Anyone have the secret to moist (cup)cakes

[Siegal]

Mine have been dry lately.

I'm thinking maybe a bit over baked and take them out before toothpick is completely clean

But for some reason I noticed if I separate the eggs and whip in whites it's moister?
Thoughts?

[GA Home Cook]

What's your recipe?

[Siegal]

No specific recipe. I'll use a cookbook. Last one was from William Sonoma - one before it was from some random black Forrest cookbook.

[GotGarlic]

My baked goods were coming out dry, too. I checked the temperature with an oven thermometer and it was running about 25 degrees too hot. I adjusted it and it's working much better now.

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Originally Posted by Siegal

Mine have been dry lately.

I'm thinking maybe a bit over baked and take them out before toothpick is completely clean

But for some reason I noticed if I separate the eggs and whip in whites it's moister?
Thoughts?

Add two extra tbs. of cooking oil to your recipe. carefully monito your timing and temperature so as to not overcook the cupcakes. But the extra oil will really help.

Seeeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

[bakechef]

Make sure that you are either weighing flour (1 cup 5oz.) or fluffing up the flour and lightly scooping into the cup then level off.

Scratch cakes are very temperamental and even a little bit of extra flour can throw it off.

One of the biggest improvements that I have found with scratch cakes is making sure that your butter and sugar are creamed well, and what I mean is beaten really well for at least 5 minutes It should be quite light and fluffy, stopping to scrape down the bowl along the way. This improves the texture so much.

Those are a couple of my tricks. Also baking until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs, NOT completely clean, the cake is likely over baked by then.

I had issues with the basic 1-2-3-4 cake recipe, sometimes it would be great, sometimes like cornbread. After learning to cream properly and making sure the flour was right, it is a home run every time now.

[Zereh]

Here's something I learned the hard way @ Christmas time -- make sure you're using cane sugar and not sugar beet sugar!! Store brands / cheap sugar is not made from sugar cane but from sugar beets. It makes a HUGE difference when baking.

[bakechef]

As you can tell, I bake a lot. I've never noticed a difference when using cane sugar, or just basic store brand sugar, with no claims to being cane.

I buy whatever is on sale.

[simonbaker]

In addition to your regular ingredients add 1 Tbsp. of real mayonaise to your batter. It will improve your moistness of your cupcakes.

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Originally Posted by simonbaker

In addition to your regular ingredients add 1 Tbsp. of real mayonaise to your batter. It will improve your moistness of your cupcakes.

The mayo thing works well, as it adds extra oil to the batter. If you haven't tried a chocolate mayonnaise cake, then you are missing out on a very, very good cake.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

[Siegal]

Originally Posted by Chief Longwind Of The North

The mayo thing works well, as it adds extra oil to the batter. If you haven't tried a chocolate mayonnaise cake, then you are missing out on a very, very good cake.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

OMG! My husband would die! He hates mayo even though im sure you cAnt taste it. Haha!

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Originally Posted by Siegal

OMG! My husband would die! He hates mayo even though im sure you cAnt taste it. Haha!

Don't tell him that it has mayo in it. The cake tastes like a very moist, rich chocolate cake, with walnuts in it, though there are no nuts. The nutty flavor comes from a combination of the slight acidity of the mayo, coupled with a very mild flavor of baking soda. It's surprisingly yummy.

Again, if you don't tell him what's in the cake, I'm sure that he'd love it. And then, after he raves about it, tell him what's in it. See how he reacts.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

[simonbaker]

Chief is so right on with this! It will make for yummy cupcakes.