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!
And I forgot to say…
ALWAYS cream the butter and sugar for at least 2 minutes to let them BLEND together and NEVER use Squires dotty cases – they are useless and always peel straight away!
Thanks for all the tips, Lucy! Great suggestions!
Great forum. My son’s 1st birthday is coming up in a week and the plan is to build him a cupcake tower (i.e. cupcakes on a 3-tiered stand). My vanilla cupcakes ALWAYS peel away from their casings. But it’s never really bothered me since they taste so good, and I’m not a professional baker, so presentation is not crucial for me – UNTIL NOW!
So I do appreciate all the comments and tips from fellow cupcake enthusiasts, and I will try the method of making sure that the cupcake batter is piped around the edges of the case/liner rather than spooned at the center.
I was always under the impression that my cupcakes seperated because I cream the butter with sugar until it resembles dense whipped cream. I do this because I like my cake tasting light, like chiffon cake. But maybe too much aeration in the creaming process causes air pressure to build up between the cake and the liner? Just like how moisture builds up if the cupcakes are left in the pan too long to cool down. Hmmm… Or it could be the butter content of the recipe I always use? I really don’t know.
Anyway, it’s a good thing that the party guests are mostly kids who’ll probably be mostly interested in the M&M’s topping the cupcakes.
So true, Elaine! The kids will be more concerned about the taste rather than the presentation, but of course, we parents want it to look nice for the pictures. 😉
If all else fails, remember the suggestions from other readers: place the finished cupcakes inside of a new liner after they have baked. You could use the foil liners sold in grocery stores, or I have even seen special cupcake “wrappers” in specialty cake supply stores.
I found this site looking for an answer to this same problem. I bake cupcakes, lots of cupcakes, all kinds of flavors, fillings, and kinds of liners. I have been baking them for years and just recently have been having this problem. Yesterday I made a batch of Red Velvet for a celebration, I used large liners that can be placed on a cookie sheet. All came unstuck! I read everything I could and the only thing that made any sense to me was perhaps it is using the convection feature of my new oven. I made a new batch, exactly the same ingredients, and liners just baked them at 350 regular oven setting (not convection). Voilà! It has been 5 hours since I took them out of the oven and not one has separated. Hope this is the answer!
I’m so glad you found a solution than worked for you! Maybe other readers can take note of your suggestion, too: use the conventional oven setting rather than convection. Happy baking!
Hello fello bakers!
I make cupcakes regularly for friends and relatives for birthdays, parties and weddings and just like all of you have been plagued recently with peeling cases.
Thoughts and reflections from my experiences and reading on here:
1) Are we all experiencing this currently due to the time of year? considering what was mentioned about humidity in the kitchen and thinking about the time of year and that we have had a relatively hot summaer perhaps this plays a role.
2) I always bake with a fan assisted oven and some cakes turn out fine whilst others don’t, so not sure about this, but it seems to make sense that blowing air around the cakes whilst they cook would affect how well they stick to the cases.
3) Some cases certainly seem more disasterous than others, so am going to make a conscious effort to try the plain cases which do appear to be less waxy.
4) Peeling cases always affects my chocoloate cakes and not my vanilla cakes. The only difference in the recipe (from a very well known bakery!) is cocoa …. is this ingredient playing a role I wonder?
5) I can certainly remmember having better success on early batches of cakes when Im desperate to get cakes out of tins in order to re-fill them and get some more back in the oven, so either it’s about getting the cakes out of the pans quickly, but could also be due to the heat of the tin when the batter goes in and any moisture from it being in the oven already – deffinately something I will be focusing on.
6) Thanks for the tips re spraying cases when making muffins, this makes sense – can anyone recommend an appropriate spray available in UK supermarkets?
I really thought the peeling was an affliction personal to me so its great to hear about all your experiences and to hear about hints and tips – especially from people who have had some professional training!
Hi Kate! Thank you for your comments. You are certainly not alone in this “affliction”!! I think it plagues many a home baker. I just can’t figure out why it happens all the time in a home kitchen, but not in professional bakery kitchens. That still remains a mystery to me!
I wish I had an answer to your question about where to buy a pan release spray in the UK. Unfortunately, I do not. I searched on-line a little bit for places where you might be able to order some if you can’t find any in a regular grocery store. I tried amazon.co.uk, but found nothing. All I can do is suggest an on-line retailer in the U.S., such as this Everbake Pan Spray at kingarthurflour.com.
Happy baking!
Hello Kate!
Lakeland do a spray called “Cake Release”. It is quite pricey (can’t remember how much, but I remember thinking £!!), but I guess it would last ages as you just need a quick spray.
I also noticed on some of their cake cases, it said to grease them-to be honest this would never have occurred to me. I am thinking that I will give it a go- it is really annoying when half the cake sticks to the case!
