Cupcakes filled with chocolate, pastry cream, jam, and more can be a delicious surprise, but filling the small cakes can be a time-consuming endeavor. Tools like knives, melon ballers, and piping tips can produce satisfactory results, but there’s one efficient kitchen tool that can core cupcakes better than the rest.

Using an apple corer for filled cupcakes is as easy as inserting the tool into the center of the cake, twisting to carve out a hole, then carefully lifting it out and piping in the filling. The removed cupcake cores can also be pushed back into the hole after filling, to help lock in flavor and keep the spread in place.

An apple corer makes it quick and easy to fill cupcakes without fiddling with a knife, which is time-consuming and can produce uneven results, or using another tool that can make the holes too big or shallow. Try piping raspberry jam pairs into chocolate cupcakes, or use cookie dough to combine two sweets into one.