The Preheating Mistake That's Ruining Your Cupcakes Every Single Time

Cupcakes are a deceptively easy bake. While you might think that they're easier to make than a layer cake, which calls for perfectly even sponges and a frosting job that looks like it was done by a professional, your cupcakes can get away with looking a little more ... rustic. That said, there are many potential mistakes you can easily avoid when baking cupcakes, including forgetting to preheat the oven. 

We get it: You get so hung up with measuring and mixing your dry and wet ingredients and assembling a fluffy, moist batter that you forget the first step listed in the directions. You might think that it's no big deal, seeing that your oven is going to get to temperature anyway. You can just leave your cupcakes in the oven a little longer to compensate, right? Wrong. Preheating is an important cooking step because if you leave your batter in the oven waiting for it to reach temperature, you'll risk drying it out. The other factor is that the right consistent heat will act on the leavening agents in the batter immediately, and if the oven's not hot enough, your batter probably won't rise well, meaning dense, flat cupcakes.

There are many other tips that you should keep in mind for getting the perfect bake on your cupcakes. For one, you should make sure that your oven is calibrated to the temperature you set. Although it might be easy to just go by the one that you set it at, there are many reasons why an oven's temperature might be slightly off, including a faulty temperature sensor, issues with the door hinge, or an oven door that's in need of some TLC. Luckily, the fix here is easy; you can use an oven thermometer to make sure that the actual temperature is the same as the one on the display. 

You should also be aware of your oven's hotspots when baking. You can use a simple parchment paper trick to map out where the oven is hottest so you can decide where to position your cupcake tray accordingly. Rotating the cupcake tray (which you should also do for cakes) about halfway through the baking time will ensure equal browning on all of your cupcakes.