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Cupcake

language culture Maturity 11-13 Next article →

{

"text": "A cupcake is a small cake designed to serve exactly one person.

Unfrosted Cupcakes
Unfrosted Cupcakes

Depending on where you live, people might call them fairy cakes in Britain or buns in Ireland. These treats are popular because they are easy to hold and highly customizable. You can apply frosting, icing, or various decorations like fruit and candy to the top. Because they are small, they are much more efficient at heat conduction than large cakes. This means cupcakes bake much faster than a traditional layered cake. \n\nTo make a cupcake, bakers typically combine four basic ingredients: butter, sugar, eggs, and flour. Nearly any recipe used for a large layer cake can be adapted for this smaller format. Bakers can also stir in extra flavors like chocolate chips, nuts, berries, or raisins. Once the batter is ready, it is placed into a baking vessel.

Cupcake-tin
Cupcake-tin

While some people still use heavy pottery ramekins or coffee mugs, most modern bakers use metal muffin tins. These pans usually feature six or twelve depressions, also called cups. A standard cupcake is about 2 inches in diameter and holds about 1/4 cup of batter. \n\nMany bakers use liners, also called paper cases, to help with the baking process.

Hostess-Cupcake-Whole
Hostess-Cupcake-Whole

These liners can be made of thin paper, aluminum foil, or reusable silicone rubber. Using a liner makes it easy to remove the cake from the pan. It also helps keep the cake moist and makes the process more sanitary when sharing. Liners come in many sizes, from miniature to jumbo. In Australia and Sweden, bakers often use taller cases with wider tops than those used in America. \n\nThe history of the cupcake involves two very different meanings for the name. In the early 19th century, one type of \"cup cake\" referred to cakes baked in individual pottery cups or molds. This name was used before muffin tins were widely available. The other meaning referred to a recipe where ingredients were measured by volume using a standard cup.

Food Syringe (8612669736)
Food Syringe (8612669736)

These volume-based recipes were sometimes called \"1234 cakes\" or \"quarter cakes.\" This name comes from the specific ratio of ingredients: one cup of butter, two cups of sugar, three cups of flour, and four eggs. The earliest written description of such a cake appeared in Amelia Simmons' 1796 book, *American Cookery*. The specific term \"cupcake\" first appeared in print in Eliza Leslie's 1828 cookbook. \n\nThere are many creative ways to serve and decorate these treats. Some people enjoy \"filled\" cupcakes, where a center is removed to hold fruit, pastry cream, or frosting.

Food Syringe (8612669736)
Food Syringe (8612669736)

Small-scale bakers might use a spoon or knife to scoop the hole, while commercial bakeries use a plastic syringe to inject the filling. Other fun variations include the \"cupcone,\" which is baked inside an edible ice cream cone. There is also the \"butterfly cake,\" where the top is split in half to look like wings. For a quick snack, some people make \"mug cakes\" in a microwave or \"cake balls" by mixing crumbled cake with frosting. \n\nCupcakes can even be used as tools for education and art. In 1908, Ida Freund, a chemistry lecturer at Cambridge University, used them to teach her students.

She created a periodic table of cupcakes by frosting them with chemical symbols and atomic numbers. Today, people use cupcakes for themed celebrations, such as using kits featuring princesses or dinosaurs.

Some bakers even arrange many cupcakes together to create a large image, like a basket of flowers or a turtle. \n\nIn the early 21st century, a major trend of specialized cupcake shops emerged in the United States. These bakeries focus almost entirely on these small treats. Some shops, like Magnolia Bakery in New York, became famous through television shows.

Bee Sweet Cupcakes Magazine St NOLA Ap 2010 Interior 2
Bee Sweet Cupcakes Magazine St NOLA Ap 2010 Interior 2

Other shops, like Sprinkles Cupcakes, have even introduced a cupcake ATM. This machine can hold up to 350 cupcakes at one time. While the cupcake industry has seen competition from grocery stores and local bakeries, these small cakes remain a beloved part of food culture worldwide.",

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"File:Cupcake-tin.jpg",

"File:Hostess-Cupcake-Whole.jpg",

"File:Food_Syringe_(8612669736).jpg",

"File:Periodic Table of Elements Cupcakes FF2009 10 02 crop.JPG",

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🖼️ Images & Media (8)
File:Unfrosted Cupcakes.jpg
Unfrosted Cupcakes.jpg
File:Hostess-Cupcake-Whole.jpg
Hostess-Cupcake-Whole.jpg
File:Food_Syringe_(8612669736).jpg
Food_Syringe_(8612669736).jpg
File:Cupcake-tin.jpg
Cupcake-tin.jpg
File:Fairy cakes close up on tray.jpg
Fairy cakes close up on tray.jpg
File:Periodic Table Elements Cupcakes FF2009 10 02 crop.JPG
Periodic Table Elements Cupcakes FF2009...
File:Cinderela themed cupcake (49369507337).jpg
Cinderela themed cupcake (49369507337).jpg
File:Bee Sweet Cupcakes Magazine St NOLA Ap 2010 Interior 2.JPG
Bee Sweet Cupcakes Magazine St NOLA Ap...
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