Essentials: Cupcake Liners

Cupcakes are pretty popular here on MBA – both in my photos and in my inbox. It’s pretty clear you guys want to know all about where I get my liners, why I use the ones I do, and a few cupcake how’s and why’s too. Hopefully this quick Q & A will answer the most commonly asked questions.

Q: My liners fade after they are baked. How do you get yours to stay so vibrant?
A: I personally don’t do anything special to the liners. I do make sure that I buy Grease-Proof liners, which I believe makes a big difference here.

Q: Where do you purchase all of your pretty cupcake liners?
A: I purchase them from a variety of places, including a local baking supply store. However, my main liner source is Bake It Pretty. Amanda’s shop offers a great variety of sizes, colors and patterns. I’m pretty much obsessed with her shop to the point of needing an intervention.

I have also purchased solid liners from Confectionery House and Shop Sweet Lulu. All of the companies are reasonably priced and are quick to ship, which is always a bonus in my book!

Q: You seem to use chocolate brown liners a lot. Is there a reason behind this color choice?
A: Yes and no. The chocolate brown liners are simply my favorite. I find them to be a great neutral color that looks pretty fantastic with almost any frosting shade and decor. However, I do find that although the other colored liners remain pretty vibrant when filled with chocolate batter – they don’t stay completely opaque like the brown liners do.

Q: How do you store your cupcake liner stash?
A: I definitely have more liners than I know what to do with. What can I say? I’m a sucker for pretty things and often get a little carried away in the liner department. I store my liners in a large plastic bin that I picked up from Target. I also use a large apothecary jar to hold a variety of liners and display them on my baking shelf in the kitchen.

Q: Do you waste a lot of your pricey liners when you are testing new recipes?
A: No, I always test recipes using the cheapo liners from the grocery store. If the first batch comes out okay, I’ll use the pretty liners on the next batch.

Q: Do you spray your liners with non-stick cooking spray before filling them with batter?
A: I have done this in the past, but really don’t see the need for this extra step. I always spray my muffin tins with non-stick spray if I am not using liners.

Q: All of your cupcakes look to be the same size, how do you achieve this?
A: I typically use a large OXO scoop to distribute the batter evenly between the cupcake liners. You can read all about it in this post.

Q: My liners keep peeling away from my cupcakes, why does this happen?
A: Liners pulling away from cupcakes seems to happen for a variety of reasons, here are some of the reasons that I have encountered:

* Underbaked cupcakes- If I don’t bake the cupcakes completely, I have noticed that parts of the liner edges with pull away from the edges
* Storing cupcakes- I have also found that if put the cupcakes into my storage container before they are completely room temp the liners will come almost completely unattached from the cupcakes.
* Super moist cupcakes- I definitely notice this issue occurs more often when the batter that I am using is really moist.

And there you have it – the answers to the most commonly asked cupcake liner questions.
If you have any other questions relating to cupcake liners or any other topics, feel free to send them to [email protected].

Cupcakes Pictured Above: Vanilla Bean Cupcakes