Choose Your Cake Recipe Wisely When Converting Into Cupcakes

The best cakes are those you want to hold a little closer — in the palm of your hand. You know? Like a cupcake. So why not turn your favorite carrot or sponge cake into adorable cupcakes you can finish in three bites? Sounds simple enough. But not all cakes are meant to be enjoyed in miniature versions. Indeed, some work better than others.

Take, for example, quick breads. Quick breads are baked goods that use a chemical leavening agent such as baking powder or soda to help them rise. So everything from yellow cakes to loaves is a type of quick bread. Under the quick breads umbrella, you'll often find cakes with a butter and sugar base that prompt you to whisk the two until the mixture is fluffy, otherwise known as creaming. The combination of a chemical leavening agent and the creaming method is a great indicator that a cake recipe will convert successfully into cupcakes; cakes like red velvet and devil's food cake are likely to maintain good structure once converted.

Compare that to other varieties like pound cake that use the creaming technique but contain no leavening agent and are too dense to form cupcakes — or those that use eggs (usually egg whites) as a leavening agent such as chiffon, angel food, and mostly sponge cakes. The results with these can be collapsed, short cupcakes that lose their puffed-up form once they cool, demonstrating how some cakes fare better than others when converted to cupcakes.

Once you've picked an appropriate recipe, mix the ingredients as you would when making a cake. You'll find that the most common mixing methods are the two-bowl method (adding wet to dry ingredients), the creaming, or even the reverse-creaming method. If you run into the foaming method, chances are it's a type of sponge cake and not a quick bread. Unlike creaming, foaming involves creating air by beating eggs to convert them into a leavening agent.

Once you've prepared the cake batter, pour it into lined cupcake tins and set the oven to the instructed temperature. Place the tray to bake on the middle rack as you would with a cake. However, since smaller portioning will mean quicker baking, bake the cupcakes for only half the shown time.

When the time is up, use the good old toothpick test to see if your batter has cooked through. Remove the tray from the oven once the cupcakes are ready and leave them to cool. Your cupcakes should look as beautiful as if they were made following a good cupcake recipe. Nonetheless, don't be disappointed if they come out with fairly flat tops. As long as they hold their structures well, you can make up for it by piping your favorite buttercream on top.