Without Liners, Bake Cupcakes or Muffins

Isn’t it lovely to use paper cupcake and muffin liners? They’re very cool, simple to use, and keep your cupcake tin clean!

But what if you don’t have any cupcake liners? Is that all for your muffin and cupcake fantasies? There will be no lining and no baking. That is not correct!

You can still bake delightful delights on your cupcake tray without using paper liners. There is no issue at all.

muffin tin (yes, cupcake and muffin tins are interchangeable!). *Quick Note: Cupcake liners and muffin liners are interchangeable, therefore I’ll use them interchangeably! Everything is the same- a sheet of paper cut to size to accommodate a cupcake

Why Skip The Liner

You may have several reasons for avoiding using paper liners while making cupcakes or muffins. Although you may believe that all standard size muffin pans are the same size, one may be slightly bigger or smaller than the next. This may cause a regular sized paper liner to fit strangely and not function properly.

It might be too large or too tiny, too broad or not wide enough. Despite the issue, a paper liner just will not work with the tray you have.

Another reason you may want to forego the paper liners is to save money on your baked goods. Although cupcake liners are very inexpensive, the prices build up when you make a lot of baked items!

One simple method to save money is to avoid using paper liners. Goodbye, paper liners! If you want to create cupcakes but don’t have any paper liners, that’s a good excuse not to use them!

Don’t go out of your way to purchase paper liners; you don’t need them to bake delicious cupcakes (and anyway, you will get to eat a cupcake faster if you skip the trip to the store).

Prep That Pan

When using paper liners, just place the liner into the muffin tray and go; no further pan preparation is required. It may take a little more work to get your pan ready when baking without paper liners, but you will be pleased when your cupcakes pop straight out.

Grease is the key to muffin pan preparation. There is a lot of grease.

Spray It

Baking spray is the most convenient method to uniformly oil a muffin tray. Baking spray comes in a variety of flavors, including butter, olive oil, high heat spray, and flour-infused spray.

Search for a baking spray that is made exclusively for baking (it will usually say baking on the can). The olive oil sprays and high heat sprays are intended for culinary use rather than baking. You almost certainly do not want your cupcakes to taste like olive oil.

Spray the pan evenly with a gentle mist once you have a nice spray. Avoid spraying so much that the oil runs down the edges and pools in the bottom of the muffin pan.

Your cupcakes or muffins will absorb the additional fat, which may make them taste bad. A little mist goes a long way. After the pan has been sprayed, spoon the batter onto it and bake!

Butter

When it comes to baking pan grease, nothing beats butter. Everything tastes the greatest when it is straightforward and uncomplicated. Butter may be more difficult to apply than baking spray since you have to work harder to get the butter into the corners of each muffin cup.

There are two options here: use the stick straight from the fridge or melt the butter.

Take a cold butter stick and cut one tablespoon off. With the butter piece in your palm, push it into each muffin cup, going around the perimeter and then down the center. Using your hands to hold the butter will allow you to get into those tight spots a bit easier.

The second method for greasing the cupcake pan with butter is to melt around one tablespoon of butter in the microwave. Grease each cup of the pan with a paper towel or pastry brush dipped in melted butter.

If you use butter instead of paper liners, this approach is probably the best since you will be able to thoroughly oil the cupcake tray.

Oils

To grease your muffin pan for baking, you may use a number of oils. Canola oil and vegetable oil are also traditional options that will offer little to no taste to your cupcakes.

Coconut oil is also good for baking and may provide a slight tropical flavor to muffins or cupcakes. The technique of preparing the pan is the same regardless of the oil you use.

To apply the oil to your cupcake pan, use a pastry brush or a paper towel, just as I did with the melted butter. Rub the brush or cloth around each muffin cup after dipping it into a small basin of oil.

Make a point of getting into those corners!! Remember that a little goes a long way.

Timer Rang, Now What?

You prepared your cupcake pan without using paper liners, scooped and cooked your cupcakes, and they came out of the oven flawlessly golden brown. So, what now?

How do you remove the cupcakes from the pan if there is no paper liner to help you?

Let the cupcakes to cool in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes before hurriedly trying to remove them out of a hot tin- don’t burn yourself, the cupcakes will be even better after 10 minutes!

Also, removing the cupcakes while they are still hot might cause them to collapse. Allowing them to cool somewhat will keep them whole rather than crumbling to crumbs.

Insert a butter knife or little offset spatula between the cupcake and the muffin tray side. Carefully pull the knife upward to check whether the cupcake comes out easily. If it does, turn it over and repeat with the remaining cupcakes.

If it is breaking or adhering to the pan’s edge, run the knife around the cupcake to release it. Do this for each cupcake, then turn the pan upside down on a clean work surface; the cupcakes should fall right out!

A Little Stuck…

If you let the cupcakes in the pan to cool fully, the baking oil you used to prepare the pan may have stiffened. When this occurs, it may often behave like glue, sticking the muffins to the pan rather than assisting in their removal.

Simple solution: return the pan to the hot oven for around 30 seconds. This will just reheat the muffin tray and re-melt the fat. Remove the pan from the oven and immediately turn the muffins out. Voila! Not any longer!

No More Liners

Cupcake liners are useful, but they are not required (the pans not really necessary either). As you can see, all it takes is some pan preparation and a little technique to get the baked products out of the pan.

Toss those liners, grab the oil, and bake us some cupcakes now that you’re an expert in liner-free baking!