Overfilling cupcakes!

[HPFreak1126]

Help! I've been baking cupcakes for quite a few years now. I ALWAYS overfill the liners and then I'm scraping the bowl to finish my last few. I've done so many tricks in the book and no matter what I always miscalculate! Does anyone have any tips or ideas that I could try for my next batch?

 

[Apocalypso]

Do you have a uniform scoop like an ice-cream-type scoop? That will give you a uniform measurement, and a trigger-release to get the batter out. In general, you want to fill the cup/liner about 2/3 full, but it can also depend on what type of cake batter you're making and what kind of rise you're going to get out of it.

Another option is to weigh your batter. So if you made your batter in your stand mixer bowl. you'd first want to take another bowl, put it on your scale and tare (zero it out), then add the batter. If your batter is to make 24 cupcakes, or 12, you divide the weight by the number of cakes. Grams will be easier than pounds and ounces. Then put a cupcake liner on the scale, and put in batter by teaspoonful, until you get to the correct weight per unit. From there you should be able to eyeball the same amount of batter.

I found that even when I did weigh my individual yeasted dinner rolls, they still baked up into different heights, and that's still possible for the cupcakes, although if your leavener was evenly distributed it shouldn't be that much different.

I've thought of trying a large syringe (without a needle) for doing evenly filled mini-cupcakes. You can load and release rather quickly and it'll have cc's marked off for precision. I just don't know if they come with a big enough mouth for a thick batter. Maybe we should invent one for cupcakes and mini-cupcakes? Or maybe one of those adjustable measuring cups, where you can plunge the batter out? The one I have is too big but a smaller, narrower one would be perfect. It looks like OXO makes a mini one? http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/05/...ble-measuring-cup-review.html#comments-244519

 

[HPFreak1126]

Hey! I actually have an ice cream scoop and a cookie scoop. I've tried both, the ice cream seems to fill it too much and the cookie fills it too little. Although I only tried the cookie one once, maybe try it again and see how that goes. I might try the weighing thing as well. Any tips for using the scoops?

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Hey! I actually have an ice cream scoop and a cookie scoop. I've tried both, the ice cream seems to fill it too much and the cookie fills it too little. Although I only tried the cookie one once, maybe try it again and see how that goes. I might try the weighing thing as well. Any tips for using the scoops?

If you use weight measurements, you can figure out the amount per cupcake to use. Then purchase the appropriate size scoop (see chart at link below).


Since there is no standard for muffin tin size, you’ll have to do a bit of experimenting.


I use 15g flour per cupcake for my tins. You can start with that amount, then adjust up or down as needed.


Start with ratios.

Example of ratios for butter cake

Flour 1.0 (same as 100%)

Sugar 1.10

Butter .50

Egg .45

Milk .67

Baking powder .033

Salt .0111

Vanilla extract .0444



You can go about 10% - 15% beyond standard deviations without detrimental effects. But going beyond that with any one ingredient will adversely effect your finished product.


General guidelines for butter cake ratios by weight.

1. Sugar equal or slightly more than the flour BY WEIGHT
2. Eggs equal or slightly more than fat BY WEIGHT
3. All Liquid (including eggs) equal or more than the sugar BY WEIGHT

Using 15 g flour per cupcake the ratios would work like this:


15g flour x 12 cupcakes = 180 g flour


Flour is always 100%. All other ingredients are weighed against the flour. So using the ratios above, multiple each ingredient ratio by 180g flour.


For 12 cupcakes

180g flour cake flour

198g sugar (180g flour x 1.10 = 198)

90g butter (180g flour x .50 = 90)

6g (1 1/2 tsp) baking powder (180g flour x .033 = 5.94, round up)

2g (scant 1/4 tsp) salt (180g flour x .0 = 2)

100g egg (180g flour x .555 = 99.9, round up)

8g (2 tsp) vanilla extract (180g flour x .0444 = 8)

121ml milk (180 x .67 = 120.6, round up)


Total batter weight: 705

705/12 = 58.75g batter per cupcake

That’s about a #16 scoop.




These ratios are within the guidelines for a butter cake.


Sugar is slightly more than flour by weight

Egg is slightly more than fat by weight

All liquids including egg (milk + egg) slightly more than sugar by weight.


The great thing about ratios is you can easily scale up or down. If you need 60 cupcakes, multiply 15 g flour by 60. Then multiple each ingredient ratio by the flour amount.


https://www.webstaurantstore.com/guide/717/kitchen-scoop-and-disher-guide.html

 

[Apocalypso]

Hey! I actually have an ice cream scoop and a cookie scoop. I've tried both, the ice cream seems to fill it too much and the cookie fills it too little. Although I only tried the cookie one once, maybe try it again and see how that goes. I might try the weighing thing as well. Any tips for using the scoops?

Hard to say without knowing what sizes they are. I have two smaller trigger-scoops and they aren't marked by number so I will have to investigate how much water by volume they hold. It sounds like your ice cream scoop is rather large. But maybe two cookie-scoops would be about right? If I'm not sure, I slightly underfill each cupcake liner, then can go and add a teaspoonful to each at the end, easier than taking some out.

I saw someone had an interesting suggestion which was they wished a fill line would be printed on the inside of a cupcake liner.

I'm going to keep an eye out for a smaller adjustable measuring cup so that the batter could be easily plungered out of it. I see some on Amazon, but would love to see what the dimensions are in person.

I watch Cupcake Jemma videos on YouTube, and she fills her cupcakes using two spoons, and I guess just has a perfect feel for how much batter is enough. Her batter's usually on the thicker side.