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Cupcakes and muffins are brilliant inventions that enable you to have a tasty treat in the palm of your hand! These two treats are often prepared in the same pan, a muffin pan with liners. However, without liners, how can you make cupcakes and muffins?

Overall, there are four excellent methods for baking muffins and cupcakes without liners. The best methods to keep your muffins and cupcakes from sticking to the pan are to grease your pan, use parchment paper, aluminum foil, and silicone molds. This is ultimately why they are used.

The hardest part about baking is realizing you’ve ran out of something! Liners are useful, but I occasionally forget to get more. Continue reading for more cupcake and muffin baking tips and methods I discovered!

Why do you need cupcake and muffin liners for baking?

Liners are often used because they are convenient. Liners assist shape and support cupcakes and muffins while reducing the amount of clean-up required after using muffin tins. In addition to these advantages, liners keep cupcakes and muffins moist for longer.

If at all feasible, I use cupcake or muffin liners whenever I bake these sweets since they give several advantages, particularly when I need to prepare multiple batches of these delights.

When I use liners and take care not to get batter on my pans, I can create numerous batches of cupcakes and just have to perform a fast wash of the pans in between each use since the liners prevent burned batter or crumbs from getting on them.

Moreover, liners make it simpler to showcase cupcakes and muffins after baking them since they give a beautiful protective coating that both prevents the goodies from drying out and acts as a barrier when I need to handle them for travel.

Liners also assist muffins and cupcakes maintain their form during baking and when on display. Liners also assist prevent cupcakes and muffins from baking too quickly by preventing the edges of the cupcakes and muffins from directly contacting the pan during baking.

Finally, liners look great and may be used as extra decor when themed liners are used for a holiday or party.

The cupcakes are the right size. My muffins have turned out better than ever since I received it! This Muffin Tin is available on Amazon! I discovered a Fantastic Nonstick 12-Cup Muffin Pan that will create my muffins. During my quest for the ideal muffin

But, there may be occasions when you want to create muffins or cupcakes but don’t have any liners, or you have some but not enough for the number of muffins or cupcakes you need to make.

I’ve been in this situation a few times, and as a result, I now know a couple methods to bake cupcakes and muffins without needing liners!

What To Do When You Don’t Have Liners
Grease your pan with butter, vegetable oil, or baking spray
Line muffin pan wells with parchment paper
Line muffin pan wells with aluminum foil (and grease them)
Use silicone molds or silicone liners
Use pre-lined aluminum cups meant for cupcakes and muffins

1. Grease the pan

In general, greasing your pan is one of the finest methods to bake cupcakes and muffins without using liners. To grease your pan, you may use butter, oil, or sprays. Each oil has advantages, but don’t coating the pan or your dough will get oily. Just enough to cover the surface.

When I don’t have liners and need to oil my pan, I normally just use butter for muffins since butter may leave a taste behind that I believe works great for muffins but not so much for cupcakes.

Joy Wilson, a cookbook author and baking teacher, says:

A layer of fat is required between a metal pan and gluten and sugar so that your cake will release from the pan after baking!

Many of my friends and family like putting butter on their muffins, so baking my muffins in a butter-greased pan merely adds more of that flavor combination we enjoy.

There are two methods I may use to grease my pan with butter.

One method is to melt some butter in a basin and then oil the muffin tin with a little pastry brush (or a paper towel if a brush isn’t available).

*Side Note: I just published an article describing why your cupcakes may overflow and sink when baking. In this post, I discussed how to mend and avoid sinking and overflowing cupcakes. This article may be found here!

It’s crucial not to add too much butter since it will cause your muffins to bake too quickly on the edges and bottoms, but you also don’t want to add too little because it will make taking your muffins out later more difficult.

If you notice a lot of butter gathering on the bottom, you’ve added too much butter, and if sections of the cups don’t feel slick or have dry areas, you’ve added too little.

Another method I use to oil my muffin tins is to take a stick of butter and wipe it along the edges and bottoms of each cup. I don’t use this procedure too frequently, but it does the job.

I usually use cold butter for this procedure since room-temperature stick butter is frequently more difficult to work with because it is softer and more difficult to manage.

