Bakers- help me

kikibaby

So, I love baking and I make something every weekend.  Lately, I'm making almost exclusively cupcakes and muffins.  The problem is, although they're tasty, they're coming out all oily on the bottom.  What am I doing wrong here?  It's not just one recipe, but several that this has happened with.

laurenclaire1386

Are you using paper cups, or just baking in the muffin tin alone? If you're not using the paper cups, maybe using them would absorb some of the excess fat? Or maybe cut back by half a tablespoon on butter, depending on how much the recipe calls for. HTH. I'm basing this on nothing but logic, so take it with a grain of salt.

kate51485

Are you in any kind of different altitude in CO that might require some adjustments?

RachNRich

How much butter is being used in the recipes? I just made cupcakes this week (from a cupcake recipe book Rich got for me) for the first time from scratch; I was shocked at how much butter was used...and the were definitely oily on the bottom. 

btrflykate1230

I know a lot of recipes call for oil. Use 1/2 oil and 1/2 applesauce and that should help clear up some of the oil problems!

kbmeow

What are you using for cake mix?  Are you doing it from scratch or is it box. I took a cake decorating class once and the teacher told us her recipe for a great box cake.  Must use dunkin hines cake mix, Do not use the directions on back use this Add on box instant pudding,  4 eggs  1 1/4c water 1/2c oil.  Mix that well.  Preheat the oven 25 degrees lower than the box says.  it will take a little longer but it will cook even.  Start checking cake with toothpick at the time the box says and then every 5 min after

kikibaby

I'm using paper baking cups, so that doesn't help. 

I am also at high altitude (over 5000 ft).  Usually this only affects things in making the middle sink, but I haven't had too many issues there.  Maybe I need to do a little more research into whether I need less oil, too... I'm really not sure.

The recipes do call for a crapload of either butter or oil, possibly both.  The blueberry muffins I just made just had oil, though, no butter.  It was a ton of oil, so maybe I'll try the applesauce trick next time. 

But, by the way- best blueberry muffins I've ever had, oily or not.

kikibaby

I'm baking from scratch most of the time, kb, but that does sound good!

sweetpea0911

I would say definitely look into the altitudes thing, but my baking instincts and a quick google search says a misproportion of flour could be your problem.

RELAX0X0X0X0

Butter has a lower melting point than margarine, which can sometimes makes recipes more runny or oily. You could try to substitute at least half margarine when it calls for butter.

janedoe1113a

I would substitute applesauce for part of the butter/oil in the recipe. 

Are you spraying the muffin cups with Pam or anything?  You could be spraying too much.