading and getting greasy after baking. Unfortunately, they do nothing to address the problem of the liners peeling away from the cupcakes. They STILL peeled away from my cupcakes when I tested them the other day.

    The only real solution I have heard from other readers is to simply bake the cupcake without any liners at all, and then you don’t have to worry about them peeling away. Of course, you will then need a good muffin tin where the cupcakes won’t stick to the pan. I do NOT like the non-stick coating on metal baking pans because they make my cupcakes turn dark or even black on the bottoms and sides. The only muffin pans I have found that do not burn the outside of my cupcakes and do not require liners to keep the cupcakes from sticking are the Pampered Chef brand stoneware muffin pans. It’s a bit of an investment! But I have always had good results with these.

  • Caroline

    I have this problem every time I use buttermilk in my cupcake recipe and I’m reluctant to change the recipe! What I tried last time was while I had syrup made up, I brushed the sides that were coming off with a bit of syrup to try and stick the cases back on, then sat them back in the cake pan. It worked alright I suppose! I’m not sure about if the whole case comes off as that’s what happened to me this time – a bit scared of syruping the whole outside of the cake!

  • That’s interesting that you noticed this problem when you use buttermilk in your cake recipes…..all of my favorite cake recipes call for buttermilk as the liquid. Perhaps THAT is why I always experience this problem!

  • CupcakeNY

    Just yesterday I baked three trays of cupcakes – a tray of mini lemon cupcakes, a tray of regular lemon cupcakes, and a tray of mini chocolate cupcakes. All of the minis (lemon and chocolate) used the same paper liners. The regular lemon cakes used a large white paper liner.

    Today when I went to frost them, ALL of the lemon ones, both mini and regular had completely peeled away. Yet every single chocolate one was fine. I used sour cream in both recipes, and allowed all of them to rest in their tins for the same amount of time (5 minutes) before removing to a cooling rack.

    This one has me stumped. They all turned out delicious and I’m glad that I didn’t make these for a party or anything where the presentation mattered, but I would like to know why this happened for the future.

  • I wish I had the answer….I would like to know, too! After getting input and experiences from many readers over the last 4-5 years, it seems there is no one explanation or solution that applies to every type of cupcake. The main consensus seems to be that the quality of the paper liners have changed over the years, and they now have this problem of peeling away that never existed before.

  • Dvid

    I had never had that problem until yesterday. The only difference to my recipe was that I used lurpak sea salt butter instead of my usual country life. Lurpak I think has a higher salt content. The casings them selves seemed to feel quite greasy instead of their usual dry texture so I wondered if it was not the salt somehow reacting with the oil that does it. As a suggestion may be you should all try your recipes with a good block of unsalted or lightly salted butter. I will experiment on my next batch.

  • Interesting suggestion! I never considered salt as a factor in causing this problem. But I do always advise baking with unsalted butter, so I have never actually experimented with changing the type of butter to see what different results it might produce. Good to know!

  • Prachi

    Last night I made these fantastic vanilla buttermilk mini cupcakes made with butter, stored them in plastic airtight container and the liners(printed heart shaped) peeled away. These cupcakes had butter and buttermilk.

    2 weeks ago using the same liners I made fudgy chocolate mini cupcakes. Stored them in an airtight metal box with a plastic lid, they were just fine. These were made with buttermilk and oil as opposed to butter.

    I am going to make vanilla cupcakes again with oil and using the same liners. I will post and let you everyone know what happens.

    We have got to find a solution to this liner issue.

  • You are certainly experimenting with all of the variables–I appreciate you sharing your experiences here! And if you do happen to find something that works for you, please do share! I think EVERY cupcake baker is dying to know the answer to this puzzling problem!!! Thanks for your thoughts!

  • I always have this problem and its normally with flavoured cakes i.e chocolate, banofee etc…however, I don’t have this problem with chocolate orange!! my cupcakes rise right to the to of the case but I still have the problem of the cases coming away so I do believe that it has something to do with the fat content in the cake. I’m going to try the more sturdy pleated cases which were mentioned in an earlier post, theres a company on ebay called ‘Bakepal’ that sell them, they do plain white & a few other designs…think there about £4.50 for 30.

  • Sadie

    i also have had this problem, try reducing some of the egg in the mixture, i think this will help.

  • Julie

    I am having a terrible problem with my liners pulling away from the cupcake-I’ve been baking for years and have never had this problem–It has to have something to do with the liners themselves. Maybe we all need to be not contacting the makers of the liners. It has to have something to do with how they are bing made.

  • Even after all the above suggestions, there is no answer to this problem. I have read and re-read all the ideas as to why the cases come away and have tried to remedy the problem when making the next batch of cakes. However, the problem still persists. I have tried all types of cases, foil and paper, and it still happens. Some cakes stay firmly sealed and others do not. I feel like giving up making them, especially for friends, as the results can look really messy. Please, please, someone, come up with the answer soon!

  • Sandra Jacques

    I have never had this problem until last night.
    I have always used the same cupcake cases and never experienced it before. Though I am making cupcakes I use Muffin cases, and all my cakes are full to the top.

    I baked 2 batches, 1st batch paper has peeled away on nearly all the cakes,2nd batch are all ok.

    The only thing I did this time is add a sugar syrup to the top.

    But
    The one thing that differentiates them both, is I was stuck on the phone when the second batch came out of the oven, consequenently they are a little browner on top!

