Cupcakes tend to dry out quickly, so how do we keep cupcakes moist? I’ve come up with a method that I like to use to keep cupcakes from drying out and it works great for me.
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Oh how I love cupcakes. I feel like I’m eating something miniature and therefor, convince myself that I can eat two or three. Please tell me I’m not alone 🙂
The only thing I don’t like about cupcakes is that they tend to dry out quickly…much quicker than cakes. It’s just the nature of a cupcake. They’re small and they’re not totally encased in icing like cakes are. So, I’ve come up with a method that I want to share with you on how to keep cupcakes from drying out.
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When I was taking cake orders, I also worked a full-time job. I would bake the cupcakes either the night before the event or sometimes the night before that. (And yes, my tips I’m about to share with you will keep them fresh for several days). I had to do things ahead of time because I was gone all day at work and I couldn’t pack in everything in the short amount I got to spend at home.
To make matters more difficult, many times when I had a large cupcake order, I’d also have a large wedding cake to go with it. It was either that, or I’d have an order for at least 100 cupcakes. Well that would have just been impossible to bake them all in one night after work and then decorate them.
Let me tell you I am no good without sleep and staying up all night just isn’t an option for me. I turn into a crying, shaky mess when I do that. I know my limits 😉
After some trial and error, I came up with a method that keeps my cupcakes from drying out.
First things first…most of the time, you don’t want to put your cupcakes in the fridge. People are ‘fridge-happy’ these days and want to immediately stick everything in there. I’ve found that putting cupcakes in the fridge will suck the moisture right out of them.
Unless they’ve got perishable filling in them, or you’ve iced them with an egg white buttercream, they are fine to be kept in wrapped cupcake boxes, or the set up I’m about to show you, for a couple of days.
How to Keep Cupcakes from Drying Out:
Bake your cupcakes and let them cool on a wire rack.
Get yourself a shallow plastic storage bin with a lid and wash it. You can find these at Walmart or even the dollar store. You want a shallow one so you don’t have a ton of air space between the top of the cupcakes and the lid.
Lay a sheet of wax paper down in the bottom and set your cupcakes on the paper. Sometimes I’ll lay a piece of wax paper over them as well, but that’s not vital. You can only get one layer of cupcakes in these bins, because stacking them would make a mess, so depending on the amount of cupcakes you’re baking, you might want to get several of these containers.
Now, snap the lid on the storage bin.
What I do next might be a little overkill, but I am nothing if not thorough 😉
Take some press-n-seal wrap (you know by now I am addicted to this stuff and if you want proof check out this post) and wrap around the edges where the lid meets the container. Even though I don’t have a problem with bugs, I just have this insane fear of ants or something finding their way in. You could also just cover the container with the press-n-seal before adding your lid.
Now just fill your other containers and then you can stack the containers if you need to. Just keep them on your table or counter. They are fine for a couple of days like this.
Now, sometimes when I open the containers, the tops of the cupcakes are a little moist. I’ll actually take a dry paper towel and lay it over the cupcakes and sort of dab them just a bit. You don’t have to do this, but I take this precaution because I don’t want the icing to slip off if it gets warm during transport.
Shortly before I’m going to either serve them or transport them, I’ll put them into cupcake or cake boxes. Make sure and add some cupcake inserts, like these, so the cupcakes won’t tip over when you move or transport them.
And if you’re in a hurry, or don’t have time to go get any cupcake box inserts, you can make them yourself using just poster board. You’ll want to see how to do that here: DIY Cupcake Box Inserts
After I’ve set them in the cupcake boxes, I’ll pipe on the icing. If you need a super delicious recipe for buttercream, you can find mine here. It’s my favorite and it’s perfectly fine to sit out of the fridge for a couple of days.
If I’m going to transport them, I will put the cupcake boxes in the fridge for about 20 minutes or so before I leave. It’s usually hot here in Texas and that helps firm up the buttercream, so I don’t get any slide-offs during transport. Go to this post to see tips for transporting cakes in a car. These tips also work for cupcakes.
