I am no baker, so I was worried about using these.  I wanted to make cupcakes for my son's preschool.  I was so relieved when these turned out to work perfectly.  I used a chocolate cake mix, and I greased but didn't flour the cups (don't know if that was necessary or not).  The cupcakes popped out perfectly formed and cooked evenly.  It was no problem to get them out and all the shapes looked great, especially the christmas tree.