A
cupcake (the common
USAmerican English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two thirds of native speakers of English live in the United States.English is the most common language in the United States...
, Canadian, South African and Australian term) or
fairy cake (the common
BritishBritish English, or UK English or English English , is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere...
term), is a small
cakeCake is a form of food that is usually sweet and often baked. Cakes normally combine some kind of flour, a sweetening agent , a binding agent , fats , a...
designed to serve one person, frequently baked in a small, thin paper cup. As with larger cakes,
frostingIcing, also called frosting, is a sweet glaze made of sugar that often also contains butter, water, egg whites, milk, or flavorings and is used to cover or decorate baked goods, such as cakes or cookies....
and other
cake decorationsCake decorating is one of the sugar arts that uses icing and other edible decorative elements to make otherwise plain cakes more visually interesting...
, such as
sprinklesSprinkles are very small pieces of confectionery used as a decoration or to add texture to desserts – typically cupcakes, cookies, doughnuts, ice cream, and some puddings...
, are common on cupcakes.
In the early 19th century, there were two different uses for the name "cup cake" or "cupcake".
A
cupcake (the common
USAmerican English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two thirds of native speakers of English live in the United States.English is the most common language in the United States...
, Canadian, South African and Australian term) or
fairy cake (the common
BritishBritish English, or UK English or English English , is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere...
term), is a small
cakeCake is a form of food that is usually sweet and often baked. Cakes normally combine some kind of flour, a sweetening agent , a binding agent , fats , a...
designed to serve one person, frequently baked in a small, thin paper cup. As with larger cakes,
frostingIcing, also called frosting, is a sweet glaze made of sugar that often also contains butter, water, egg whites, milk, or flavorings and is used to cover or decorate baked goods, such as cakes or cookies....
and other
cake decorationsCake decorating is one of the sugar arts that uses icing and other edible decorative elements to make otherwise plain cakes more visually interesting...
, such as
sprinklesSprinkles are very small pieces of confectionery used as a decoration or to add texture to desserts – typically cupcakes, cookies, doughnuts, ice cream, and some puddings...
, are common on cupcakes.
History
In the early 19th century, there were two different uses for the name "cup cake" or "cupcake". In previous centuries, before
muffin tinA muffin tin is a mold in which muffins or cupcakes are baked. A single cup within a regular muffin tin is 3 and 1/2 ounces and most often has room for 12 muffins, although tins holding 6, 8, 11, 24, and 35 muffins do exist. A single cup within a mini muffin tin is 2 and 1/8 ounces, and because...
s were widely available, the cakes were often baked in individual pottery cups,
ramekinA ramekin or ramequin is a small glazed ceramic serving bowl used for the preparation and serving of various food dishes.With a typical volume of 50-250 ml , ramekins are common dishes used for serving crème brûlée, Molten chocolate cake, moimoi, cheese dishes, egg dishes, potted shrimps, ice...
s, or molds and took their name from the cups they were baked in. This is the use of the name that has persisted, and the name of "cupcake" is now given to any small cake that is about the size of a
teacupA teacup is a small cup with a handle, generally a small one that may be grasped with the thumb and one or two fingers. It is typically made of a ceramic material. It is usually part of a set, composed of a cup and a matching saucer. These in turn may be part of a tea set in combination with a...
. The name "fairy cake" is a fanciful description of its size, which would be appropriate for a party of diminutive fairies to share.
The other kind of "cup cake" referred to a cake whose ingredients were measured by volume, using a standard-sized cup, instead of being weighed. Recipes whose ingredients were measured using a standard-sized cup could also be baked in cups; however, they were more commonly baked in tins as layers or loaves. In later years, when the use of volume measurements was firmly established in home kitchens, these recipes became known as
1234 cakes or
quarter cakes, so called because they are made up of four ingredients in equal ratios; butter, sugar, eggs and flour. They are plain yellow cakes, somewhat less rich and less expensive than
pound cakePound cake refers to a type of cake traditionally made with a pound of each of four ingredients: flour, butter, eggs, and sugar. However, the quantity is often changed to suit the size of the cake that is desired. As long as the ratio is preserved, the resulting cake will generally be very...
, due to the reduced proportion of butter. The names of these two major classes of cakes were intended to signal the method to the baker; "cup cake" uses a volume measurement, and "pound cake" uses a weight measurement.
Cupcake recipes
A standard cupcake uses the same basic ingredients as standard-sized cakes:
butterButter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications such as baking, sauce making, and frying...
,
sugarSugar is a class of edible crystalline substances, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose. Human taste buds interpret its flavor as sweet. Sugar as a basic food carbohydrate primarily comes from sugar cane and from sugar beet, but also appears in fruit, honey, sorghum, sugar maple , and in many...
,
eggsAn egg is a round or oval body laid by the female of any number of different species, consisting of an ovum surrounded by layers of membranes and an outer casing, which acts to nourish and protect a developing embryo and its nutrient reserves...