I am having the exact problem and its so annoying as there are some lovely cake cases out there but I’m having to stick to the ones which are a ‘cup’ so they don’t come off!! I use the normal 175 g of marg, flour and sugar and three eggs recipe. Pleaaaassseeee help !!! :-)))))
This forum has been very useful. I make cupcakes as a hobby, but have given them to too many people to try,and have landed myself a couple if weddings for later this year. So have been practicing,I went out and bought more expensive decorated cake cases (wilton) these seem to be a lot thicker in texture a few had come away from the wrapper,so I decorated the other ones and they looked beautiful……until this morning when I was horrified to see the wrappers had come away,please help s I need to use decorated rather than plain wrappers and also need to transport them many many miles on the wedding days.
Hi Kelly- I wish I had another solution for you, but I think I have exhausted all possible options in all of the previous discussions in this blog post. You could try setting the baked cupcakes inside of the specially-decorated cupcake holders that Wilton now makes–this would cover up any plain papers falling off of the cupcakes. Or you could try the foil liners with no cooking spray. That seems to work fairly well.
The only other suggestion I can make is to ask around at area bakeries if they have any suggestions or tips from their experience. They might have some ideas that I have not tried myself. Good luck to you!
I’m glad I’m not the only one having this problem, but shame we cant find an ultimate answer! i thought it must be the cases, Culpitt, I usually have no problem with, but have baked a batch this morning for an engagement party and 5 of the cases have come away from the cakes. I’ve started in business with my baking and its costly having to re-bake cakes to make up for the peeling ones!! I’ve never heard of spraying the cases – i would have thought this would make the cake mixture stick even less?? Do you think its the storage of the cakes as usually mine seem to come away, after a few hours being stored in a tin, and the tops of the cakes have a slightly “sweaty” appearance? anyway will keep an eye on this blog to see if anyone has any answers.
Hi Alison- I never thought about it before, but your theory about the storage containers sounds like a very plausible explanation. In professional bakeries, cupcakes are not stored in airtight plastic containers or tins. They are stored in open display cases and sold relatively quickly, eliminating the need for longer-term storage solutions. Perhaps that right there is the answer!! Perhaps it is absolutely unavoidable when trying to save cupcakes for longer storage (which is very discouraging!!).
I have made cupcakes in the past and never had any peel away from the cake. This seems to be a new phenomenon. When I use the foil lined liners and supermarket brand cupcake liners, I don’t seem to have the “peeling” problem. I have even left them to cool in their cupcake pans without this “peel away” problem, but lately (and with the fancier/designer cupcake liners), I am having this problem time and time again. I thought it may be the liner itself. Liners I purchased that said “grease proof” really pulled away from the cake. I think the common denominator is the liner. If not, the liner, then maybe it is condensation forming when the cakes cool. I will immediately turn the cupcakes out on a rack and see if that helps. I did not notice any peeling when I first took them out of the oven, only a couple had slight “peeling”. As the cooling completed, mostly all the liners had pulled away. I think they look unsightly with the liners pulled away. The fun of making cupcakes for me is not only the taste, but the aestetics.
Oops. Left out the H in aesthetics.
Alison, I think like you it has something to do with the storage, mine have the same sweaty top and are peeling away from the cases. I stored them overnight in a plastic lunch box and found them in the sad state this morning. As yet I have no solution but am glad it is not just me who is facing the same problem.
I agree completely: aesthetics ARE an important part of any food, but desserts especially. We “eat” with our eyes in addition to our mouths. If a dessert doesn’t look pretty, we are less inclined to taste it.
Hi all I’ve been reading through all your comments about peeling cases , I’ve had the same prob I baked 12vanilla in pink culprit cases and 12 choc ones in brown culpitt cases stored them in plastic boxes ,in the morning all the chocs had peeled but not the pink …. Weird . So I did another 6 choc ones and stored 3 in plastic box and 3 in cup cake cardboard box and put it in carrier bag left over night and hey all the plastic box ones peeled and the card boxes stayed ok and when tried in the evening they were lovely and moist so my theory is not to store in plastic . Hope that helps x
Thanks for sharing your “test” results with us, Nikki! I hope that’s the answer to all our problems. I can’t wait to try it for myself!
I am also having this peel away problem only mine is just with the mini cupcakes. esp. when I bake red velvet ones. once they are baked I take them out of the oven and they are beautiful, but the longer they sit the the liners start to peel away. I have tried every liner on the market and they all do it. my reqular size cupcakes are perfect, I have no problem with them but those little mini’s are looking pretty bad once the liners seperate. I make them for showers and friends and I think that they look awful. I’ve tried every trick in the book and nothing seems to help.
I was suffering with this problem but last night have tried these tips:
Fill the cases 1/2 – 3/4 full with cake batter so they bake to the top
Once out of the oven put straight onto the cooling rack and leave till cool.
