Cupcakes and muffins are gaining more and more popularity in Russia, but few people understand the difference between these two types of pastries. But in fact, everything is simple, and in this article I will tell you about what muffins and cupcakes are and how they differ from each other.
To get started, here are the definitions:
muffin
is a small pastry that originated in England and has been featured in recipes since 1720 and is most often served for breakfast or as a snack. The name itself has a couple of versions of its origin:
1st French version.
The word muffin came to Great Britain in the 11th century from the French word moufflet, which means soft bread.
2nd German version.
The word muffin comes from the German muffe - one of the types of bread.
Be that as it may, but muffins are exactly a kind of bread, and not cupcakes, as many people think. Moreover, muffins are divided into English and American. English muffins are made with yeast dough, while American muffins are made with baking powder or soda.
The muffins themselves are not too sweet if they contain berries, fruits or nuts. There are also many types of muffins with vegetables, cheeses and even meat.
According to the technology of preparation, the dough for muffins is not beaten, but only slightly mixed.
cupcake
- in fact, this is a small portioned cake, which comes with or without a filling, but in any case, decorated with a cream cap or icing. The term "cupcake" was first mentioned in 1828 in Eliza Leslie's cookbook.
According to one version, many, many years ago, cakes were baked in ceramic cups or molds the size of a teacup, hence he got his name "cupcake".
Oh yes, cupcakes have another name - “fairy cake” (fairy cake). Cupcakes are often served at children's birthday parties and are presented as a gift from a fairy due to its small size. I think our mothers of small children will like this idea. 
So, a cupcake is a small cake and it is such not only by the presence of a cream cap, but also by the composition of its dough. It is made almost exactly like regular cake dough, with butter, eggs, sugar, and flour, although sometimes it is more cakey in texture. And unlike muffins, cupcake batter whips well.
After reading all this, you should have understood that muffins and cupcakes are completely different products, although they share a similar appearance and baking dish, although there is always cream or icing on cupcakes.
Now a little about the differences.
Muffins - a type of bread used for breakfast, does not have decorations on its surface (meaning cream, icing or something similar, and so confectioners have adapted to decorate muffins with beautiful paper molds or ribbons), when cooked, the dough is only slightly mixed, but not whipped .
Cupcakes - Portioned cakes, about the size of a teacup, have a cream cap or are covered with icing, often have a filling, are prepared from the usual dough for large cakes. 
I didn't want to write this, but I need to dot the i's. In our country, it is customary to call muffins and cupcakes muffins, which is not true. A muffin is not a cupcake at all, but a cupcake can be a cupcake if it is made from cupcake dough.
Now, in terms and why we have a legend that cupcakes are cupcakes, the ingredients for which are measured in cups:
cupcake - a portion cake, as it is customary to call a small cake with cream and filling, which was baked in cups;
cup cake is a way of weighing ingredients. Ekaterina Egorushkova is right when she says that now any cake or cake can be called a “cup cake”, since in the English-speaking culinary field, ingredients for almost all cakes and cakes are weighed in cups.
I understand that you are confused by the word cake in the term, but it means not only a cupcake, they also call cakes, and biscuits, and pies. That is, cupcake is precisely the name of a small cake, made even from biscuit, even from cupcake dough, at least from some other, certain form, and cup cake only means that for this type of baking the ingredients were measured in cups. In Russian, the word “cake” is exactly a type of pastry, a certain dough.
(text by Anna Nechaeva)
ZY: if you want to copy this text, put a link, please.
ZY.Y .: all pictures are taken from Google.
Cupcakes came to us from France. It is believed that they appeared in 1755 and were first prepared by the maid of the French court for the King of Poland, Stanislav Leshchinsky. In their principle, they resembled a small shell.
Now they are made in the same way as muffins and cupcakes in corrugated paper molds. The difference between cupcakes and muffins and cupcakes is that they are beaten more and, thanks to the baking powder, are more porous and more fluffy. In contrast, cupcakes and muffins are almost never whipped. Another fundamental difference is that butter is added to the cupcakes and their taste practically does not change, remaining similar to biscuits.
Muffins came to us from England and have been mentioned in recipes since 1720. Its name comes from the word moofin, the origin of which may be an adaptation of the French moufflet (soft bread). Muffins were mostly consumed for breakfast or as a snack.
Muffins tend to be flatter and don't have the protruding surface that muffins do. They are generally not as sweet as muffins and in many cases savory muffin recipes can be found.
As mentioned above, muffins do not need to be beaten so that the dough turns out to be as less porous as possible. While sweet muffins tend to include fruit, it's not uncommon to find savory muffins with vegetable or meat additions.
Cupcakes are of American origin and are actually small individual cakes in paper form, just like cupcakes and muffins. The term "cupcake" was first mentioned in 1828 in Eliza Leslie's cookbook. In past centuries, cakes were often baked in ceramic cups or teacup-sized tins, hence the name "cup cake". Nowadays, this is the name of any small cake.