, and
flourFlour is a powder made of cereal grains or roots. It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many civilizations, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history...
. Nearly any recipe that is suitable for a
layer cakeA layer cake is a cake consisting of multiple layers, usually held together by frosting or another type of filling, such as jam or other preserves. Most cake recipes can be made into layer cakes; butter cakes and sponge cakes are common choices...
can be used to bake cupcakes. Because their small size is more efficient for heat conduction, cupcakes bake much faster than layer cakes.
Variants
- A "cake in a mug" 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
A microwave oven, or a microwave, is a kitchen appliance that cooks or heats food by dielectric heating. This is accomplished by using microwave radiation to heat water and other polarized molecules within the food...
. The recipe often takes less than five minutes to prepare.
- A butterfly cake is a variant of cupcake, also called fairy cake for its fairy-like "wings". They can be made from any flavor of cake. The top of the fairy cake is cut off or carved out with a spoon, and cut in half. Then, butter cream
Butter cream is a type of icing used inside cakes, as a coating, and as decoration. In its simplest form, it is made by creaming butter with powdered sugar, although other fats can be used, such as margarine...
, whipped creamThe term "whipped cream" refers to cream that has been beaten until it is light and fluffy, as by whipping with a mixer, whisk, or fork.Cream containing 30% or more fat can be mixed with air, and the resulting colloid is roughly double the volume of the original cream as air bubbles are captured...
or other sweet filling (e.g. jam) is spread into the hole. Finally, the two cut halves are stuck into the butter cream to look like butterfly wings. The wings of the cake are often decoratedCake decorating is one of the sugar arts that uses icing and other edible decorative elements to make otherwise plain cakes more visually interesting...
using icingIcing, also called frosting, is a sweet glaze made of sugar that often also contains butter, water, egg whites, milk, or flavorings and is used to cover or decorate baked goods, such as cakes or cookies....
to form various patterns.
Pans and liners
Originally, cupcakes were baked in heavy pottery cups. Some bakers still use individual ramekins, small coffee mugs, or other small ovenproof pottery-type dishes for baking cupcakes.
Specialized pans are made for baking cupcakes, similar in form to
muffin tinA muffin tin is a mold in which muffins or cupcakes are baked. A single cup within a regular muffin tin is 3 and 1/2 ounces and most often has room for 12 muffins, although tins holding 6, 8, 11, 24, and 35 muffins do exist. A single cup within a mini muffin tin is 2 and 1/8 ounces, and because...
s. These ovenproof pans are most often made from metal, with or without a
non-stick surfaceA non-stick surface is a surface engineered to reduce the ability of other materials to stick to it. A non-stick coating may be applied to a substrate to produce such a surface.-Teflon:...
, and generally have six or twelve depressions or "cups". They may also be made from
stonewareStoneware a vitreous or semi-vitreous ceramic ware of fine texture made primarily from non-refractory fire clay.-Description:Stoneware's maturation temperature ranges from about 1200 °C to 1315 °C . In essence, it is man-made stone...
, silicone rubber, or other materials. A standard size cup is in diameter and holds about , although pans for both miniature and jumbo size cupcakes exist. Speciality pans may offer many different sizes and shapes.
Individual cups, or cupcake liners, may be used in baking. These are typically round sheets of thin
paperPaper is thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon or for packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....
pressed into a round, fluted
cup- A name :* A drinking container such as a teacup or similar drinkware. See also:**Cup holder**Paper cup**Fuddling cup**Demitasse**Mug* Various cup-shaped objects:** A cup-shaped trophy or winning prize, e.g...
shape. Liners can facilitate the easy removal of the cupcake from the tin after baking, keep the cupcake moister, and reduce the effort needed to clean the pan. The use of liners is also considered a more sanitary option when cupcakes are being passed from hand to hand. Like cupcake pans, several sizes of paper liners are available, from miniature to jumbo.
In addition to paper, cupcake liners may be made from very thin aluminum foil or, in a non-disposable version, silicone rubber. Because they can stand up on their own, foil and silicone liners can also be used on a flat baking sheet, which makes them popular among people who do not have a specialized muffin tin. Some of the largest paper liners are not fluted and are made out of thicker paper, often rolled at the top edge for additional strength, so that they can also stand independently for baking without a cupcake tin. Some bakers use two or three thin paper liners, nested together, to simulate the strength of a single foil cup.
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
turtleTurtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...
.
See also
- Petit fours, individual-sized or bite-sized cakes made by cutting a large sheet cake
A sheet cake is a cake baked in a large, flat rectangular pan such as a sheet pan or a jelly roll pan. These single-layer cakes are almost always frosted, and may be decorated on the flat surface on the top...
and frosting the pieces
- Muffins, cupcake sized quickbreads
- Tea cake, a broad class of breads and cakes served with tea
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