IF YOU CARE Baking Cups – a review

Everyone knows that cupcakes are popular these days.  I’m amazed by the number of shops that sell only cupcakes.  And these treats are popular with home bakers, too.  Which leads me to the subject of paper baking cups.

Here’s the deal:  I would go out of my way to find IF YOU CARE Baking Cups.  Because I do care.  Perhaps you are wondering:  Care about what?  A lot of things, but in this case it’s the environment.  I suspect that many vegans share my tree-hugging tendencies and would have similar concerns about using environmentally-friendly baking products.  Keep reading, and I will explain.

I’m happy to admit that paper baking cups are a nice convenience.  Unless you are using the Wilton Easy-Flex Silicone Muffin Pan, you would need to either grease each individual cup in your pan or insert a paper (or foil) liner.  Now, I usually try to avoid disposable products whenever I can.  And it’s true that paper baking cups are disposable.  You use them once and they are done.  So, in my mind, if we are going to use a disposable product, we might want to choose the brand that has the least impact on the environment.  Perhaps that you don’t think that the amount of paper in baking cups makes a difference.  I tend to think that even small amounts add up.

Life Cycle of Baking Cups

Here’s what I suggest.  Let’s choose a brand of baking cups, like IF YOU CARE, that (in its own words) deliberately crafts its products to have the least environmental impact and the lightest carbon footprint possible, while at the same time, delivering the highest quality and most effective results to the consumer.   Check the company’s website if you want more information, and you will learn that IF YOU CARE analyzes the entire life cycle chain in developing its products, from raw materials sourcing, to production process, to packaging, to disposal.  That’s great news to my tree-hugging heart.

Sustainably Managed Forests

So let’s start with the source of the paper.  In my opinion it only makes sense to use paper from forests that are responsibly managed.  How can you tell?  It’s easy.  Just look for the logo of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).  The FSC runs a certification program and operates on the belief that we can meet our current needs for forest products without compromising the health of the world’s forests for future generations.  The FSC logo is prominently featured on the IF YOU CARE Baking Cup boxes, along with the words: First FSC certified baking cups.  So I feel good about the source of the paper.

Brown Can Be Beautiful, Too

Next, let’s consider processing of the paper.  Paper products are usually beige or light brown – unless the pulp has been bleached to create those pastel colored baking cups that often line the supermarket shelves.  Don’t like a plain, brown baking cup?  Well, consider this.  The normal bleaching agent is chlorine dioxide, and the bleaching process often releases some chlorine to streams and lakes where paper mills are located.  Then the chlorine bonds to organic matter to create dioxin.  According to the EPA, dioxins are highly toxic and can cause cancer, reproductive and developmental problems, damage to the immune system, and can interfere with hormones.  With that in mind, the unbleached, beige IF YOU CARE Baking Cups suddenly look very attractive!

What about packaging?  The IF YOU CARE Baking Cups come in a brown cardboard box made of recycled paper.  The box may be simple, but I think it’s beautifully decorated with all of the logos that proclaim the product’s environmental attributes.  And when you’ve used all of the baking cups, the box can be recycled in most municipal mixed-paper recycling programs.

Composting – an Environmentally-Friendly Ending

Okay, and what about disposal of the cups themselves?  The IF YOU CARE Baking Cups are certified compostable in either your home composting unit or in a commercial or municipal composting facility.  This means that the baking cups will safely biodegrade, and they can be used as one of the components in rich, dark humus – a soil conditioner that will boost the productivity of your garden.  That’s much better than sending the paper waste to the landfill.  In fact, composting helps to mitigate climate change.  That’s because biodegradable materials that are sent to a landfill will rot anaerobically (without oxygen) creating methane, a greenhouse gas that is 70 times more potent than carbon dioxide.  Conversely, a well-run composting operation will produce negligible greenhouse gas emissions.

What about Quality?

I’ve used the IF YOU CARE Baking Cups to make Chloe Coscarelli’s award-winning Ginger Nutmeg Spice Cupcakes.  (Yum.)  The baking cups worked great and peeled away easily.  I’m a fan.  Try them out, and I’ll bet you will be, too.