Cupcakes are very easy to distinguish because creams, icings, cream and decorations of all kinds are used to decorate them, just like cakes. Cupcakes are often seen at children's parties and birthdays. Parents for the kids presented some small cakes, like a gift from a little fairy, that's why the size is so small. Cupcakes quickly gained popularity and spread from America to all over Europe.
In short, the main differences between cupcakes, cupcakes and muffins are:
- cupcakes should be more porous and airy, due to the fact that they are beaten more.
- muffins are flatter than cupcakes. They can be both sweet and salty. Unlike cupcakes and muffins, which are always sweet.
- muffins and cupcakes are usually not decorated.
I hope that now you also understand the difference between cupcakes, muffins and cupcakes.
Thank you for your attention and see you soon.
At first glance, muffins, muffins and cupcakes are the same. But it's not! Everyone has a different dough preparation process and consistency. So, let's start to figure out what the difference is between them! Let's start with cupcakes, which everyone knows!
A cake is a sweet confection with raisins, jam or nuts, usually baked from yeast or biscuit dough. The first cake recipe appeared in ancient Rome, when pomegranate, nuts and raisins were mixed in barley puree. And later cupcakes settled throughout Europe. This was a brief description and history of our favorite cupcake!
And now let's move on to the most important thing - this is a clear and basic recipe for making cupcakes. What is the difference between cupcakes and other products!
So, to begin with, the butter is triturated with sugar. Then add eggs and other ingredients according to the recipe (flour, baking powder, etc.). Then everything is mixed with a mixer. The consistency is quite soft and moderately thick.
Now on to the muffins... Muffin is a small round or oval pastry, mostly sweet, which includes a variety of fillings, including fruit. There are several stories about the origin of the name muffin. In one of them, the word muffin came to Great Britain in the 11th century from the French word moufflet, which means soft bread. Another story connects this word with the German muffe - one of the types of bread.
And the process of preparing muffins is as follows ... It uses little sugar, but quite a lot of liquid components (milk, eggs). So, to begin with, dry and "wet" ingredients are mixed separately. Then, all this is combined and quickly mixed. Also, unlike cupcakes, muffins are not as sweet. They are even made with meat and vegetable fillings.
It's time for the cupcakes! What's so special about their cooking? Cupcake - a cake (cupcake, cake) of a small size, intended for eating by one person, baked in thin paper or an aluminum baking dish. Often contains various elements of confectionery decorations. The first mentions appear in Eliza Leslie's cookbook in 1828. Let's move on to cooking...
You can take any recipe for a biscuit or cake and cook according to it! You can also add nuts, raisins and chocolate chips. That is, it turns out that we are preparing a cake, only in portions and in a smaller format! They also make cupcakes with a filling inside in the form of jam, which gets there with a syringe, or after baking, make a hole with a spoon and put the filling.
So I told you the main differences between the confectionery products we have already fallen in love with! I hope you were very interested!
To a person with no experience in culinary arts, these two sweet pastries may seem exactly the same. They have the same size, sometimes their tastes are very similar, but still they are different. To know exactly what their difference is, you need to familiarize yourself with the method of their appearance and the recipe.
Sweets differences
To say that there is no difference in muffins and muffins is wrong. The process of making them is quite simple. But for baking these delicacies, completely different ingredients are used. This can only be understood by comparing them by weight. The muffin is slightly heavier than the cupcake. This is due to the fact that the recipe for their preparation requires more eggs and dairy products. According to the consistency of the dough obtained as a result of kneading, you can see that it is softer and more airy than the mass prepared for baking muffins. Their most important difference is that the cupcake is made only in the form of sweet pastries, and the muffin can be salty.
Everyone can cook muffins and cupcakes, because this process does not require special skills and abilities.
How to make cupcakes?
Cupcakes have their origins in Russian cities of the eighteenth century. It was then that this dessert was first prepared, but its shape was similar to a pie. They were prepared on New Year's holidays and Christmas Eve, they were also made for the wedding day. Over time, their size became smaller, and the shape became more diverse.
Any recipe has the same ingredients: flour, sugar, butter and eggs. To get the dough, these ingredients are mixed with a mixer or whisk. Then only the imagination of the cook acts. Any ingredients can be used in the form of a filling, and the external image can remain unchanged, or, on top, the cupcake can be decorated with various types of icing. This type of baking contains a large amount of calories, which makes it dangerous for those with a sweet tooth.
Cupcake Recipes
To prepare the cupcake dough you will need the following ingredients
- 3 chicken eggs.
- 100 gr. cheap butter or table margarine.
- 1 cup wheat flour.
- 1 teaspoon baking powder.
- Sugar - half a glass.
