How to Make Square Cupcakes Without Pan

Baking square cakes reminds me of the competition I was part of few years ago. We were asked to bake cupcakes, but this time our favorite shape. Well, my favorite shape is square.

I know it sounds strange, but the truth is, I like the square shape. The fact that square shape has equal side reminds me that I should treat everyone equally. That’s the lesson the square shape has taught me. That’s by the way.

Have you ever forgotten your square cupcake pan and you don’t know what to do? Worry no more, because we are going to talk about how to make square cupcakes without pan. 

HOW TO BAKE MINI CUPCAKES WITHOUT THE PAN

No need to worry if you don’t have a mini cupcake pan. This is how to bake mini cupcake without the pan:

INGREDIENTS AND STEPS

1. Add ¾ cup of Milk to a glass bowl
2. Add two tsp. of vinegar in the milk, mix well, and allow to rest for 5 mins. Buttermilk is ready.
3. Add ¼ cup of oil in another glass bowl, 1 egg (at room temperature), 1 tsp. of vanilla essence, prepare buttermilk, and mix well.
4. Add ½ cup of sugar and mix well.
5. Add 1 and ¼ cup of all-purpose flour, ½ tsp. of baking powder, ½ tsp. of baking soda, and 3 tbsp. of cocoa powder and mix well.
6. Add ¼ cup of chocolate chips and mix.
7. Place your double cupcake liners on a baking pan and fill them with your mixture.
8. Drop-in some chocolate chips and bake in a preheated oven at 180 c for 1 to 12 minutes.

HOW TO MAKE SQUARE CUPCAKES WITHOUT PAN

Now let’s talk about how to make square cupcakes without pan. I know you are wondering right now if you can actually make square cupcakes without pan or without cupcake pan.

 The answer is yes, and yes you can easily make square cupcake without a cupcake pan. So, if you don’t have a square cupcake pan, try out this method before running to the store to get a pan.

1. Get your cupcake folders or cupcake paper and place them on your table or kitchen counter.
2. Pinch and hold both sides of the cupcake paper for a few seconds then release.
3. Pinch and hold the other sides that have not been pinched for a few seconds and release. After doing this, you’ll notice that your cupcake folder has a square shape.
4. If you don’t like doing one at a time, you can grab a stack and pinch.
5. Put your cupcake mixture in your square cupcake folders and place in a 9’’x13 cake pan, and bake. Your square cupcakes are ready.

DIY CUPCAKE PAN

Just as the name goes, DIY – I like doing things myself and like to try new things. So, I tried a DIY cupcake pan recently and I loved what I made. In other for you to make a perfect DIY cupcake pan, you’ll need materials such as foil, parchment paper and glass.

1. Cut a section of foil and parchment paper (the parchment paper and foil should be the same size)
2. Turn your glass upside-down and place the parchment paper over it. Crease it down by hand.
3. Place the foil over the parchment paper which is still on the glass. Fold it down and squeeze it so it takes the shape of the cup.
4. Fold the foil ends back up to create a nice-looking edge.
5. Slide the foil and parchment paper off the cup and trim off the extra parchment paper down to the foil height.

HOW TO MAKE CUPCAKES WITHOUT OVEN

I will show you how to make cupcakes without oven or microwave

INGREDIENTS

Water

Eggs

Cashew nuts

Raisins and some dry fruits

Baking soda

Baking powder

Vanilla Essence

Sugar

DIRECTIONS

1. Sift baking soda and baking powder into a bowl and add the right amount of sugar (just the right amount of sugar that suits the other ingredient.)

• Add two beaten eggs into the bowl of the mix baking soda and baking powder, whisk for 2-3 minutes

• Add your vanilla essence and whish together with the mixture

• Add some water and whisk together until smooth (let all ingredient become one)

• Pour the mixture into a paper cup, the paper cup should be half full.

• We are going to be using a cooking grate and a clip-on cookware, place the cooking grate inside the clip-on cookware and pre-heat for 15-20 minutes

• Now you can place your desired dry fruit into the mixture like the cashew nuts and raisins why the clip-on cookware pre-heats

• Now carefully place your cups on the pre-heated cooking grates and cover the pre-heated clip-on cookware with its lid

• Let it heat for about 15 minutes on medium flame and another 15-20 minutes on low flame, after this, use your toothpick to know if your cupcakes are ready.

HOW TO MAKE CUPCAKES WITHOUT CUPCAKES LINERS

Parchment paper are a good alternative for cupcake liners and they are good substitute for cupcake tray.

Directions

Note: A normal-sized cupcake pans make 12 cupcakes

1. Cut the parchment paper into 6 in × 6 in (15 cm × 15 cm) squares

• Get a stretch of parchment paper and measure out squares with a ruler. carefully cut out each measured square using a scissors. You’ll be double the liners for each cupcake, so cut out enough squares for this.

• Find a cup similar the size of a cup cake liner, the cup should have a base

• place the square piece of parchment paper over the circular bottom of the cup. Align the paper evenly on the bottom of the cup.

• Create a fold in between each corner of the piece of paper to create a mold of the cup. Press the fold close to the cup enough to get a strong mold.

• Remove them from the cup and set them on a baking tray. Place them together on the tray for better support.

READ ALSO: ROUND BAKING PAN WITH HOLE IN MIDDLE

HOW TO MAKE CUPCAKE LINERS WITH FOIL

Whenever you talk about cupcakes, you will definitely need cupcake wrappers. The cupcake wrappers are normally greased with cooking spray or butter to ensure the cupcakes do not stick.

