Baking Hacks for Perfect Cupcakes & Muffins

Here’s a way to prevent the gunky buildup around the lip of the liquid measuring cup used to portion pancake, muffin, and cupcake batter: spritz vegetable oil spray along the cup’s edge so batter slides out cleanly.

No matter how carefully you sprinkle streusel onto a batch of muffins, you probably still end up with a mess all over the muffin tins and counter. To contain the crumbs, cut out the bottom of an empty 6-ounce yogurt container to create a funnel. The topping falls perfectly into place.

Solve the common problem of soggy bottoms in fruit muffins by following this advice: before adding fruit to the batter, spoon a tablespoon of plain batter into each greased or lined muffin cup. Stir the fruit into the remaining batter, then divide among the muffin cups.

Miniature muffin tins are usually fitted with a rim that is too tiny to grasp with bulky oven mitts. Avoid this struggle by leaving one corner cup empty when you fill the tin. Now you have a place to insert your thumb, allowing you to remove the tin without getting burned or squishing any of the muffins.

Just-baked muffins can be difficult to dislodge from the pan; they can stick or, if they are top heavy, break in half. Try tilting the muffin pan on its side and then slowly removing the muffins. They will slide out more easily and in one piece. If they still stick, try using a curved grapefruit knife to gently free the bottom of the muffin from the cup.

A. Pastry bag stand
It’s always easier to fill a pastry bag when it is propped up and open. For an unusual accessory in this job, try an empty pringles potato chips can. A pringles can is the ideal size and shape, and if you fold an inch or two of the bag over the rim of the can, the bag remains perfectly stable. A tall beer glass will also work.
B. Backup pastry bag
You can easily make extra makeshift pastry bags when your canvas pastry bag is dirty or already filled.
1. Snip away one corner of a 1-gallon zipper-lock bag. (a freezer bag is preferable, as it can withstand the pressure needed to pipe the bag’s contents.) Make a small cut so just the end of the pastry tip will be exposed.
2. Insert the pastry tip through the hole. Fill the bag and pipe as usual.
C. Maximum extraction
To make sure you get every last bit out of your pastry bag, lay the bag flat on the countertop and gently press a rolling pin toward the tip, pushing the contents to the bottom of the bag where they can be easily piped.

A stiff wire whisk can sub in if you don’t have a pastry cutter on hand. Tilt the bowl and hold the whisk at an angle to cut the butter into the flour.