Cupcake bakers, come and help me please?

[mummytowillow]

Hi

I've taken a real shine to making cupcakes, I have made quite a lot for family do's etc and I made some for my work colleagues for my last day in work as a treat! They all thought I had bought them as they said they looked professional!

BUT I have got a few problems with them, no one else noticed apart from me!! So can you answer some questions for me please?

When I put choc chips in they sink to the bottom of the cake (is mixture too runny)??

Do you use a piping bag or plastic injector looking thing? And what size/shape nozzle do you use?

Which are the best cases to use, all the cakes stuck to the Asda ones?

How do you make sure all the cakes come out the same size, how much mix do you put in each case?

If I wanted to go into it ie as a small business from home, what do I need to take into consideration?

And finally .... can you recommend a really good cupcake book for recipes please? And some good websites to get bits and pieces ie decorations from?

Thanks

xx

The primrose bakery cookbook is fab as is eat me ( cannot remember authors full name, xanthe something)

You need a hygiene certificate and specialist equipment. Don't know if you will need formal training but I doubt it.

Good luck!

1. Stop calling them cupcakes, they are muffins, in case you are American.

1. Lakeland sell a muffin recipe book which is great for getting you started.

1. Silicone muffin cases are great but not for giving away/selling.

1. Not an issue if choc chips sink to the bottom but if you don't want them too add them to the wet mixture before putting them in the oven.

1. Fill the cases about 3/4 full.

They are not necessarily muffins phipps - muffins have a different texture.

Depends what flavour you are making.

No, muffins have a more bread-like texture and usually have things in (blueberries, chocolate chips) but nothing on top. Cupcakes are more like sponge cake, and less likely to have things in but always have something on top.

If someone offered you a muffin you would expect something like this, whereas if someone talked about wanky cupcakes shops you'd know they sold things like this (for £3 a go).

But even if you put lots of icing/buttercream/frosting on top of a muffin, or put blueberries inside a cupcake, they have a different basic texture. The cake bit is different.

IMO muffins are american and made using the wet and dry method (wet ingredients together, dry seperate) which is then mixed together with as few mixes as possible.

Cupcakes or fairy cakes are ususally made using the victoria sponge method.

Not very good at making cupcakes, tend to stick to muffins so no help really op, sorry[hblush]

I see your point but I still think cupcake is American and object to it taking over in the UK. Nothing wrong with calling them fairy cakes.

Now you're talking - a cupcake is just a jumped-up fairy cake (in a taller case with more bling).

I woud love to be able to do pretty icing but I just can't get the hang of piping bags.

Who'd have thought cupcakes would causes such a disagreement

Oh yeah, also wanted to add that because there are so many cupcake businesses out there, it's best you experiment to find your own unique mixes and not just stick to basic vanilla, lemon choc etc