Cupcake wrappers are often used to make the cupcakes easier to remove from the tin and to reduce cleanup. It is good we know that these cupcake wrappers are made of paper or foil as it helps enhances the presentation of the cupcakes as wrappers come in a variety of colors and patterns.

Furthermore, these cupcake wrappers can be made at home using aluminum foil. Hence, the answer to the question; “how to make cupcake liners with foil”; below are simples steps to follow to make cupcake liners with aluminum foil;

1. Get an Aluminum foil, cut several squares or circles out of it using sharp scissors. The aluminum foil should be approximately 1 inch larger than the outside edge of the cupcake mold.
2. Place the foil over the bottom of a glass or measuring cup. Then, gently mold the foil around the glass or cup.
3. Remove the molded foil from the glass or cup, place it upright into the cupcake tin. Repeat the same process for the remaining pieces of foil until all the molds in the cupcake tin are filled.
4. Kindly follow your chocolate or cake recipe as you gently fill the foil cups with your prepared cake or chocolate batter.

NOTE: To give the cupcake wrapper a decorative touch, it is advisable you use a pinking shear to cut the foil. Secondly, the cut pieces of foil can be placed directly inside the cupcake molds and gently pushed into the correct shape.

READ ALSO: FAN OR CONVENTIONAL OVEN FOR BAKING BREAD

LOAF AND PAN LINERS

Are you planning to bake cookies or bread? Cupcakes, mini or cupcakes, or popover and muffins? Liners can help you eliminate labor time and cleaning costs that are associated with greasing and washing pans.

Consider these great liners below;

1. Oblong Loaf Liners; The Oblong Loaf Liners are paper fluted liners made of dry waxed and suited for specialty bread and delicious coffee cakes.

• Parchment Paper and Pan Liners; Quickly maximize your clean up time and extend the life of your pans by protecting them with a Liner.

MUFFIN MIX IN CAKE PAN

It is always fun when we decide to try out something new with new innovative recipes with cake pan and muffin mix. Cake and muffin enthusiast always ask if you can convert a muffin recipe to a cake recipe or convert a muffin mix into a cake.

It is good to note first that muffin recipes are slightly different to cake and cupcake recipes as they contain more liquid and less fat than a standard sponge recipe.

Muffins are smaller, it takes less time for the heat of the oven to reach the center of the muffin to bake it, but cake takes longer.

They are more similar to “quick breads”, which are loaves that are raised with bicarbonate of soda and baking powder rather than yeast. So if you are going to convert a recipe it may be best to bake the cake as a loaf cake than a round cake.

Also muffin recipes tend to rise in the center quite a lot, which looks better in loaf form. Muffins are baked on a fairly high heat, so for a larger loaf cake you would need to reduce the oven temperature.

The best thing to do when you are trying to bake batter for muffin/cupcake in a cake pan is to start out with the initial time the recipe gives you and then thereafter, check it periodically with a toothpick in the center.

If the batter sticks to the toothpick then it is not done. You can check it every 5 minutes to start off but as the “cake” start to stick less to the toothpick, check more often.

Furthermore, cake bases and muffin bases are all the same. You can run the mix as you would for muffins but deposit it in a cake pan instead.

Since it’s a heavier scale weight, your bake time should be longer. Pay attention to the internal temperature of your muffin mix in the cake pan and this should be anywhere from 205 – 210 F.

SUBSTITUTE FOR MINI CUPCAKE PAN

If you need to make cupcakes or mini cupcake but don’t have a cupcake tray or cupcake pan, it’s still possible to bake those cupcakes.

Examples of substitute that can work perfectly for mini cupcakes are;

1. Create a Liner; you can make your own liners using square pieces of parchment paper and a cup. Make sure the cupcake liners are made up of oven-safe material. Double or triple the liners so they sit upright in the baking pan.

• Another substitute for a mini cupcake pan is Aluminum foil. Just set them out on a baking sheet and fill them up. The thick foil holds the shape as it is cooking and also creates a silver liner on the cupcake.

• A recommended substitute for a mini cupcake pan is the Mason jar lids. Mason jar lids are perfect for holding the cupcake liners. Set them on a baking sheet about two inches apart.  Add the liners in the middle of the lids and fill as usual. The metal rims around the lids will create a barrier holding up the paper cups and you will get perfectly shaped cupcakes!

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ON HOW TO MAKE SQUARE CUPCAKES WITHOUT PAN

ARE MUFFIN AND CUPCAKE LINERS THE SAME?

• Generally, cupcake liners and muffin liners are the same. Cupcake and muffin liners are both papers used to contain batter poured into muffin tins. These liners are either made up of paper or foil. Just as we have different baking cups, you might see a slight difference with the tulip baking cups as its liner is taller than the regular cupcake or muffin liner been used for baking.

WHAT CAN I USE INSTEAD OF CUPCAKE LINERS?

• You can simply use a Parchment paper instead of cupcake liners.

IS IT IMPORTANT TO USE CUPCAKE LINERS?

• Yes! It is important to use cupcake liners as liners reduce wear and tear on the nonstick finish of your baking pan since little or no oil or batter will come in contact with the pan.

CAN I USE ALUMINUM FOIL AS CUPCAKE LINERS?

• Yes! You can use aluminum foil as cupcake liners.   

HOW DO YOU FILL CUPCAKE LINERS WITHOUT MAKING A MESS?

• Simply use a gallon size Ziploc bag to fill your cake batter. Then you fold down the top of the Ziploc and then pour the batter in. By folding down the top it keeps the mess inside the bag.