7 hours Ago By Ella Kipling
Have you ever started whipping up a cake batter before realising you didn’t have any cases? Or simply fancied the sweet treat without having to head to the shops to buy some? A viral hack that shows you how to make your own cupcake cases in seconds could be the answer to your problems - and all you need is baking paper. To begin, take a sheet of baking paper, fold it in half, and then half again. Cut it into four squares, then place a square over the bottom of an upside-down glass.
This will “literally make the perfect cupcake case,” TikTok user @carlyjadeocean explained. One thing many of us will struggle with when making cupcakes is getting them to look uniform. One method that can help with this is to dome your cupcakes when they are fresh out of the oven and still warm, according to expert @jessiebakescakes.
All you need to do is take a glass and gently press it down on the top of the cupcake in a circular motion until the cupcake is flat on top. The baker also shared a tip on how to know whether your cupcakes are ready. Most people use the knife method which involves sticking a clean knife into the cupcake - and if the knife is still clean, the cakes are done.
However, this leaves a hole in the cake and can impact their shape. Jessie recommends the spring test instead, which involves pressing a finger down lightly on top of the cupcake. If the sponge springs back, the cakes are ready - but if your finger leaves an indent, they need to be baked for longer.
Another of Jessie’s hacks, which comes in handy when making buttercream icing, prevents icing sugar spilling all over your kitchen when you sift it. Before sifting your icing sugar into a bowl - which minimises clumps - you should place plastic wrap over the sieve. This means that when you jolt the sieve to encourage the icing sugar through the mesh, it won’t jump out and cover your countertops.
If you want all your cupcakes to appear the same, you should try a viral hack by @brookibakehouse, a bakery owner and influencer. She uses an ice cream scoop for portioning as this results in the “exact same size cupcakes every time”. For a light and fluffy sponge, Brooki explained that you want to avoid over-mixing your cake batter.
Doing so traps excess air which deflates the cake as it bakes, she said. She also gave her expert advice for preventing shells in your batter - and said that instead of cracking your eggs against the side of the bowl, you should crack it against another egg as this avoids “fragmenting the shell”..
