Category: cupcakes

Cupcakes are small, tasty snack cakes that are favored for their portability and portion-control. They are batter cakes baked in a cup-shaped foil or temperature resistant paper.¹

A cupcake can be prepared from a variety of formulations and can be decorated with cream and icings. Its composition is not that different from traditional high-ratio layer cakes. The only difference is the cupcakes higher batter viscosity, an important aspect for better processing and baking tolerances.

While the first official mention of the word cupcake was in the early 19th century, this dessert seems also to be referenced in 1796 as “a light cake to bake in small cups.” Today, one can find a wide variety of cupcakes, ranging from the simple to the sublime, and entire businesses have emerged in the last decade focused solely on cupcakes

Variants

• A cake in a mug (more commonly known as a mug cake) is a variant that gained popularity on many Internet cooking forums and mailing lists. The technique uses a mug as its cooking vessel and can be done in a microwave oven. The recipe often takes fewer than five minutes to prepare.
• A cake in a jar a glass jar is used instead of mugs, trays or liners.
• A butterfly cake is a variant of cupcake, also called fairy cake for its fairy-like “wings”. The top of the cake is separated and split in half. A filling (e.g. icing or jam) is placed into the hole. The two halves are placed onto the filling to resemble wings. Other decorations, such as sprinkles and icing sugar, are often added over the cake.
• Elaborately frosted cupcakes may be made for special occasions such as baby showers, graduations, or holidays.
• A cake ball or cake pop is an individual portion of cake, round like a chocolate truffle, that is coated in chocolate. These are typically formed from crumbled cake mixed with frosting, rather than being baked as a sphere.
• A gourmet cupcake is a recent variant of cupcake. Gourmet cupcakes are large and filled cupcakes, based around a variety of flavor themes, such as Tiramisu or Cappuccino. In recent years there has been an increase in stores that sell only gourmet cupcakes.
• As an alternative to a plate of individual cakes, some bakers place standard cupcakes into a pattern and frost them to create a large design, such as a basket of flowers or a turtle.
• A cupcake cone or cupcone is a cupcake baked in an ice cream cone. After baking, icing or other decorations may be added.