Cupcake vs Muffin?

[The Late Night Gourmet]

@Francesca responded to my Apple Crumble Cupcakes with some very nice things to say about my recipe, but with the comment that she'd have called them muffins. So, this got me to thinking: when is that sweet thing that you bake in a 12-compartment baking sheet a cupcake, and when is it a muffin?

I've seen some interesting discussions on the topic, and there's no definitive answer. But, I think it comes down to this:

• Both are generally sweet
• A cupcake is a miniature cake, with a frosting
• A muffin is sweet, but not a miniature cake, and without a frosting

So, what is that recipe I posted? I think Francesca's right: it's really more of a muffin.

 

[Morning Glory]

I think your recipe is a muffin really but you could jest call them cakes! As you say, cupcakes (which took over the UK as a kind of craze a few years ago) are little iced cakes. They are sponge cakes which yours aren't. Cupcakes are really what we used to call fairy cakes in the UK.

And here is my recipe for its relative, the butterfly cake!

 

[sidevalve]

cupcake = small cake usually with icing or topping in a paper case [sometimes also called fairy cakes - not usual up here though]
bun = similar in size sometimes with flavoring [carrot lemon etc]
muffin = larger and usually contains things like chocolate chips etc sometimes in large paper case
And that concludes the lesson in buns from oop norf

 

[Francesca]

@The Late Night Gourmet

Great post !

I consider a cup cake: A sweet profile and can have a frosted topping, sprinkles, icing or even cream ..

A muffin on the other hand, can be sweet or savoury or in between !

I refer to aromatics such as cinammon, dried fruits, apples, corn bread muffins, crumble toppings or textures, raisins, bran muffins, blue berries, fruits, and also muffins can be buttered and served for breakfast or brunch ..

I would not consider your lovely Apple Crumble Muffins a cup cake ..

Time to say goodnight ( 12.30am ) ..

Chat tomorrow .. Have a nice evening ..

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

A muffin for me is a kind of bread roll! But that's a local dialect thing I've become accustomed to. They aren't a cupcake as I know them and do more resemble a sweet muffin.

 

[Morning Glory]

A muffin for me is a kind of bread roll! But that's a local dialect thing I've become accustomed to. They aren't a cupcake as I know them and do more resemble a sweet muffin.

Yes - I come from South of England (Hampshire coast) and muffins were most definitely the bread you refer to. I'm not sure its dialect exactly - more English usage. All supermarkets in the UK sell both types of muffin. I think the other sweet kind were introduced more recently. I certainly don't remember them from my childhood. More research needed on that.

These are the bread kind - they are generally eaten split, toasted and buttered:




These are the muffins referred to in the nursery ryhyme. According to Wiki:

The rhyme was first recorded in a British manuscript circa 1820, that is preserved in the Bodleian Library with lyrics very similar to those used today:

Do you know the muffin man?
The muffin man, the muffin man.
Do you know the muffin man
Who lives in Drury Lane?[1]

Victorian households had many of their fresh foods delivered, such as muffins, which were delivered door-to-door by a muffin man. The "muffin" in question was the bread product known in the United States as English muffins, not the much sweeter cupcake-shaped American variety.[2] Drury Lane is a thoroughfare bordering Covent Garden in London.

 

[Morning Glory]

More info. Again from Wiki. It seems that the 'cupcake' shaped kind of muffin originated in America and is sometimes known as Quick Bread Muffin:

Quick bread muffins
Quickbread Muffin

Type quick bread
Course Traditionally breakfast
Place of origin United States
Main ingredients Flour, leavening, vegetable oil, sugar
Cookbook: Quickbread Muffin Media: Quickbread Muffin
Quickbread muffins (known in Britain as “American muffins”[1] or simply as “muffins”) originated in the United States in the mid-19th century. They are similar to cupcakes in size and cooking methods, the main difference being that cupcakes tend to be sweet desserts using cake batter and which are often topped with sugar frosting. Muffins are available in both savory varieties, such as cornmeal and cheese muffins, or sweet varieties such as blueberry, chocolate chip, lemon or banana flavours. Muffins are often eaten as a breakfast food. Coffee may be served to accompany muffins. Fresh baked muffins are sold by bakeries, donut shops and some fast food restaurants and coffeehouses. Factory baked muffins are sold at grocery stores and convenience stores and they are also served in some coffee shops and cafeterias.

Recipes for quick bread muffins are common in 19th-century American cookbooks.[2][3] Recipes for yeast-based muffins, which were sometimes called "common muffins" or "wheat muffins" in 19th-century American cookbooks, can be found in much older cookbooks. In her Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, Fannie Farmer gave recipes for both types of muffins, both those that used yeast to raise the dough and those that used a quick bread method, using muffin rings to shape the English muffins. Farmer indicated that stove top "baking", as is done with yeast dough, was a useful method when baking in an oven was not practical.[4]

 

[toddhicks209]

Cupcakes are wrapped in something you peel off.

 

[Morning Glory]

Strangely, I seem to remember the muffin man ringing his bell (I lived in Portsmouth) back in the fifties. I suspect this is a false memory and I was just told about it at some time. @Elawin - do you have any memories of this? They used to carry the muffin trays on their heads and ring a bell:

 

[Morning Glory]

Cupcakes are wrapped in something you peel off.

So if I cook a cupcake without a paper case (which I have done in the past) is it no longer a cup-cake?

 

[Elawin]

I've never eaten [English] muffins! We always used to have crumpets (lovely with jam on!).

We also used to call small iced cakes fairy cakes, but they were usually smaller than cupcakes. My old cake tins are not as deep as cupcake tins. Even fairy cakes were posh, and butterfly cakes were even posher. We used to have rock cakes American muffins are huge in comparison.

I don't specifically remember us having a muffin man @morning glory but where I lived was still regarded as "rural" even in the 1950s and in spite of the houses built in the 1930s with the coming of the new RAF station and the two-storey prefabs built after the war. Other than the milkman and the baker coming every day, the drinks man weekly, and the paper boy coming morning and evening, the only other one I remember is the man who used to come round to light the gas street lamps. There were no nearby shops (not until 1958!), and we used to get lots of people coming round selling stuff, but then Mum did used to get bread and cakes from the baker or make her own, so I may be mistaken.

@The Late Night Gourmet Wiki have an interesting little article on the history of the cupcake here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupcake. Quite mind-boggling.

I think we just have to face it that different people in different countries call the same thing just different, and don't get us going on all the different names for things in the UK

 

[GadgetGuy]

My favorite muffing would have to be the corn muffin. Got a muffin pan that makes them in big Texas-style size!!

 

[chefingaround]

I agree with everyone that cupcakes often have a frosting or icing, and muffins don't really. I've always felt that muffins shouldn't be as sweet as the average cupcake, but just because a muffin is sweet does not mean inherently that it is a cupcake.

Maybe this is just my experience, but I feel like cupcakes are usually lighter, or "fluffier." Muffins can be a bit more hearty.

 

[Morning Glory]

I feel like cupcakes are usually lighter, or "fluffier." Muffins can be a bit more hearty.

Yep! That is certainly true.