You know what I baked 55 cupcakes last night and even this morning not one of them has peeled off – very pleased 🙂
Thanks
Great! I’m so glad some of these tips helped. Happy baking!
I always take the cupcakes with the liners right out of the pan, so it is not a storage problem or leaving them in the pan too long. I honestly think there the liners are made from something different than they used to be – I have only had the problem in the last couple years. It is very unsightly and not too cool when you want to decorate them.
Hi all. Have read all of the above and sympathise profusely! I had never had this problem in the past but did so last week, to my horror as they were for an order for a 70th birthday do. I was using gold foil cupcake wrappers and baking in a fan assisted convection oven. In desperation, I used another recipe for the vanilla cupcakes I had to bake, one without buttermilk / yogurt (viz less moist cupcake) but only with milk, and baked the cupcakes for 2 minutes longer (in a conventionaloven) and end of problem! I actually think there are two answers here – don’t underbake the cupcakes, especially if they are a moist cake kind of cupcake and 2nd, remove them from the pan immediately afterwards to avoid the condensation which takes place. I’ll be testing more this week as I have a wedding to cater for next week using foil cups. (this is not good for the nerves!!)
Thanks for your suggestions, Sherene. And good luck with the wedding cupcakes….may all your cupcake liners stick! 🙂
My problem is the cupcake liners. They’re pretty going into the over and come out dark and ugly. Any suggestions on how to use cupcake liners that come out of the oven as pretty as they went in?
Hi Michele- Unfortunately, it is simply the nature of the process that the cupcake liners get dark once baked. It actually doesn’t make much sense to make pretty decorated cupcake liners when you can’t see the designs once baked, does it? BUT I think you are in LUCK: A friend just told me that there is a new paper cupcake liner product on the market that claims to retain the original beauty of the design even after baking. I haven’t looked into it, so I can’t tell you the brand name or where to buy them. I also haven’t had a chance to test them to see if they live up to their claims, but it’s definitely worth looking into because it is a problem that we all struggle with!
If nothing else, Wilton does make a wide variety of specialty cupcake papers to place your baked cupcakes in to make them look pretty for presentation. They’re not cheap, but they come in all kinds of designs for special occasions when you want to impress. I think manufacturers of cupcake liners are finally starting to come up with solutions for our common problems–help is on the way!
Hi, try using 2 liners at once! I had this problem before, then i found out that if i use 2 or 3 liners together then the inner liner will eventually sticks with the cupcakes! Hope this help 🙂 Good luck!
Great suggestion! I haven’t heard this one before….can’t wait to try it!
Hi All
I’ve been running a cupcake business with a friend of mine for 3 years, and came onto the forum as I too have been having the same problem of late, and when your losing 10-20% of your cupcakes because of peeling(more with mini cupcakes) it’s very frustrating. My business partner however does not have the same problem all her cakes are perfect and I’m now wondering if the problem is my oven. It’s definately not distributing the heat evenly, so perhaps it’s an undercooking issue? I have also found that having my oven professionally cleaned occasionally has also improved the baking of my cupcakes.
Anyway it is comforting to know that I’m not the only one with this problem, happy baking everyone.
Hi, I had to bake 200 large and 300 mini cupcakes for a wedding last weekend and had this problem, only with the mini though. I agree with an earlier entry, the under baked cupcakes were the only ones that had a problem. Also, I think the issue of not being properly cooled plays a part. But great suggestions I will be trying some of them.
Melanie & Michelle- I find it interesting that you experience this problem more with mini cupcakes than with standard-size cupcakes. I wonder why that is?
Thanks for sharing your experiences and findings: it helps ALL of us when we share solutions together!
Hi, I found this forum when I, again, was looking for an answer to peeling liners. I just baked two batches, one of vanilla, the second fresh strawberry all with the same grease-proof mini liners. The vanilla came out fine, but the strawberry, as ALWAYS, started peeling immediately! But, not all of them, maybe only about 8 of 24. I almost always have the problem with a ‘fruit’ cupcake, such as strawberry, or lime or lemon. I really don’t get it. I’m beginning to think the grease-proof might be the culprit. My strawberry come to the top of the liner, but not a tiny bit over as do the vanilla. Very frustrating as my cupcakes are orders from customers. I try to ‘restick’ the liner with a little buttercream icing, but that doesn’t work very well. I hope we can figure this out, but in the meantime, I’m changing from greaseproof liners. I order from Viking Importing in the U.S.
CC convection is only to be used when baking on more than one rack.
My sister is a professional pastry cook and she says NOT to store cupcakes in an airtight container. It makes them come away from their case. I have cupcakes to make for a wedding, so I will try some of the tips already given. I have silver foil containers – has anyone tried putting plain white paper cases INSIDE the foil container to cook the cake? Fingers crossed I have success with my cakes for the wedding!