So that’s it! Now, you don’t have to stress out baking all your cupcakes at the last minute because you’re afraid of them drying out!
Here’s another tip: You can bake them a couple weeks ahead of time and freeze them. See my post with tips here. When you take them out of the freezer to defrost, just leave them in their wrappings on the counter for about an hour and let them defrost. Then take the wrappings off and set them in your shallow plastic containers and go from there.
It works for me every time! Let me know how it goes for you!
Don’t Forget to Pin it for Later!
Audrey Behrens
I have always frozen cakes, as I did some cake decorating. I usually if layered put the frosting or filling in the center and put the layers together and then a light layer of frosting and let dry and then freeze them and then take them out an frost frozen and decorate later. I have never done cupcakes but my son has asked me to make their small wedding cake and cupcakes. want filling in them and so I did a trial run and put the filling in and froze them and took them out and frosted and turned out great and were moist for several days. This information comes at a time when I was questioning if I could freeze filled cupcakes and seem to work great. Thanks for the information
Kara Jane
Oh that’s good to know about freezing filled cupcakes. I’ve actually never tried that. So glad it works!
Patricia Quinonez
Would the same procedure for freezing cakes be used with mini cupcakes?
Kara Jane
Hi Patricia, I would think it should work for mini cupcakes as well. The main thing is to just make sure they’re wrapped really well.
Audrey Behrens
I do usually did put the cakes in a plastic bag and sealed.
Penny
Hi Kara, do you think it’s fine to store iced cupcakes in a cupcake box (not airtight) overnight? I work full time, so I usually make the cupcakes in the evening, and bring it to work the next day. I won’t have enough time to ice the cupcakes in the morning, and my cupcake containers are not airtight. Will they make them dry? I tried this before, I didn’t feel like they were dry but one of my friends said they were dry.
Thank you!
Kara Jane
Penny, The best thing to do is to put them in a container with a lid. It’s okay to ice them the night before and do that (as long as the icing isn’t perishable it’s okay to leave them out of the fridge).
If you’ve only got the cupcake box, you can go ahead and ice them, put them in the box, close it and then wrap some saran wrap or press n seal wrap around the box. I’ve done that before. Icing them the night before will actually help seal them, since you don’t have an air tight container and the saran wrap or press n seal wrapped around the box may help to keep some of the air out.
Cupcakes dry out so easily because they’re so small, so once they’ve cooled after you’ve baked them, go ahead and get them into a container or at least a box that’s covered as soon as you can. Just make sure they’ve cooled down from baking. I also don’t store mine in the fridge because that seems to dry them out even worse, so if there’s no perishable toppings on them and your house is cool, it should be okay to leave them covered like I mentioned earlier, but out of the fridge.
Hope this helps!
Kara
Linda Reves
Hi Kara, I sometimes have a problem with the paper separating from the cupcake, Do you know what I am doing wrong?
Kara Jane
It’s most likely not anything that you’re doing wrong. A lot of times it has to do with the amount of moisture in combination with the types of liners. For me it seems like some cupcake liners are more prone to doing that and if the cupcakes get any kind of condensation on them (like coming in and out of the fridge), it seems to cause it as well. My friend Rose, wrote a blog post about this very thing that might be helpful. She goes deep into the subject and tested some things out. Here’s the link: https://rosebakes.com/cupcake-liners-pull-away-cupcakes/ Hope this helps!
M. Grace
Just found your blog and it comes at a great time. Friends and family ask so much for me to bake something just because or to share, that I have started (informally) selling… 😮 ! Going to start a decorating class soon and I am sure your wonderful tips -some I knew and some I can’t wait to try! – will be mentioned again. Have a great day and thanks so much!
Kara Jane
Oh wonderful! I’m so glad the tips helped! Thanks for the lovely comment and let me know if you ever have any questions…I’m happy to help. 🙂
Raina
Why not put the press n seal over the container before you put on the lid? It just seems easier to me. Is there a reason you put it over the lid?
Kara Jane
You’re right! That would work as well…don’t know why I didn’t think of doing that. Sometimes I end up doing things the hard way. lol!
