Why do my cupcakes come out peaked and pointed on top?

Cupcakes are the most heat-sensitive thing most people bake, because they are small, they sit in a metal tin that conducts heat into their sides, and they are usually baked at sponge temperatures that are simply too high for their size. The batter at the edges of the case sets within a couple of minutes, and everything that is still rising in the middle is forced up through the only unset area — the centre. That is the peak. Crack the peak open and it usually has a coarse, slightly tunnelled crumb underneath, because the same violence that pushed it up also disturbed the structure.

What you'll need

• An oven thermometer (optional)
• An ice-cream scoop or a piping bag (optional)

Step by step

1. Check the oven's real temperature.Cupcakes are the first thing to show up an oven running hot. Twenty minutes with a thermometer will tell you whether you are already baking at 200°C when the dial says 180°C.
2. Drop the temperature and lengthen the time.Try 160°C fan / 180°C conventional as a starting point, and expect an extra two to four minutes. The aim is for the whole cake to rise together rather than the edges setting first.
3. Fill the cases to two-thirds and no more.Overfilled cases have more batter to push upward and less freeboard, so they peak and then spill over the rim into flat crusty skirts. An ice-cream scoop with a release lever gives identical portions faster than a spoon.
4. Use the middle shelf and one tray at a time.Cupcakes on the top shelf take fierce top heat and peak worse. Two trays at once means neither is in the even zone.
5. Do not over-beat the batter.An over-worked batter has more gluten and holds its structure at the edges more stiffly, exaggerating the peak. Fold the flour in rather than beating it.
6. Level them after baking if you need flat tops.Slice the dome off with a serrated knife once cold, or press gently with the back of a clean spoon while they are still hot. Both are standard practice for cupcakes that are going to be iced flat.

Tips

• A slight dome is what most people actually want. A perfectly flat top is a cake baked at a low temperature, and it is worth deciding which you are aiming for before chasing the fault.
• Muffins are supposed to peak — the whole point of a muffin top is a high domed crown, achieved by starting hot. Do not fix a muffin the way you fix a cupcake.
• Filling the outer holes of a twelve-hole tin and leaving the middle two empty gives noticeably more even results in a hot-spotted oven.
• Silicone cases insulate more than paper in a metal tin, so the edges set more slowly and the peak is less pronounced.

Common mistakes

• Blaming the raising agent — Too much raising agent makes cupcakes rise and sink, or taste soapy. It does not make a sharp central peak — that is a heat gradient.
• Baking cupcakes at the same temperature as the parent cake recipe — A 20cm cake at 180°C and a cupcake at 180°C are in completely different situations. Small bakes want lower heat than the recipe they came from.

If it doesn't work