Pumpkin spice cupcakes. White specs?

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Cooking4Fun

Senior Cook
Joined
Jun 23, 2020
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I tried this recipe twice. I skipped the frosting part and second time doubled spices because it seemed a little bland first time. White specs appeared both times in baked cupcakes which I assume is unmixed flour. The second time I mixed everything very thoroughly. Is there a trick to get lumps out of dry ingredients when mixing with wet ingredients?

Also could a recipe like this benefit from fine carrot shavings?
 
Either place everything dry in a food processor, and process a long time, to break up any possible clumps, or if it still seems to have little specks (I had this with some flour I had in a vacuum sealed bag, and since it was almost rock hard, even then there were specks in it), sift it through a fine strainer - not the medium coarse strainers, that most old sifters had in them - and that will get all those tiny lumps out of it.
 
If the batter isn't too thick, use a whisk.

Regarding the spices, are yours fairly fresh? They do lose aroma and flavor over time.
 
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Either place everything dry in a food processor, and process a long time, to break up any possible clumps, or if it still seems to have little specks (I had this with some flour I had in a vacuum sealed bag, and since it was almost rock hard, even then there were specks in it), sift it through a fine strainer - not the medium coarse strainers, that most old sifters had in them - and that will get all those tiny lumps out of it.
Processing cupcake batter for too long will start to develop the gluten, which can make them tough.
 
Processing cupcake batter for too long will start to develop the gluten, which can make them tough.
As I noted, process everything dry, in the food processor (if having trouble with getting lumps out). I wouldn't even process the wet ingredients in the FP - just dump in a bowl, make a well, and process by hand.
 
I don't know how old the spices are. The pumpkin spice was probably recent and for this particular purpose. The cinnamon is a large container and is probably at least a year old.
 
I don't know how old the spices are. The pumpkin spice was probably recent and for this particular purpose. The cinnamon is a large container and is probably at least a year old.
They're probably fine, then. If you're comfortable with tasting raw batter, you could do that and decide if you want more seasoning.
 

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