When I need to grease a pan, I often use vegetable oil. I like this approach since it is less expensive and requires just a little amount of oil to lubricate each cup.

I prefer vegetable oil to other oils since it does not leave a strange smell or aftertaste and because I usually have enough on hand.

To use vegetable oil to lubricate your muffin pan, just add a little amount of oil into each cup. Then you have two choices for how to distribute it among the cups: You can either use your hands or a paper towel, or you may utilize gravity.

*Side Note: You may also be interested in learning why your muffins didn’t rise properly. I just created a post on Techniques For Avoiding Flat Muffins, which you can read here!

This is what I call the gravity approach, although it may have another name: By gently manipulating the pan in the air, you are essentially making the oil distribute throughout the cups in the muffin pan on its own.

I begin by raising the pan off the counter and carefully moving it around the pan, dragging the oil up and along the edges of the cups in the pan.

After each pan has been well oiled, I remove any extra oil by pouring it out of the muffin pan or gently wiping it out with a paper towel.

Using a spray to oil a muffin tray is the simplest method. This approach may not be as cheap, but it does save time and energy.

When I use sprays to oil my pans, I prefer flour-based ones since they make taking my cupcakes and muffins out so much easier, plus they don’t have that odd aftertaste that certain baking sprays sometimes have.

2. Make use of Parchment Paper

If you don’t have any cupcake or muffin liners, you may manufacture some using parchment paper. Just cut your parchment paper into squares and push them into your muffin tin to achieve this. All you have to do is peel off the parchment paper and your dessert will be ready in no time.

The method of making liners using parchment paper is straightforward, and you can accomplish it in minutes once you’ve mastered it.

To begin, measure and cut your parchment paper into 5×5 squares, then lay them in your muffin tin, pushing them down inside.

I next use a tiny cookie or ice cream scoop to level out the crinkles in the parchment paper and ensure that the parchment paper fits snugly into the muffin pan cup.

After I’ve fashioned a parchment paper liner into a cup, I rapidly pour batter into it to ensure it holds its shape while I go on to the next cup.

The procedure may be sluggish at first, but as you get more acquainted with it, the time required to complete this approach decreases dramatically.

When using this procedure, after you’ve measured and cut your first square, you may use it to measure and cut your subsequent squares.

I used to have an old-fashioned parchment paper roll in my kitchen, but I just discovered aBox of Heavy Duty Flat Parchment Paper Sheets that work wonderfully instead of attempting to tear the ideal sheet, which never seems to work out. These sheets are available in a variety of sizes to accommodate your pans! These parchment sheets are available on Amazon!

3. Make use of aluminum foil

When using aluminum foil to create cupcakes and muffins without liners, just cut or rip the foil into squares and fit it into the cups of your muffin pan. Following that, I suggest smearing vegetable oil, butter, or baking spray on your aluminum foil-made liners.

Liners may be replaced with aluminum foil. They conform better to the contour of the muffin pan and, when adequately oiled, make it nonstick!

To create aluminum foil liners, follow the same steps as described above, but instead of parchment paper liners, you must also grease the foil after baking to prevent your cupcakes or muffins from adhering to the foil.

Secure the foil in each muffin tray carefully like you did with the parchment paper. After that, gently spritz or brush the foil with baking spray or vegetable oil.

*Aside: I recently published an essay regarding whether or not it is safe to use aluminum foil in the oven. This article discusses the effects of using aluminum foil in the oven. This article may be found here!

4. Make use of silicone molds or liners

If you don’t have paper liners and don’t want to keep buying them, you may bake cupcakes and muffins using silicone molds or liners. Before using silicone molds and liners, thoroughly clean them with soap and water and grease them with oil or baking spray.

Whether I’m only making muffins for my family or a small gathering, I prefer to utilize silicone pan molds.

You can purchase silicone muffin pan molds in a variety of sizes, much like normal muffin pans.

It is critical to thoroughly clean any silicone molds you use with soap and water before using them, and to thoroughly rinse them to ensure no soap is left behind.

You will need to oil your silicone molds for the first few usage, but you will no longer need to do so after that.