I can assure you that it is not only in the home kitchen. In the middle of June with 95% humidity I am having the same problem. I have sugar cookies that will not rise and about 100 cupcakes falling out of wrappers. I do not spray my wraps and I use the best wrappers I can fine, special order and everything. FYI the ones that fall out of their papers make for fantastic cake pops. 🙂 Just watch the humidity and be sure to pull them out of the pans right at 10 mins.
Thank you for your comments, Amanda. I was hoping this was a problem only for home ovens & equipment, so I’m sorry to hear that it happens in professional bakeshops, as well. But I LOVE the idea of using the cupcakes with the “failed” liners for cake pops…..I think cake pops, cake balls, etc. are the next trend in desserts to replace the cupcake craze, so what a great way to utilize the cupcake mishaps!
great tips, am cooking cup cakes for a work meeting and thought it was just me, glad to find it is not, so am going to make sure I cook well and not store in a plastic tub! Thanks for all the help.
I’m convinced it’s the liners, I think many of them are now made in China and the paper is a little different. I am baking some as we speak. I made the exact same ones this past weekend and the cupcake cups were the kind that do not “bleed” through the color (more expensive, but look good–made in the USA)–NONE of them pulled away from the liners. The ones I am using now are “Celebrate It” brand, which is Michael’s “house” brand (made in China) and the ones that have a lot of color pulled away and the ones that were mostly white stayed put. Now I have to eat all these Key Lime mini cupcakes that pulled away–they are delish, but don’t look good now. Recipe–Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme cake mix, substitute half the water with Key lime juice and tint green–YUM! I think it is where the papers are made. The bulk ones-plain white, made in the USA, have never pulled away.
Interesting observation, Susan. I never stopped to consider that maybe the liners themselves have changed. Thanks for sharing your experience & tips!
Hi,
I, too, often get this problem but have found that Lakeland plain white liners work brilliantly (they only have white). My fan oven causes the liners to come away although the conventional oven seems to work better. Have always left my cupcakes in the tin until they cool so will take them out on cooking to see if this helps. Thank you everyone for the tips.
Hi there
Ive run cake decorating business for over 15 years but have only made cupcakes in the last few years. Just wanted to make the comment that this has only every happened to me this year when I purchased some lovely pink, brown and black liners from a well know supplier. Also it was hot on every occasion the cases came away from the cakes. I am convinced its the cases combined with the humidity/temperature. I hold cupcake decorating classes and thank goodness none of them came away from their cases on my first 2011 class this year when I tried out the new cases(it was a cool and rainy day), but for my nieces birthday party over 1/3 came away from the case but only on arrival after being stored in a plastic container and in nearly 30 degree heat. I spend an hour trying to stick them back to the case with royal icing. I am going to go back to the cheap liners in the supermarket (unfortunately they dont look as nice) and not sore them in an an air tight box and see what happens. Also I might put the cakes directly into a gift box (the ones with the inserts) that way the case is held tight to the cake at all times, so hopefully doesnt have a chance to pull away.
Good luck ladies and if anyone finds the perfect answer please please email via my website http://www.BakedbyMelanie.co.uk.
Happy Baking
x
It sounds like your cup cakes are moist. Once cupcakes have baked, poke a hole in the with a skewer to give the steam some place to go other than be absorbed into the paper liner. Frosting with hide hole.
Hi everyone. I’ve been making cupcakes for a while now and I’m always getting my cake liners coming away from the cakes, especially chocolate. I baked 2 dozen chocolate cakes yesterday for my son’s birthday and about 5 of the cakes were already peeling away within 5 minutes of taking them out of the tray. I did however, try leaving them in the tray to carry on cooking (as noted on DC Cupcakes on TV) but I think this may have caused the humidity between the cake and the tray. I have a friend who uses the tiny clear elastic hair bands (new of course) to pop around the cake liner if any are coming away. They are discreet and do the job but some do have a tendency to pop off whenever they feel like it!!!
I have had this problem for a while but not with all cases. Storing in an airtight container makes this worse for sure. The good quality liners are better but I think the foolproof way to get around this is to bake in plain white liners and when cool place into a pretty liner, no peeling and no darkening of the case voila!
Ah yes, Squires dotty cases. Very pretty but pulled away within minutes! Hopeless. I’ve also bought their butterfly cases – I hope there won’t be the same issue with these. I suspect, fellow bakers, that it may be the case that its only the plain boring white ones that stay put and that anything more gorgeous is made from thicker paper and therefore there’s always going to be a struggle between light as air cake and springy, feisty pretty cake cases.
Interesting solution! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the suggestion! I hadn’t thought of that before, but it’s certainly worth a try!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts & experiences. It IS frustrating, isn’t it?? Especially when our professional reputations are at stake! 🙂 I wish there were one perfect solution for all of us.