  • After reading everyone’s experiences and having the same problem myself now for several years, I have come to the same conclusion, Julie: The manufacturers of the paper liners must be making them differently somehow, and that must be the only answer: they need to make the paper liners the way they USED to!! I wonder how we consumers can create enough demand to effect actual change??

  • AK

    Hi, in many years of baking I experienced this problem for the first time this week. They were perfect when they came out. Perfect when I iced them. And then I left them overnight in a plastic container, it wasn’t really air tight tho, and in the morning almost all the liners were pulling away!

    I did only two things differently- I left them outside at room temperature in a plastic box, I usually don’t shut them up completely, I usually just loosely cover them.
    – I have started using a new brand of paper liners, which are stiffer. But I used them some days back too with the same batter, but I refrigerated those cupcakes overnight, and nothing happened.

  • Mememe

    Hello fellow bakers! I may have a couple of helpful tips! I read this blog with some relief, as I thought I was the only one who this happened to. After tears, tantrums and not to mention throwing cupcakes up the garden, I seem to have found a combination that works. The best recipe I have found is the Humming Bird vanilla cupcake recipe (just Google it). It seems to have quite a small amount of butter & egg in it and uses milk (which also makes it a bit cheaper) but is a lovely light, moist sponge. Also, as previously mentioned on here, the paper cases do make a difference. I have found the best ones are the plain coloured pleated ones. I get mine from Cake Craft World.
    Hope this is helpful and may work for some of you! Good luck!

  • Mary Jane Mercado

    I baKed only now. I was annoyed for the outcome of my 1st batch I baked. I didn’ t make the way I used to. I overmixed the butter & sugar mixture so the outcome of batter could be thin bec. I think the sugar is melted. I’ ve niticed The reason why when I baked it , It became more moist but sadly , it peel off from the paper liners. But on the 2nd batch I baked it didn’ t happen bec I was perfecrly mix my batter. Hope my experince could help answering the same problem we have been
    experiencing.

  • Thank you for your tips! I hope that will help some other readers, as well!

  • Mindy Bertone

    Well finding out I am not the only one this is happening to is a small comfort, but still doesn’t fix the problem.
    As I live in the US, I was dissatisfied with the cases I was purchasing here, so I started buying good ones from your UK. Was very satisfied until a few weeks ago when I started experiencing this peeling away problem as well.
    I can’t put my finger on it because it happens for all my cakes or none. Just made a dozen vanilla and only half peeled, some all the way to the top. And then I have had vanilla that didn’t peel. Doesnt seem to happen to mychocolate, yet they are runnier than the vanilla which someone suggested could be the problem.
    VERY frustrating. Doing a big baby shower in 2 weeks and I really cannot present 8 doz peeled away cupcakes.
    It is hurting my home business which IS cupcakes! 🙁

  • Hi Mindy,

    Here is something even more perplexing and frustrating that I have recently noticed as I have been baking more muffins than cupcakes lately: The exact same paper muffin liners that always pull away from cupcakes (ANY type, in my experience) will stick just fine to muffins–even when I spray the papers first!! So I feel like I cannot completely implicate the paper liners alone in this problem. It must also have something to do with the ingredients in the recipes–such as you and others have noticed between chocolate vs. vanilla cupcake recipes, for example. In my case, I see the difference between muffins and cupcakes. This is even MORE perplexing to me! What I can’t figure out is why so many of us experience this problem, yet none of us have found any good solutions yet! It seems like a mystery to present to the manufacturers of the paper liners themselves!!

    In the meantime, since cupcakes are your business, you need real solutions right now! The best solutions I have found are:
    – placing the cupcakes inside of decorative cupcake wrappers once they are baked (this could get expensive, but it would look nice for a special event like the baby shower you mentioned). Check out the cute designs here as an example: Global Sugar Art
    – baking the cupcakes in 2 sets of papers, then remove the outer layer of paper once it is baked. I think this works even better if you use foil cupcake liners instead of paper, or even the Reynolds brand foil liners that have a layer of paper liners between them. Bake the cupcakes with both the paper AND the foil liners together, then remove the foil liner if it starts to peel away after baking.

    I hope one of these options will work for you. Good luck!

  • Caroline

    My experience has taught me not to cover cakes in air tight containers. When I do the next day they feel quite damp and have peeled away. Other posts have had luck using cardboard boxes, therefore not airtight. I am testing this theory now, and I am hoping tomorrow the liners are still in tact and my cakes havent dried out too much.

  • Val

    I made 3 different kinds of cupcakes this weekend. One chocolate, turned out perfect, no peeling. Pina Colada – perfect, no pealing, and a pink lemonade – all pealed and looked like crap. Obviously, the 3 kinds were very different, but the pink lemonade that pealed was a box mix that I added stuff to and it used oil, the other 2 were butter recipes. The pink lemonade was by far the moistest and heaviest cake…I’m going to chalk it up at a learning experience. Happy baking, all!

  • This is the most frustraiting problem! I bought expensive greaseproof liners and my cupcakes peel away! I find that it is worst with my vanilla cupcakes which is made with butter. The chocolate cupcakes I made don’t peel away. This did not happen in the past for me either. It’s just recently. I think buying $$$ liners is part of the problem. I plan to go back to Wiltons or Reynolds liners. Also do think butter is part of the problem. I recently made vanilla cupcakes with oil and they did NOT peel away. Plan to try oil again in my vanillla cupcakes and see if my theory is accurate.

Leave a Reply

You can use these HTML tags

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>