Friday, August 17, 2012

What's the difference between a muffin and a cupcake?


Photo credit - Oops, I got it somewhere from Google Images. Apologies for not attributing to the proper source.


After my last post on a Banana Yoghurt Coconut Cupcake, a friend called and said it looks lovely but she wanted to know the difference between a muffin and a cupcake. I've asked this question before and was told a cupcake is essentially a cake, which doesn't enlighten quite enough, so I'm posing this question again. 

I searched the internet again, and these are some of the responses I found:

1. A muffin is just a confused cupcake.

2. A muffin is an ugly cupcake.

3. A cupcake is a muffin with a fancy hat.

4. A muffin is a healthier cupcake.

5. Muffin is to bread what cupcake is to cake.

6. I called my wife "Cupcake" when she was younger. Now I call her "Muffin".

7. If you throw a muffin onto the wall, you will hear "Thud". If you throw a cupcake, you hear "Pouf"

8. Muffins are heavier and denser. Cupcakes are lighter and fluffier.

9. A muffin is a quick bread.

10. A cupcake is a cake that is cupped.

11. Ingredients are similar but mixing method is different. With muffins, you prepare all the dry ingredients separately from all the wet, then mix. For cupcakes, you do the butter-sugar mixing method and work towards a cake batter.

I remain confused. Anyone out there can provide a definitive, absolute answer that clears all doubts?


9 comments:

  1. I cannot help you but I love the way you define both of them- amusing! A happy way to end the week- Enjoy your long weekend holiday!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hah! Hah! An amusing read. I've asked that question too. I think item 11 is probably the closest answer, no? Me thinks, due to the mixing method, the muffin is a bit denser while cupcake is fluffier. But don't trust me, you hardly see any baked stuff on my space :) What a misnomer - Phong Hong Bakes indeed! Tsk, tsk...

    ReplyDelete
  3. nope, that's it! I think you sad it all. I just love 1-3 ;)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Size maybe ? But seriously, your answers are better. This is definitely my ice breaker this weekend in church!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Cupcake is smaller in size and usually comes with icing and decoration while the bigger muffin has no toppings and usually baked with fruits and nuts.

    ReplyDelete
  6. To me, muffins are easier to make, healthier and denser than cupcakes. This is how I differentiate the two.

    ReplyDelete
  7. A cupcake is a muffin with fancy sexy topping.

    ReplyDelete
  8. From what I gather, a muffin is essentially a bread, after all, it is a type of quick bread. A cupcake, however, is as it's name suggests, a cake - just in an individually sized portion. The type of fat used is also usually different, one generally uses butter, the other oil.

    ReplyDelete

Tell me what you think. I want to know.