Help! My Cupcakes have fallen!
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What Can I Do To Save My Cupcakes?
Cupcake Disaster! Call the cake paramedics!
Have you ever had to make cupcakes for a special occasion in a hurry? Have you ever had a cupcake or cake fall in the middle? Have you wondered what to do to rescue those cakes?
Well, here is one lifesaving treatment that might help you fix that cake disaster!
No, those are not cookies in the picture to the left. Those are my "flat-on-the-top" cupcakes.
Unless otherwise stated, the images are mine. The jellybeans above are from Lee Hansen.
Help My Cupcakes Fell in the Middle! by http://www.squidoo.com/cake-cupcakes-help is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at www.squidoo.com.
Have you ever had to make cupcakes for a special occasion in a hurry? Have you ever had a cupcake or cake fall in the middle? Have you wondered what to do to rescue those cakes?
Well, here is one lifesaving treatment that might help you fix that cake disaster!
No, those are not cookies in the picture to the left. Those are my "flat-on-the-top" cupcakes.
Unless otherwise stated, the images are mine. The jellybeans above are from Lee Hansen.
Help My Cupcakes Fell in the Middle! by http://www.squidoo.com/cake-cupcakes-help is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at www.squidoo.com.
Yes, my cupcakes fell flat!
Now, what do I do with these failed cupcakes?
They rose so nice. Yes, they looked lovely. I left the kitchen for only a second. When I came back, disaster had struck. My cupcakes fell in the middle. They were for church on Easter Sunday. I had no more ingredients. I didn't want the effort and the top ingredients to make those lovely cakes go to waste.I thought, "Help! What to do with these great tasting but flat cupcakes?"
The picture to the left is a side view of my poor flattened cupcakes. They are in a mini muffin pan.
What made my cupcakes fall? Well, I changed the temperature of the oven just before I put them in. I also switched from regular baking to convection baking. (I could not fit all the pans on one shelf of the oven.) Yep, a big mistake. I take full responsibility.
Reasons A Cake Will Fall!
Avoid making mistakes!
I remember that my grandmother used to tell me not to stomp on the floor in the kitchen or to slam doors when she had a cake in the oven. One time I wanted to see what would happen if I did either of those things. I got a whooping!
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Temperature.
Cakes fall when they are cooked at a temperature which is too low, or too high. The oven should be preheated all the way before inserting the cake pan--that is the mistake that I made! -
Subtle differences in air pressure.
Baking at altitude--not attitude. "As a general rule, you want to increase the liquid, decrease the sugar, and decrease the amount of baking powder included in a recipe. If your cakes fall frequently when you are baking at altitude, you may want to ask a local baker for tips." says The WiseGeek. -
Ingredients used.
One important thing you can do to prevent falling cakes is to use fresh ingredients. Also, using insufficient liquid, for example, or not enough oil. An excess of sugar or flour can also create problems with the batter which may lead to falling cake. So measure carefully! Do not "guestimate" if you want to make sure your cakes do not fall. -
Cake is jostled as it cools.
Avoid slamming a door! -
How the cake is mixed.
Both over mixing and under mixing can cause cake failure!
First step in my cupcake rescue effort:
I used a pair of clean kitchen scissors to cut the flat sides (the edges of the top that are sticking past the cupcake liner cup) off the cupcakes. This can be tricky because you do not want the paper cup to come away from the sides of the cake. The second step in the cupcake RX:
My Rescued Easter Cupcakes looked pretty good!
I got a baggie and put in some pre-made icing. I cut a small portion from one corner of the baggie. I then "piped" the icing on the cupcakes. Since I was making these cakes for Easter, I sprinkled on some green sugar (grass) and put some jellybean eggs in the middle (remember, that was the low part of the cupcakes!).The result can be seen in my photo to the right.
You could also visit the Wilton website and find some really fun decorating ideas using their "piping" tools. I think making green "grass" would have helped my "Easter" disaster.
Here is the link: Grass Icing On A Cupcake"
Here is a Holly Idea that would be great for filling in a flattened cupcake that I found on Flickr (hover over the image to see the link):
Wilton also has a Holly-Jolly-Wilton Cupcake Idea on their website.
Cupcake Accidents:
There might be help for those cupcake disasters--
Just looking at these disastrous cupcakes and baking problems made me feel better about my calamity. Keep scrolling to find images that might help you decorate your problem cupcakes.
curated content from Flickr
Just make some Cake Pops!
aka: cake balls!
If you cakes fall flat and you do not have the courage to rescue them, you can make cake pops. Yes, most cake pop recipes call for "crumbled" cake. No one knows that your cake fell! Oh yes! Mickie_G has come to your rescue again! You do not always need sticks to make the balls into pops, by the way.
Delicious Image above is By Clever Cupcakes (originally posted to Flickr as Cake Balls) [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Delicious Image above is By Clever Cupcakes (originally posted to Flickr as Cake Balls) [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
- Cake Pops Recipe | How To Make Cake Pops
- Amazing Cake Pops Recipes, Tips, Tricks and Ideas!
- Paula Deen Recipe: Paula's Cake Balls
- Paula Deen recipe video shows you how to make Paula's Cake Balls.
Fill in the flat part of the cupcake with frosting!
I told you that help could be found!
These images were found on Flickr. Looks like one needs a lot of icing to fill in flat cupcakes. Well, here I go to the store again.
curated content from Flickr
Cake Disaster Help can be on the way from Amazon!
Be Prepared to fix that cake disaster! I wish I had one of these decorating kits!
I had the tips for a "bag" that I could have used to pipe icing on my flat cakes, but no bag to pipe from!
I used a zip lock baggie. Not perfect, but it will do in a squeeze! LOL
If you are a perfectionist and have a set of decorating tips but do not know how to use them (that is ME) you can find instructions here: How to Choose and Use Decorating Tips and Bags on the Wilton website.
I used a zip lock baggie. Not perfect, but it will do in a squeeze! LOL
If you are a perfectionist and have a set of decorating tips but do not know how to use them (that is ME) you can find instructions here: How to Choose and Use Decorating Tips and Bags on the Wilton website.
Google "Cake Help" and here is what you will find on the blogs:
How would you fix a cake disaster like mine?
This is a guestbook, so please sign. You do not have to be a member to say hello!
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hntrssthmpsn
May 29, 2012 @ 9:40 pm | delete
- I'd never heard of cake pops! What a cute, clever idea... I'm almost hoping for a mishap with my next batch of cupcakes!
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piarejuden
May 13, 2012 @ 7:00 am | delete
- thanks Mickie... swell ideas... will come in handy coz my cupcakes fall flat everytime I am baking for guests!!!
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JaguarJulie Apr 25, 2012 @ 2:37 pm | delete
- Honestly, this is a great opportunity to inject a little filling into said droppage ... many cupcake makers have to tunnel out the middle ... you have done it organically.
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someone
Apr 25, 2012 @ 11:17 am | delete
- Oh my! My cupcakes have huge holes in the center... like HUGE. is there any suggestions for that? and i can't cut from the sides because its pretty low in the cupcake liner.
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Mickie_G
Apr 25, 2012 @ 12:55 pm | delete
- Scroll back up the page a little and you will find some recipes for cake pops. That is one thing that you can make with ruined cupcakes.
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by Mickie_G
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