Q: I saw the post on Strawberry Scalded Milk Cake, and wondered what about the rules for taking a cake recipe and using it to make cupcakes.
Do you just adjust the oven temperature and cook time, or do you have to change other parts of the recipe too? Can you do it with all cakes?
Sent by Jessica
Editor: Jessica, most cake recipes can indeed be sized down to cupcakes. It's quite straightforward, in fact.
• Do not change oven temperature.
• Plan on getting between 24 and 36 cupcakes from an average cake recipe (one that would usually make two 9-inch rounds or one 9x13-inch cake).
• Bake the cupcakes between 20 and 30 minutes (sometimes the depth of cupcakes means they actually take longer than a thin cake layer). This can vary depending on oven temperature and the specific recipe, so keep an eye on them!
More tips and pan size equivalents can be found here:
• Cakes and Cupcakes at Baking 911
• Pan Sizes at Joy of Baking
Now, one last word: All of these tips are assuming that you're making a straightforward butter-eggs-sugar sort of cake. If you are attempting something else (like an angel food cake or a cheesecake) then that's a different story. But basic cakes can be converted to cupcakes quite easily.
Readers, any tips or suggestions for Jessica?
Related: Halving Casseroles: Tips for Reducing the Size of a Recipe
(Image: Leela Cyd Ross)
How To Cook Fluffy, Tasty Quinoa
Recipe: Spring Fruit and Nut Tabouli
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
TW Salt Mill by Wil...
The Ultimate Used Furniture Cleaning Kit
Ana Creates a Community at Home
My tip is to turn on the oven light and just check on the cupcakes often - I rarely time any sort of cake/cupcakes just because I know ovens can be unreliable and I'd rather go by sight/testing than get an overdone cake. Once the cupcakes look like they might be ready, start testing with a toothpick every few minutes.
I recently did this exact thing--I made the Cakeman Raven Red Velvet Cake recipe as mini cupcakes for a holiday party... and the cooking time was almost exactly the same! I started checking them visually about halfway through the time for a whole cake, then with a toothpick when they began to look done.
I've found cupcakes take about half the time to bake as the regular cake, in the same temperature oven.