It can be a frustrating thing… Spending precious time making cupcakes for an event, only to have the liners peel away from the cupcakes after they’ve been baked. Not the end of the world in the grand scheme of things, but, if you’re concerned about presentation for a wedding, for example, the little things make all the difference.
I’ve experienced this issue here and there, and luckily enough, when it happened with a bunch of the cupcakes I made for my brother’s wedding, I had enough extra that I could pick out ones which hadn’t peeled away.
Making extra cupcakes each time and crossing my fingers didn’t seem like the best idea in the long run, 😉  so I set out this year to figure out how to make cupcakes which the liners adhered to. It’s a work in progress, so I’d love to hear your feedback too, but I’ve come to a few conclusions:
How to Prevent Cupcake Liners from Peeling away from Cupcakes
- No need to spray the muffin tin with cooking spray; the liners do the job for you, and the extra grease seems to contribute to the liners peeling away.
- Fill the cupcakes liners only about 2/3Â of the way with batter. For the muffin tins I use, that’s about 1/4 cup.
- A few minutes after taking the cupcakes out of the oven, take them out of the pan to further cool. If they’re left too long in the muffin tin, it seems the heat and moisture causes the liner to loosen.
- Let cupcakes cool to room temperature before putting them in the fridge or freezer.
And that’s it!
Has worked well for me. If you have any more tips to share, please feel free to share them in the comments below, on facebook, or twitter.
The cupcakes for this post – lemon with vanilla buttercream – although sweet & zesty, were just a little too dense for me.  Am still playing around with the lemon cupcake recipe, so don’t have one to share yet, but I’ve compiled a list of delicious-looking options for you:
- Butterfly Cake by Bridget of Bake at 350
- Meyer Lemon Lavendar Cupcakes by Sarah Phillips & Anita Chu on Baking 911
- Lemon Frosting by Amanda of i am baker
- Lemon Cupcake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting by Jamie of My Baking Addiction
- Lemon Cake by Martha Stewart
- Triple Lemon Blueberry Cake by Rosie of Sweetapolita
- Lemon Angel Food Cake by Maria of Two Peas & Their Pod
About these cupcake decorations:
- I usually like to make all my sugar decorations myself, but these gumpaste flowers are my exception. They’re from Petra International and you can find out more about them here.
- The lace around the liners is adhered with edible glue.
Off I go to bake some lemon fluffiness {hopefully!}.
Have fun baking!!
xo,
Marian
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These cupcakes are gorgeous, and this post is super helpful, Marian! And thank you so much for the shout-out–I sincerely appreciate that. xo
I just pipe a little buttercream down where it has peeled off and glue the wrapper back to the cupcake. Decorate as usual. Problem solved. : )
I’m going to stop spraying the pan now!
Creio que a grande diferença esta na gordura colocada na massa. Bolinhos de manteiga soltam com mais facilidade, mas aqui no Brasil as forminhas nos ajudam bastante quanto a isso. Tentem usar as forminhas da Wilton, sem untar a forma.
thank you so much for this post!!!!!
The cup cakes are looking yummy indeed! Thanks for sharing the useful tip!
Hi Marian, could I please ask what tip you used to frost these cupcakes.
Thank you
HI @ Tania: Absolutely, and Ateco #829. I have a video on how I frost them on my youtube page if you like. (The youtube page can be found by clicking the yellow youtube button at the top right of the page).
xo
@ Tania:
Thanks so much for that Marian, I’ll check out the youtube page! 🙂
You always save the day Marion! Thank you so much for all your helpful posts!
Thanks for your sweet comment, Gigi!
I have tried what you said above, and we even modified the recipe to reduce oil and increase sour cream, but its still peeling away..a lot. Especially with my minis and I bake about 30 dozen for a non profit every month. Cupcakes are our signature for the non profit. Any other advice to make the recipe less greasy so that wrappers wont peel..and keep the moisture?
Hi there! Great post, thank you! I seem to only ever have this peeling issue with a lemonade cupcake I make. It’s maddening!!! No matter what I do, they ALWAYS peel. It happens across all brands of liners, all times, all cooling and chilling times. I can’t figure out why these are the only ones that do it! The worst part is, I get tons of orders for them, so it happens a LOT!
Cook your cupcakes for an extra few minutes at 5-10 degrees celsius higher than the baking temperature – this will prevent the peeling! Also under-filling the cases can cause peeling, it’s better to use slightly more batter than less 🙂
I think u may have found the correct answer..at least for me. I have used every type and brand of cupcake paper and have never had a problem until today. I only filled the cupcakes half full of batter because I made sunflower cupcakes and wanted a shallower cake to make it easier to ice. Some peeled and some didn’t however, the ones that peeled were mostly the shallower cakes. Even though these papers were not my favorite, I made a batch of cupcakes last week and not one separated. I will be making some again next week for a shower….hopefully, I won’t have this problem.
What are the smooth top cupcakes iced with? They are so pretty! Is it fondant or dipped? I must know…
Just found your blog and I am in love! and I love that you are a from Ontario too!
Quick Question…I seem to be doing all these things listed yet still my cupcakes peel away..what cupcake liners of you use? do you think it has to do with certain brands?
Hi Lauren,
Thanks for visiting me here!
When you let your cupcakes cool on the cooling rack, are they close together? If they are the heat may be affecting the liners. That’s the only other thing I can think of.
I used all sorts of liners, and usually link to each liner in each post, but for these, I’m sorry, I didn’t do a post specifically on the cupcakes and can’t recall where I bought the liner – it’s been quite some time.
All the best!
#1. I don’t understand why you would spray the pans when you’re using liners? #2. If you need to bake ahead of time, for example the day before an event, you still need to cover and store them overnight. The next day when you open the container/box is when a lot of the liners peels away. There is moisture in the box obviously. I always have issues with this, and you can only make so many “extras”.
Hi Lucy,
Just trying different things, thanks for your feedback!