Product Review: If You Care Baking Cups

Gluten is a protein found in many grains, and it helps give baked goods elasticity. It functions primarily as a binder, so those of us who are gluten free and do not use egg as a binder have to use other ingredients to help meld the batter/dough together. Unfortunately, that oftentimes translates to cupcakes that stick to the paper cups and crumble apart as the result of ripping the paper from the baked good.

If you look closely at the photograph, you can tell the paper
has intermingled with the dough along the sides. Not tasty.

Many times I also wonder what else is sticking to that piece of cupcake or muffin I still really want to eat when I see paper fibers. The cups I was using were low cost and colored. I started thinking about the dyes and chemicals that must go into the paper, as well as the bleach. When I saw If You Care baking cups at my local food grocer, I had to try them.

I wasn't sure what to expect of a natural product. Unfortunately, "natural" sometimes you are sacrificing positive attributes in exchange for getting rid of nasty chemicals. This product really pleasantly surprised me. Recipes that previously clung to cheap paper don't cling to this product. I also don't have to worry about throwing the cups into my compost bin, which I usually won't do with any paper products because of the bleach and coloring chemicals.

Long story short: I would definitely recommend this product.