When making muffins or cupcakes in silicone molds, place the mold on a baking pan or cookie sheet before pouring in the mixture and baking your muffins or cupcakes.

I have to use these Silicone Muffin Liners when I make muffins in the air fryer since they are so simple to clean and use! These make it extremely simple to remove the muffins from the muffin tray without them becoming stuck. Check out the Amazon link!

Silicone molds cannot be placed directly on oven racks for baking muffins or cupcakes or they will melt, which is why a baking pan or cookie sheet is required underneath them.

Baking using silicone liners is the same as baking with silicone muffin pan molds.

When baking cupcakes or muffins in silicone molds or liners, keep a closer eye on the time since the molds might cause the cooking time for your cupcakes and muffins to fluctuate.

I suggest testing your cupcakes and muffins a couple of minutes before they’re done.

It is critical that you do not use a knife or a sharp item to remove your cupcakes or muffins from your silicone molds since you might cut them.

Additionally, most silicone molds and liners can only withstand temperatures between 440F and 450F, so double-check the temperatures your molds can withstand.

*Side Note: If you don’t have any baking supplies in your kitchen, I suggest investing in some silicone molds. Silicone Bakeware includes a variety of molds such as Silicone Cake Pans, Muffin Tins, Bundt Pans, and much more. I just prepared an essay on Silicone Mold Tips, which you can see here!

Can I replace the liners with wax paper?

As a general rule, you cannot bake muffins or cupcakes without using liners. In the oven, the wax will melt and the paper will catch fire. Wax paper is exclusively used for food storage and should never be subjected to heat, such as oven heat.

Unlike parchment paper, which is composed of silicone, wax paper is made of wax, which melts at high temperatures and may catch fire.

It is strongly advised not to expose wax paper to heat, particularly in an oven.

The ultimate use for wax paper is food storage. The waxy layer keeps extra moisture out of your meal.

*In addition, I just published an essay titled The Difference Between Parchment Paper and Wax Paper. This article discusses when to utilize both papers and how to get the most out of them. This article may be found here!

How do you properly remove cupcakes and muffins without using liners?

In general, cupcakes and muffins without liners may be securely removed with a fork. To do this, just slide the fork along the edges of the muffin pan cups, following the natural curve of the cups. Let the pan to cool for at least 30 minutes before removing.

To securely remove muffins or cupcakes from a pan without liners, allow them to cool so they may settle more and be simpler to handle.

The cupcake shrinks somewhat and naturally detaches from the edges of the pan. Before trying to remove the pan, I normally let it out at room temperature for at least 30 minutes. During the chilling process, the muffin will

*By the way, I just published an article titled The Best Ways to Make Dry Cupcakes Moist. This article also discusses why your cupcakes came out dry in the first place, as well as how to avoid it in the future. This article may be found here!

If you remove it while it is still hot, it will shred! (Unfortunately, I speak from personal experience.)

Following that, take a fork and gently slide it along each edge of the muffin pan cups to release the cupcakes and muffins from the sides of the pan. After that’s done, you may pull them out of the pan.

How can you bake cupcakes without using a cupcake pan?

As a general rule, cupcakes and muffins may be baked without a cupcake pan by using silicone or metallic cupcake liners on a baking sheet. Paper liners are often not strong enough to be used on their own since they may leak batter from the edges.

Several times when I traveled with my family, the locations we visited did not have muffin or cupcake pans.

Instead of purchasing a new pan (I didn’t need any new ones since I already had many), it’s cheaper to use metal cups that come pre-lined with liners.

Since they are solid enough to bear the weight of the batter, these aluminum cups do not need to be put in muffin pans. If you just use liners, the batter will overflow.

4 of the way into each cup. Bake according to your recipe, and there you have it! There is no need for a muffin pan! Instead, use the metal baking cups on a standard baking sheet or cookie sheet. Next, pour your batter 3 times.

Last Thoughts

You should never bake muffins or cupcakes if you don’t have liners on hand. These delectable delights may be cooked without liners and come in a variety of flavors!

Whether you have a muffin pan or not, there is always a method to make cupcakes and muffins!