A cupcake is a small cake baked in a cup-shaped foil or paper container and typically iced.
Cupcakes seem uniquely suited to our modern sensibilities. They’re portion-controlled, portable, easy to make in batches, open to lots of decorating strategies, tasty and can be inexpensive to make.
The earliest extant description of a cupcake was in 1796, when a recipe for “a light cake to bake in small cups” was written in American Cookery by Amelia Simmons.
The earliest extant documentation of the term cupcake itself was in “Seventy-five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats” in 1828 in Eliza Leslie’s Receipts cookbook.
In the early 19th century, there were two different uses for the name cup cake or cupcake.
In previous centuries, before muffin tins were widely available, the cakes were often baked in individual pottery cups, ramekins, or molds and took their name from the cups they were baked in. This is the use of the name that has remained, and the name of “cupcake” is now given to any small, round cake that is about the size of a teacup.
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.
The cupcake evolved in the United States in the 19th century, and it was revolutionary because of the amount of time it saved in the kitchen. There was a shift from weighing out ingredients when baking to measuring out ingredients.
Since their creation, cupcakes have become a pop culture trend in the culinary world. They have spawned dozens of bakeries devoted entirely to them.
According to Google, “cupcake recipes” are the fastest growing recipe search.
The Hostess CupCake with its signature frosting squiggle, was arguably the first mass-produced cupcake in 1919. But they weren’t the cream filled or frosted.
Cupcakes were finally decorated with frosting in the 1920’s. Cupcakes were frosted in either Chocolate or Vanilla Frosting.
In 1947 cupcakes were re-designed and got the look they have today, thanks to D.R. “Doc” Rice.
During the 1950s, the paper baking cup became very popular.
In New York City, cupcake shops like Magnolia Bakery gained publicity in their appearances on popular television shows.
In 2005, the first nothing but cupcakes bakery in the world was opened called Sprinkles Cupcakes, the folks that also brought us the first cupcake ATM, which could hold up to 350 cupcakes at one time.
There are about 400 cupcake bakeries in the United State.
Approximately, 770,000,000 cupcakes is eaten in the United State per year.
Chocolate is the most popular cupcake flavor. It is followed by vanilla, strawberry and red velvet.
The world’s most expensive cupcake is the Rox Diamond cupcake. It was created to honor the annual Glam in the City event in Scotland. The cupcake, a pretty pink treat, is dripping with tiny diamonds and is worth over $150,000.
Cupcakes can also, apparently, be couture. Food Network UK cupcake dress is made from 300 of the tiny treats. Inspired by Marie Antoinette, the dress was designed by Janis Morrison, using purple, red and pink cupcakes. The price tag? $1,257.00
The largest cupcake weighs 1,176.6 kg (2,594 lb) and was achieved by Georgetown Cupcake (USA) at Georgetown Cupcake’s national shipping headquarters in Sterling, Virginia, USA, on 2 November 2011.
The largest cupcake mosaic measures 138.56 square meters (1,491.44 sq ft) and was made by THE SPAR GROUP (PTY) LTD (South Africa), in Durban, South Africa, on 5 September 2015. The mosaic consisted of 33,660 cupcakes and was created as a tribute to the Springboks for the Rugby World Cup 2015 as well as raising funds during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
While English fairy cakes vary in size more than American cupcake, they are traditionally smaller and are rarely topped with elaborate icing. The name “fairy cake” is a description of its size. It would be appropriate for a party of small fairies to share a fairy cake.
Originally, cupcakes were baked in heavy pottery cups. Some bakers still use individual ramekins, small coffee mugs, large tea cups, or other small ovenproof pottery-type dishes for baking cupcakes.
H.P. Lovecraft blamed the creation of his most famous mythical monster, Cthulhu, on an overdose of cupcakes. He had locked himself in his basement with a dozen of them and eaten until the rush of sugar caused him to hallucinate about ultimate evil.