Cupcake Challenges

Arnulfo asks:I work as a pastry maker at Velvet Cupcakes and I am very frustrated to solve my problem on my cupcakes: sometimes not drying fast but it’s removing from the paper cups, and sometimes not separating from paper cups but it’s fast drying. This is my first time I encountered this oven. I am using a convection old oven before, and they bought a new electric operated convection oven with a steaming function, but I got the same results in my new oven. Could you give me some advice?

Baking S.O.S. says: I am not certain I fully understand the problems you are experiencing, but I will do my best to try to answer your questions.

It sounds like you have 2 different problems:

• paper cupcake liners coming off the cupcakes – when the cupcakes stay moist and tender
• cupcakes drying out too quickly – when the cupcake papers do not peel away

It sounds like what you need is a careful balance between the 2 problems in order for the cupcakes to be desirably tender but not so moist that the papers peel away.

It also sounds like you have experienced these problems with both the old convection oven and the new electric steam/convection oven. So getting a new oven has not helped solve the problem, unfortunately.

Here is what I can tell you from my own experience:

• I do not like to bake any type of cake or cupcake in convection ovens because convection ovens bake too hot and too fast, which causes cakes to dry out, as you have experienced.
• Also, the movement of the air circulating around the oven from the convection fan can also cause cakes to sink if the batter is fragile.
• To remedy this problem: I recommend baking cakes in conventional ovens. If you do not have access to a conventional oven in your bake shop, then try turning the convection oven temperature down by 25 degrees to bake the cupcakes a little slower. This may help alleviate some of the drying out problem.
• As for the cupcake papers pulling away from the cupcakes, this has been an ongoing topic of conversation on my blog for the past several years! Many bakers–both professional and amateur–have offered their suggestions for remedying this problem. I would recommend reading those suggestions both here and here to find some ideas that might be helpful in your situation.

I hope that helps! Best of luck to you.