Flat-Top Cupcakes—How Come?

I made some incredible cupcakes the other day from a Tribune recipe. Light, fluffy, and tastes a lot like ladyfingers. They were a snap to throw together. However, they are all flat as pancakes on top. The recipe is for a 8" square pan, so a flat top would be great, but I like the domed look for cupcakes. Was the flatness due to my changes? The recipe is below with my changes in parentheses.

This is the recipe:

Lightning Cake
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar (I used 3/4 cup)
2 eggs
1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt (I accidentally used 1 tsp, oops!)
2/3 cup milk (I use 1%)
1 tsp vanilla

Heat oven to 350. Beat butter and sugar until fluffy with electric mixer on medium-high speed. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until well combined. Sift flour, powder and salt. Add dry to butter-sugar mixture alternately with milk, beating until smooth. Transfer to greased 8" square pan (I used 12 paper-lined cupcake cups). Bake until golden and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes (I think maybe 20-25 for my cupcakes).

Thanks!

Did the recipe call for melted butter? Usually when you cream butter and sugar, the butter should be at room temp, to incorporate air bubbles into the mixture (reinforced by the sugar), which act as leavening when you bake. I don't think melted butter will hold air as well. Since it looks like you're trying to limit the sugar, I'd try that first.

Good luck!
mike

I believe that salt can toughen the dough (at least, in bread it does) so that might be your problem.

Also, beating the batter until smooth seems like it would probably reduce the creamed butter-sugar effect.

Llama wrote:I believe that salt can toughen the dough (at least, in bread it does) so that might be your problem.

That was a tasty mistake. But the cake itself was light and airy, though I should probably cut back to 1/2 tsp at least.

Bad baking powder so there was no lift? Put a little in water and see if it fizzes.

+1 on the melted butter comment.

I didn't check the powder but it's a new can and other things have turned out. But I can check when I get home just in case.

Check Rose Levy Beranbaum's blog--she has some great pointers.


http://www.realbakingwithrose.com/2005/11/rounded_vs_flat_cake_layers.html