The whole process of preparing the base takes place in stages:
- Chicken eggs are beaten with the addition of granulated sugar.
- Table margarine or butter of a pliable consistency is added.
- Wheat flour and baking powder are added to this mixture.
- The resulting mixture is stirred until homogeneous.
- The filling is added to the resulting dough.
- Fill in the pre-prepared forms with the test.
- The oven is necessary for 15-20 minutes at medium temperature.
How to make muffins
This type of pastry was first produced in America and was intended to feed people of low social status. Then their preparation was noticed in Britain, where they were cooked in the form of round cakes. This recipe came to Russia relatively recently, and there was a revolution in the world of confectionery. Muffins have become very popular. They were made only in portions and were small in size, which is happening today.
Their production is based on yeast or biscuit dough. Due to the baking process using high temperature conditions, you can notice a small flaw - the top crust is often cracked. For the filling, various fruits are often used, as well as sweets and nuts. The top layer is decorated with various types of glaze or simple sugar-based powder.
The preparation of the base of this pastry is a little different. First, the baker must mix only the dry ingredients, then the liquids are mixed separately and, finally, everything is mixed with each other, but only manually without the use of kitchen appliances. There are two types of muffins: the first was produced in England, and it was based on yeast dough, the second in America and the cooking process differed only in that leavening agents were used. These pastries, unlike muffins, do not have a large number of calories, which makes them more sought after and consumed.
How do you make classic muffins?
You will need the following products:
- Wheat or corn flour - 2 tbsp.
- Sugar - half a glass.
- Cow's milk - 3/4 tbsp.
- Chicken egg - 1 pc.
- Vegetable oil - 1/3 tbsp.
- Table salt - 0.5 tsp
- Vanillin - to taste.
- Baking powder - 3 tsp
How to cook?
- Place dry ingredients in one bowl.
- Mix liquid ingredients in a separate container.
- While constantly stirring the liquid base, we introduce the dry mixture of ingredients into it in small portions.
- We spread the dough into the prepared forms, covering only 1/3 of the part, as the muffins will increase in volume during the cooking process.
- Place in a preheated 200 degree oven and bake for 15 minutes. If the pastry will be subjected to further decoration, you should reduce the temperature to 170 degrees and cook for more time.
As you can see, despite their visual similarity, cupcakes and muffins are very different.
Finding a definition for muffins is not easy. They are not an independent dish in the usual sense of the word. It is also impossible to call this type of baking a dessert or a cake. Chefs and confectioners willingly work with him due to the variety of recipes and the speed of preparation. Because of their similarity, muffins are called cupcakes. This is not true, although the set of products for their manufacture is the same. Cupcake can be turned into a muffin. The reverse action is not possible.
Cake is a sweet yeast or biscuit cake of any size and shape without filling. If desired, raisins or nuts are added to it.
They are portioned loaves or original burgers. Even the translation of this word from German is the name of one of the types of bread.
Their differences from cupcakes are as follows:
- muffins are low in calories;
- the use of single flour allows you to make muffins a dietary product;
- ease of manufacture makes this type of baking very attractive;
- muffins do not lose their shape and volume from movements in the oven and drafts;
- due to the sweet and savory versions, they can become both a main course and a dessert at the same time.
For baking both products, flour, butter, baking powder, eggs, salt and sugar are needed. The key difference is in the dosage of the starting products and the mixing method. Muffin batter contains more liquid than muffin batter and almost three times less fat and sugar. Instead of eggs, you can use kefir, milk or yogurt.
When making cupcakes the butter is triturated with sugar and almost immediately combined with the rest of the ingredients. The porous structure and volume of the finished product are achieved by whipping.
flour for baking muffins carefully sift, add baking powder, sugar and salt. In another bowl, beaten eggs are combined with melted butter. All liquid ingredients are mixed in one container, and dry ingredients in another. The liquid component is poured into the flour, and in no case vice versa. You should not use a mixer. The resulting mass is stirred with a spoon for several minutes. Prolonged contact of flour with water makes the dough sticky as a result of excess gluten formation.
Let's take a step back at this point. A few words should be said in defense of gluten, or gluten. This complex protein dramatically affects the quality of flour, increases the elasticity of the dough and strengthens the side walls of the finished product. Within normal limits, it is harmless and even necessary.
The dough for baking muffins is not homogeneous and contains lumps. But the finished product has a delicate and soft structure. Lumpiness and rough texture contribute to the formation of large air bubbles during baking. They form voids in the finished product, like in cheese.
Baking at a high temperature promotes the rapid hardening of the top layer and the formation of a crisp. You can enhance this effect by sprinkling the surface with sugar, which will absorb moisture. The internal volume of the product warms up slowly and stays moist longer. As it bakes, the crumb increases in volume and breaks through the top crust, forming small cracks.
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