Dumb question, but it's puzzled me

unknowndisorder, Oct 29, 10:20pm
What is the difference between muffins and cupcakes?

gr8stuf4me, Oct 29, 10:25pm
Well it all depends on what you define as a muffin.
To me a muffin doesnt have the fancy fillings nor the frosting or icing on top like a cupcake does.A muffin is rather humble and unadorned to my way of thinking and not as sweet as a cupcake with all its bells and whistles.Hope this is of some help to you.

Edited to add, I dont think this is a dumb question.There is no such thing as a dumb question - because if you are wondering then someone else out there may be too.

chevycoupe, Oct 29, 10:35pm
quite right,good question really,for me a muffin is full sized,either savory or sweet,is whole with out attachments whilst a cupcake is decoratively iced or open like a butterfly cup cake,usually smaller,shame really I could tuck into a big buttterfly cake about now.

rosathemad, Oct 29, 10:39pm
The lines are a bit blurry but muffins are usually made with liquid fat - oil or melted butter - and have a different structure, whereas cupcakes are mini cakes so more usually involved creaming butter and sugar to aerate them, and have a finer crumb. More superficially, cupcakes should be iced, whereas muffins usually aren't, and cupcakes use paper wrappers, where muffins don't. Oh, and muffins tend to be a bit bigger (overflowing the tin a little - think of the term "muffin top"!) whereas cupcakes should be a bit smaller and stay within the confines of their paper wrapper. But I think the cake is what makes the difference.

Definitely not a dumb question, though!

uli, Oct 29, 10:41pm
For me both muffins and cupcakes are just loaf cake mixes in smaller tins.

But I have been advised by the older members of this board (in another thread some time ago) that muffins are healthy while cakes are not.

So I am none the wiser really as I always thought they all had the same ingredients like flour, sugar, eggs and flavourings like nuts, choc etc.

Pretty puzzling to me that muffin - cupcake - cake question. Maybe someone can come up with an answer.

cookessentials, Oct 29, 10:56pm
A muffin is larger, has a heavier texture. A "cupcake" is smaller and lighter in texture, usually with either a filling and/or icing and decoration. In NZ, "butterfly" cakes were our version of the American "cupcake"
A cupcake is more of a "special occasion" miniature cake. Muffins, of course, can be made in a variety of styles and flavours, including savoury.

cookessentials, Oct 29, 11:05pm

evorotorua, Oct 29, 11:10pm
'A basic formula for muffins is 2 cups flour, 2-4 tablespoons sugar, 2½ teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 egg, ¼ cup oil, shortening or butter and 1 cup milk. When the fat, sugar and egg ratio in a recipe reaches double or more than this, you have reached the cake level. ( found this online somewhere. Maybe this will help if you need a more scientific answer.)

evorotorua, Oct 29, 11:12pm
Haha..I also found this comment...If you threw a cupcake against the wall, you would hear something of a 'poof!' If you threw a muffin, you would hear a 'thud!'

parkvale58956, Oct 29, 11:38pm
cupcake = small cake.Muffin = er, not.

kay141, Oct 29, 11:45pm
I always thought muffins were a loaf mixture and cupcakes were a sponge.

unknowndisorder, Oct 30, 2:25am
Thanks for all the answers.
The fiddly decoration of cupcakes is what puts me off making them, but it had been puzzling me for a few months (never enough to really investigate though).

elliehen, Oct 30, 9:25am
Muffins are homely creatures; cupcakes are party animals.

deus701, Oct 30, 12:51pm
a muffin is an ugly cupcake

gardie, Oct 30, 6:21pm
An excellent explanation and exactly what I would have said, but in different words.

I do like the sound explanation too - its quite apt.

pickles7, Oct 30, 8:25pm
LOL calling "it" a "muffin" makes one feel better eating it.

elliehen, Oct 31, 10:41am
rosatheveryarticulate ;)

basange, Oct 31, 11:05am
Yes. Cupcakes usually have icing on them and are supposed to be little, miniature cakes. They're for special occasions. Muffins are usually eaten at breakfast, don't have icing on them, and often contain fruit of some sort. Blueberry muffins are popular in the US. Some people put butter on them, and they are eaten warm, if possible.
http://www.englishforums.com/English/CupcakesAndMuffins/ghvm/post.htm

basange, Oct 31, 11:08am
Soit looks the size is the main point, and anything savoury is muffin!!

rosathemad, Oct 31, 7:27pm
I have made savoury 'cupcakes'! ;-) They weren't really cakes, but they fooled my flatmates at the time into thinking I really had gone mad and had made them cake for dinner (they were actually mini lentil loaves with piped mashed potato 'icing').

daleaway, Nov 1, 2:07am
Before they recived their new Americanised name, you would find "cupcakes" in your granny's recipe book as Patty Cakes or Queen Cakes (though some queen cakes also had a few sultanas in them).
We started loading up their tops with extra sugar and creamy icings only in the last ten years, when we adopted the US name for them,but Patty Cakes they still basically are. And the small cake tins you cooked them in were called patty pans or patty tins, and the cake papers were patty cases. I still have a packet of the old paper cases with that on the label, and the cook books with the old names in them. We forget who we are, sometimes.

elliehen, Nov 1, 4:04am
As a 'Home Room Mother' in the US I had to organise theme parties for young elementary schoolchildren.One was for St Patrick's Day and everything was expected to be green.We served vile green cupcakes and equally vile green 'slush-puppies' (lime syrup over crushed ice).

I'm sure that right now, some Home Room Mothers are busy making vile orange cupcakes for Halloween, with vile orange slush puppies ;)

rainrain1, Jul 7, 2:44am
I'd go with this answer #1 :-)