Paper Souffle Cups vs Nut Cups for Baking Cupcakes: Food Safe?

I've been baking a LOT of cupcakes and testing recipes. And I've been eating them too. Hey somebody's gotta be the quality control supervisor right? After finishing my existing stock of solid colored standard paper cupcake liners, I bought a pack of Wilton Unbleached Standard Baking Cups, 75 Count paper cupcake liners. While these work great (peels off the cuppies easily with no wastage), they don't hold up well by themselves. They need muffin pans. I remembered my cousin Yoonie's cupcake liners were stiff and lovely to bake-n-serve in, and started looking for those.

This was when I found out that Wilton Nut Cups (see pic and link on right) are not oven safe and not food safe, thus are a Big No No for baking cupcakes. At first glance they looked similar to the ones Yoonie uses. But reading the forums online, the waxy coating that lines the inside of the cups are not heat-stable. When exposed to the high temps in the oven, I imagine this coating would melt and contaminate the cupcakes. Some said the odor is remniscent of burning plastic even. :S

Continuing my hunt for a food safe paper cup suitable for cupcake baking, I came across these Paper Souffle Portion cups! These are made for baking souffles, although they can double up as cups for serving sauces, condiments, dressings, medicines, and yes, nuts too. Perfect. The Webstaurant Store stocks the Solo brand 1.25 oz paper souffle cups (250 cups for $4.29 plus $8 shipping to my home). These measure 2 inches across at the top of the cup, thus are the standard size for cupcakes.

No prizes for guessing which ones I ordered :p

Find these paper souffle cups at The Webstaurant Store

By the way, I believe I have found the perfect vanilla cupcake recipe and the perfect not-too-sweet, silky smooth swiss meringue buttercream frosting to top it. Stay tuned for my upcoming post!

xo Gracie

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