Cupcakes baked day before?

Sigma Force

Am doing a good bit of baking this weekend (fundraiser) and I like to have everything super fresh but will be short for time on the Sunday so would like to have a lot of it done the day before.

Brownies are just as nice the next day but have never eaten cupcakes the next day so not sure if they'll be fresh enough. Was planning on spending Saturday baking then Sunday morning icing everything.

Will they be ok for 24 hours and what's the best way to store the cupcakes (obviously not in fridge) can I just cover them with a clean tea towel or do they need to be in an airtight container?

alexlyons

personally I find that once they're put in an air tight container for a good few hours (7+) they go a little bit soggy. I can definitely tell if they are fresh or baked the day before etc. Having said that they're still nice and if its a fundraiser it'd be absolutely fine.

Acoshla

They will be fine if they are left in non airtight container (ie a plastic one with the lid laid on it but not closed) or a cardboard box, closing an air tight plastic container traps the moisture in it as opposed to letting it disperse, which cause them to go sticky on top and makes the cases pop off.

They will be absolutely fine if they are kept in cardboard boxes in a cool room, bakeries everywhere serve cupcakes from the day before, it's physically impossible to have all the baking done every day of every product, there'd be a lot of waste if day old ones were dumped!

If you do want to ensure that they all taste their best leave baking plain (vanilla etc) ones until the morning of, but you could easily bake ones that have extra moisture in them the day before, such as chocolate, carrot, apple, banana, etc.

Lornen

Hey Sigma, the chocolate recipe I put up over in that chocolate cupcake thread is a great one for baking the day before. I usually make my cupcakes the day in advance, put the cooled cupcakes in a baking tray and cover the top of it with cling film and do the fresh fillings for the cupcakes the day I'm giving them away.

It's a handy little recipe to have!

I also have a Vanilla cupcake recipe you are more than welcome to that I've baked a day in advance and they still tasted perfect.

I don't refrigerate either by the way!

Sigma Force

Thanks Lornen will check that out will have a bit of time this weekend to experiment. Is your vanilla recipe on here already?
Oh btw which is better do people find using butter or stork (or similar) in their cupcakes for flavour and texture?

Acoshla

Butter keeps them fresher longer as it makes them more moist, stork lightens them a little but they dry out sooner. Half and half is a good combination.

Lornen

Sigma Force wrote: »

Thanks Lornen will check that out will have a bit of time this weekend to experiment. Is your vanilla recipe on here already?
Oh btw which is better do people find using butter or stork (or similar) in their cupcakes for flavour and texture?

I only ever use President unsalted butter. My mum uses Stork and her cupcakes are lovely, but I just prefer using that butter. My cupcakes seem to keep longer and taste better after the few days too

Will PM you the recipe

Faith

I've made a large batch of cupcakes before. I baked them the night before, iced them that morning, and served them that night. They were perfect .

Sigma Force

Thanks folks, have stocked up on unsalted butter..why can't they sell them in bigger packs. Will ice them the next morning, they'll be sold the next morning indoors so no risk of melting yay!

Lornen

Yeah my Tesco doesn't do unsalted butter, just truck loads of organic salted butter so I have to shell out quite a bit on the President variety!

I made cupcakes there for a mate's 18th and we were inside and it was so bloody warm the buttercream frosting started to melt!

I usually frost the cupcakes, stick them in the fridge til I'm ready to go and then they sit and come to room temperature. It's handy and if you have the time I would recommend it

Faith

I don't get the fuss about unsalted butter. Most recipes tend to call for unsalted butter, and then a pinch of salt. I just use salted butter and leave out the salt. I've never noticed a taste difference between doing that and using unsalted butter. Don't bankrupt yourself unless it's a very delicate recipe.

toadfly

Im the same as faith, when I was buying the ingrediants for your choc cupcakes Lornen I was tempted to not get the unsalted but I did just for the first time to make sure I do them right!

Is it not the same thing to use normal butter and leave out the salt?

Acoshla

Faith wrote: »

I don't get the fuss about unsalted butter. Most recipes tend to call for unsalted butter, and then a pinch of salt. I just use salted butter and leave out the salt. I've never noticed a taste difference between doing that and using unsalted butter. Don't bankrupt yourself unless it's a very delicate recipe.

+1!!!

Sigma Force

Have gotten into the habit of using unsalted butter, but yeh if a recipe asks for unsalted butter then a pinch of salt I've started to go back to regular butter.
But for buttercream and banoffee pies I use unsalted.

It could of just been the way I mixed them but I used real Irish butter from Aldi for some and then Kerrygold for some more ..same recipe..and the Kerrygold buns came out looking so much nicer, all smooth and golden not sure if it was the butter maybe I mixed that batch better but they did look neater.

Cupcakes turned out grand being baked the day before nom nom nom.