Big Top Cupcake

Have you seen this lately on TV?

If you’re a regular reader or a friend of mine, I am sure that when you saw this you wondered if I had done of these.

Yeah, I do. Hahahahahaha.

I think one of my favourite things about loving all this cupcake gear and baking is that whenever someone sees something worth buying or something amazing, I get a link or someone says they have thought of me. It isn’t just people I know, it’s people on my Twitter I rarely ever speak to!

So I saw this on TV one night but then for a week or so afterwards I was linked to it repeatedly by many wonderful people. Things went quiet, and then about a month later the links started again but it was a link to a version that was on sale!

As you may know, I made a big deal when I finally bought Wilton’s Giant Cupcake Tin so  I was a little upset when this came out straight afterwards

Well, I bought the Big Top Cupcake set. It comes in three parts, there is a seperate bottom and top part (as you see in the picture) and then there is this…

It appears to be where the cake rises around for a “filling” part. But what happens if you have a rising cake? Does the cake explode out of the holes? Even I thought that the demo pictures had a lot of cake batter in them, so I can’t be too sure what the deal is.

I decided that when I was baking the Oreo order a few weeks ago that I would try this out first. I was keen to do it, and wondered what the baking time difference would be considering that there is a big temperature difference to the hard cast tin that Wilton does.

Well, either I stuffed it up or it doesn’t work properly. First of all I didn’t use my Miracle Chocolate Cake recipe, I used my cupcake recipe. I’m not sure why, but I *think* I was pretty tired, so had to make the whole thing again anyway. It didn’t rise high enough, there wasn’t enough batter and it didn’t cook through right. It was a bit odd. :/ Also, it stuck to the sides of the tin.

Decided to leave the silicon tin aside and instead went back to trusty Giant Cupcake Tin friend of mine and made a spectacular cake.

So after all of this, here’s my tips:

• If your recipe has SR flour or baking soda/rising agent in it, you will need to fill to half or higher to get enough of a cake for it to look right and not like a cupcake that didn’t get as tall as the rest of them. Don’t fill over 3/4 – or if you do for some reason, put it on an oven tray so it can catch the cupcake explosion over the sides.
• If you’re thinking of buying this, I really really really recommend you put the extra money in to get the Wilton tin. There are places you can get it cheaper than others, it’s just a case of hunting around for the best price. Also, check out eBay. If you want to know where you can buy one in your area please let me know and I’ll find a supplier for you!
• I can understand if you’re buying this as a bit of fun you might use once or twice, but if you’re serious about your cupcakery, get the Wilton one.
• Let it cool for ten minutes before you even try and remove it from the silicon, or it will stick to the sides and not come out properly. Same thing will happen if it’s not cooked properly either. A very very light spray with some oil may help, even though I know you don’t need to oil silicon normally, it just helps with the slidey factor.
• 5 minutes before the appointed baking time for your recipe is up, check it with a skewer – diagonally, not straight down. For example, go from one corner of the cake right down into the other. If it even comes back with a hint of batter on it, you need to check again in another 5-10 minutes. As soon as it is clean though and the top looks stable, get it out of the oven.

Well, happy baking! And remember if you ever have any questions to ask about anything I write, you can write and get a response on my Contact page – if your question is  good to share I will post it so everyone can learn.

Happy baking!

xx Monnie

P.S – If you’re looking for a recipe for the giant cupcake, you can use a simple pound cake recipe. Sponge is too light for something like this, you want something dense that will hold its shape when you put the top part on. A pound cake recipe is essentially a pound of everything (flour, butter, eggs, sugar). To make more cake, just increase the ratio. One cup, one kilo, ten kilos. More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pound_cake