Start by using the tool of your choice to press into the center and remove the dome gently. Work slowly and carefully, ensuring not to remove too much of the cupcake. Once the dome is gone, use a knife to even out the top. This can be done by rotating the knife around the cupcake's top and ensuring all parts are even.
The oven temperature is too high. If the top crust forms and sets before the cake has finished rising, the middle will try to push through the crust as it continues to bake, causing it to crack and possibly dome.
Rotate the cupcake pan: If you notice uneven baking in your oven, halfway through baking, rotate the cupcake pan 180 degrees to ensure even heat distribution. Check for doneness: Test the cupcakes for doneness by inserting a toothpick or cake tester into the center.
The trick? Simply roll up some foil into little balls, and place them to the side of your cupcake cases to form your desired shape.
Don't overfill your cases, your cupcakes will rise so if you want your cupcakes to come to just under the top of the cases fill 2/3 of the way up. Turn your oven down, we bake at 170C (non-fan) or 150C (fan). An oven thermometer is perfect for checking the correct temperature in your oven.
Cause of a Domed Cake
This is the result of the cake cooking too quickly. The edges of the cake get baked early in the process, setting them in place. Meanwhile, the middle of the cake is still uncooked and the leaveners are still performing.
Step 6: Bake and Cool Cupcakes
For chocolate, vanilla, and most other cupcake recipes, you'll want to bake for 15 to 20 minutes in an oven preheated to 350°F. Test for doneness by inserting a wooden toothpick into the center a cupcake. If the toothpick is clean when you remove it, the cupcakes are done.
Uneven heating may be due to the oven itself. Rotate cake pans ¾ through the baking period to compensate for uneven heat distribution. An oven that is too hot can also cause uneven baking. Test the oven temperature when preheating the oven by using an oven thermometer and adjust as necessary.
Let your cupcakes cool completely before frosting them: Even a tiny bit of residual heat from a cupcake can melt your frosting, so be sure to give your cupcakes at least an hour to cool on this wire rack before you move on to decorating!
Making cupcake flowers is a quick and easy decorating hack, and all you need is a piping tip and a spoon. With a round piping tip, pipe four to five dollops of frosting on your cupcake in a circle. Use a small spoon to gently drag the dollop toward the center of the cupcake, creating an effortless flower petal.
The general consensus is that cupcakes with a slight dome are better. If a cupcake is flat or too domed though, it means that something has gone wrong in the preparation and baking process.
Lower the oven temperature.
Most cake recipes call for setting the oven at 350°F. Instead, drop the temperature to 325°F. Lowering the oven temperature slows the rise in the leavening agent, so instead of the dreaded dome, you'll get cake with a beautiful flat top.
Freeze your cupcakes upside-down
Then, flip them upside down, press them on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and throw the tray in the freezer for about 10 minutes. Once you pull them out, the cake and frosting should have smushed down into a flat, even layer, creating a perfect surface for creative decorations.
Buttermilk. Buttermilk, a mix of milk and cultures, adds to your cupcakes a silky soft, and moist texture. In addition, due to its acidic part, it tenderizes the gluten in the cupcake batter, providing moisture to your baked goods. With the presence of baking soda, buttermilk helps rise the batter in the oven.
Too much of a dry ingredient (like flour or cocoa) leads to dry cupcakes. Over baking can also create dry cakes because the moisture in the cupcakes bakes out.
If your cake or has a badly cracked or peaked top you may have adding too much baking powder and/or bicarbonate of soda. You may also have overfilled the tin, or the cake may have cooked too quickly due to being too near the top of the oven or the oven being too hot.
In order to bake cake evenly, you have to insulate its edges. Preventing the temperature of batter at the edge from increasing quickly allows the cake to rise longer before it sets. A cake whose edges rise at nearly the same rate as its center will remain flat across the top — no dome, perfect for stacking and icing.
Too much chemical leavener, like baking powder, can lead to large air bubbles in cakes. Broken emulsion and inconsistent ingredient temperatures can cause air pockets in cakes. The way you fill your pan with cake batter can cause air pockets.
If cakes are peaking during baking it is usually because the oven temperature is a bit too high. The outside edges of the cakes bake quickly, forcing the centre upwards and into a peak. As ovens vary you may find that you need to turn your oven down a little more, especially if it is a fan oven with a strong fan.
The five most common culprits of sinking cupcakes are: underbaking, overfilling/overmixing the batter, baking at too high of a temperature, not using enough leavening agent, and not allowing enough time for them to cool.
Creaming the butter and the sugar is a very important step in getting a good rise on the cupcakes. However, if you beat too much, you will end up incorporating way too much air into the batter, and when the cupcakes bake, they will rise rapidly and then collapse.