Ella
Hi! Can I use a glass container instead of plastic?
Kara Jane
Yes, that should be fine. You’ll just want to cover with plastic wrap really well. It may not work as well as the plastic container, unless you have a lid for it. That’s why I like the plastic containers, because they have a plastic lid that clamps down and it helps keep out any air. Hope this helps.
Sylvia
Hi!
I will be making cupcakes on a Monday to be served on a Wednesday. Will this work if I frost my cupcakes on Monday? I wont have time to frost them Wednesday morning as I’ll be bringing them to class. The ingredients in my frosting are butter, vanilla & confectioners’ sugar. Will the frosting go bad if I leave it out for those days?
Kara Jane
Hi Sylvia, It sounds like you’re using American Buttercream. If so, it should be fine left out for a couple days. Just make sure everything is covered really well though. The cupcakes might be a little drier than when you made them, but sometimes you just have to do things with the timeline you have. Believe me, I know how that is.
Holly
I may have missed the answer. But why do you put the parchment paper under the cupcakes when storing? Thank you!
Kara Jane
I just like to do that because it keeps any oil from getting onto the plastic bins. It’s totally optional though. I just like having that barrier there between the plastic and the cupcakes.
Ashley Judd
Hi, I am so happy, that my cupcakes were soft, delicious. My family loved it. It’s perfect. Thanks for the recipe. After baking and cooling I inserted mix berries compote and decorated with Swiss Meringue buttercream
Kara Jane
Wonderful Ashley! I’m so glad it worked out! And the berry compote and swiss meringue sound amazing! ?
Monica
I have 648 cupcakes to bake deadline Monday @11 am. They will be frosted Sunday evening. How early can I start baking? I would place them into cupcake containers and cover the containers in plastic wrap or press n’ seal to lock out air.
Kara Jane
Whoa…that’s a lot of cupcakes. I probably would try to bake everything no more than two days before. That might be pushing it as cupcakes dry out so quickly, but that’s a lot of cupcakes to make, so you’ll just have to do the best you can and keep them sealed up.
Rebecca Gardner
Thanks for the tip to use a plastic bin lined with wax paper to keep cupcakes fresh for a couple of days. I want to buy some cupcakes and other pastries to help ease the stress of preparing for my daughter’s birthday party next weekend. I’m glad I read your article so I know what to do with any leftovers we might have after the party!
Kara Jane
Great! I’m so glad it helped. 🙂
Marie
Thanks for the hints. I also went to your clip on making cupcake inserts and made for the size of my plastic containers. Thanks for both.
Kara Jane
Hi Marie! Awesome! I’m so glad it was helpful 🙂
Melodi
Hi! So if I’m wanting to bake & frost my cupcakes the day before- do I follow the same process of putting them in the container & using press and seal? I typically never have time to frost the morning or day of. I just didn’t know if the frosting would end up sliding off or if they would be fine
Kara Jane
Hi there. I’ve frosted mine the night before and just popped them into the plastic bin with the lid on. Adding the frosting helps to seal the cupcakes a bit, so they don’t dry out quite as fast. You can probably get away with not using the press-n-seal. Just make sure they’re well covered and not warm when you put them in there or frost them. If you’re in a warm climate, you might have no choice but to store them in the fridge though, in which case you’ll just want to make sure they’re really well covered.
Ariel Marin
Can cupcakes be left out for 2 days even if they have milk and eggs added to the batter?
Kara Jane
The eggs and milk will be baked in, so it’s generally fine unless you have perishable filling or frosting on them. You do want to cover cakes very well though, so they don’t dry out.
Lynn V
For cakes I use a simple syrup brushed lightly in them and it works wonders! Also I’ve used a variety of different flavors depending on the cake I’m making. I would think this would be a great solution for cupcakes as well?
Kara Jane
Hi Lynn, it might work. I haven’t tried it out myself as I’m not a big user of simple syrup, but it’s worth experimenting though. The only thing I would wonder about is maybe getting too much liquid onto the wrappers which might make them pull away from the cupcakes. Not sure if that would actually happen or not though. It would be interesting to try it out though.