You're Cooling Cupcakes All Wrong — Make This Mistake And They'll Be Dry

Your cannoli cupcakes smell incredible, and their perfectly golden tops have a springy bounce when you boop the center — meaning they pass Paul Hollywood's done test. However, it's at about this point in the cupcake baking process where lots of people make one of the most critical mistakes when making cupcakes: they leave them in the pan too long. You might've gotten complacent and spent 10 or 15 minutes washing and putting away the mixing bowls, or you got distracted with something on your phone, either way the cupcakes have done a complete 180. When you return to them, they've gone from perfectly spring to dry and dense. So, what exactly happened here?

Well, here's the thing about pans: they hold onto heat, and they'll continue to do so long after your oven clicks off and you congratulate yourself on a job well done. If you continue to leave your cupcakes on the still-piping-hot pan, the residual heat will only continue to cook and brown them. Basically, at this point, you're giving them an extended bake rather than cooling them off. In time, your perfect cupcakes will become over-baked — all while the oven's off. But that isn't to say you should pluck the cupcakes out as soon as the oven dings.  

Leaving cupcakes to rest for a minute or two in the pan is good since it allows the cupcakes to set and firm up. However, as a rule of thumb, you don't want to leave them there for any longer than five minutes before taking them out and over onto a wire rack to cool.

When it comes to cooling cupcakes — and really any other baked good — wire racks are non-negotiable. Air needs to circulate everywhere — top, bottom, sides — or else you're just creating a steam trap that over-bakes your desserts. With cupcakes, the transfer technique is simple enough. While tongs or your fingers might seem like a good tool for this, they're a bad idea if you want Instagram-ready cupcakes. Those serrated edges will only you with dented, sad-looking cupcakes. After about five minutes, you can simply use a toothpick to gently tilt each cupcake until it tips onto its side instead, then carefully lift it over and onto the wire rack. 

Here's where most people fail: the waiting game. After about 20 or 30 minutes, your cupcakes might feel room temperature when you touch them — but they're lying to you. Internal warmth is still there, ready to transform your buttercream into an oily disaster the second it makes contact, causing everything you piped so carefully to slide right off and pool in the wrapper. One full hour is what you need for the best cupcake recipes — not 20 minutes, not 45, a full 60 before any frosting touches those tops. Yes, it's agonizing when you want to dig in immediately, but skipping this step means watching all your hard work literally melt away while your cake dries out from the inside.