Scaling recipes, ugh!

JAS_OH1

JAS_OH1

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I am horrible with scaling recipes, I was never good at fractions beyond the basics, LOL. I am trying to scale back a recipe for cupcakes. The recipe makes 16 cupcakes and I only want 4. I know I can just divide by 4, but there is one thing that is giving me fits--the amount of cake flour the recipe calls for is 3 and 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons. I know that is 13/4 divided by 4 (plus the additional amount). So that is 3.25/4 cups (plus the additional 1/2 TBSP). But I find this a bit confusing, LOL. I have the other ingredients scaled (except the fruit amounts, too). Anyone have any idea on how I should go about this?

Triple Berry Cupcakes
  • 2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, very soft
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 4 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 cup full-fat sour cream
  • 1/2 cup whole milk
  • 3 and 1/4 cups PLUS 2 tablespoons cake flour, divided
  • 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2/3 cup fresh blueberries
  • 2/3 cup fresh blackberries
  • 2/3 cup fresh raspberries
 
Just convert all the flour to tablespoons, which gives you a total of 54 TB of flour, right? (Seriously, I’m asking you to check my math on that - I was educated by the State of Ohio, after all).

54/4 = 13.5 TB
13.5 TB = 3/4 cup plus another 1-1/2 TB thrown in.

Double check me on that, though.
 
TastyReuben said:
Just convert all the flour to tablespoons, which gives you a total of 54 TB of flour, right? (Seriously, I’m asking you to check my math on that - I was educated by the State of Ohio, after all).

54/4 = 13.5 TB
13.5 TB = 3/4 cup plus another 1-1/2 TB thrown in.

Double check me on that, though.
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How do you know how many TBSP go into a cup? I don't know that, is there a conversion chart somewhere?

But if I came up with 3.25/4 cups (basically a smidgen more than 3/4 cup, it sounds about right. Thank you!
 
JAS_OH1 said:
How do you know how many TBSP go into a cup?
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Well, 1/4 cup is 4 TB, I know that off the top of my head, so 1/2 cup is 8 TB, and a cup is 16 TB.

Just be mindful of how they’re dividing that flour up in the directions as well. I’ve been bitten by that when scaling down a recipe.
 
TastyReuben said:
Well, 1/4 cup is 4 TB, I know that off the top of my head, so 1/2 cup is 8 TB, and a cup is 16 TB.

Just be mindful of how they’re dividing that flour up in the directions as well. I’ve been bitten by that when scaling down a recipe.
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I'm going to go give it a whirl and see how it goes. If I make 4 and they don't turn out perfect, I can try again tomorrow. It's FIL's birthday dinner tomorrow night. Well his birthday is actually next Monday, but this is the only time we could all get together. None of us need more than 1 cupcake, LOL!
 
OK. I´m a lousy mathematician as well, but your recipe is pretty much 1/4 of the original.
Soooo....
1/2 stick butter
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup sour cream
1/8 cup milk
3 3/4 cups of flour
1/3 tsp baking powder
Pinch baking soda
Pinch salt
5/8 cup fruit.
You know whatv I´d do with the fruit? Chuck in as much as you want.-
 
karadekoolaid said:
OK. I´m a lousy mathematician as well, but your recipe is pretty much 1/4 of the original.
Soooo....
1/2 stick butter
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup sour cream
1/8 cup milk
3 3/4 cups of flour
1/3 tsp baking powder
Pinch baking soda
Pinch salt
5/8 cup fruit.
You know whatv I´d do with the fruit? Chuck in as much as you want.-
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Well thx but you didn't convert the flour and your vanilla conversion isn't correct (the original was 1 TBSP vanilla)...I've got it all worked out. The flour was my only real issue, I'd already converted the rest and decided to use 1 cup of fruit. But thank you!
 
garlichead said:
I have noticed though that some recipe sites have a conversion feature that switches back and forth.
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Yes, I have seen that too. This wasn't one of them, unfortunately.

And I don't know what kind of ginormous cupcake/muffin pans this lady is using, but with me scaling it 1/4 I ended up with 10 cupcakes. I ate one, not bad, not as fabulous as I was hoping for, but hey, I generally bake cakes and such from box mixes and not from scratch, so...

Now for the triple berry buttercream frosting. She says to cook the berries into a puree and then strain the juice in a fine mesh strainer so only the juice goes into the frosting. I am wondering what would happen if I just pour it into my food processor or blender and pulverize it, then use that puree in the frosting. Hmmm.
 
You could always measure and weigh the full amount of flour, then divide by 4.

She may have been making Texas/jumbo muffins. They take around 2.5 times batter than regular sized cupcakes.
 
medtran49 said:
You could always measure and weigh the full amount of flour, then divide by 4.

She may have been making Texas/jumbo muffins. They take around 2.5 times batter than regular sized cupcakes.
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Yeah, I already made them, but I can't weigh anything (no kitchen scale here). Plus I am using cake flour and the box is rather small, might be hard to pour it all back into the bag without getting it all over the place...plus not sure if I would be able to quarter it any easier after putting it in the measuring cup? Still gotta figure out how much to put back!
 
JAS_OH1 said:
Yes, I have seen that too. This wasn't one of them, unfortunately.

And I don't know what kind of ginormous cupcake/muffin pans this lady is using, but with me scaling it 1/4 I ended up with 10 cupcakes. I ate one, not bad, not as fabulous as I was hoping for, but hey, I generally bake cakes and such from box mixes and not from scratch, so...

Now for the triple berry buttercream frosting. She says to cook the berries into a puree and then strain the juice in a fine mesh strainer so only the juice goes into the frosting. I am wondering what would happen if I just pour it into my food processor or blender and pulverize it, then use that puree in the frosting. Hmmm.
Click to expand...
For me buttercreams silky texture contrasting with the cake part is it's charm. Personally I would mix the berries into the batter for the cupcakes.
 
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