And why we eat Muffin for breakfast not a cupcake?
Who does not love Soft and Fluffy Muffins and Cupcakes? Even though eating them makes us fluffy and soft, but can you resist yourself from eating one?
As a Chef cum Baker I get irritated when someone specially people who say themselves as baker can't tell difference between a Cupcake and Muffin. Worst questions are "Cupcakes with icing or without icing".
The first difference lies in name, Cupcakes; that gives a big clue. 'Cakes in a cup' are cupcakes, When you bake a cake in a cup.
So let's start with the main differences.
The very foremost difference is the category they are placed into, Muffins are a Breakfast Pastry which is wholesome, and Cupcakes are small cakes which comes under category of Cakes.
The Ingredients
Ingredients used majorly makes the difference between them. Both these products i.e. cupcakes and muffins use flour, butter, eggs, milk, and sugar.
But for cupcakes, we generally tend to use cake flour and butter. Meanwhile, muffins can be made with all-purpose flour as we say Maida in hindi or whole-wheat flour aka Atta and instead of butter, you will use vegetable oil.
Preparation Method
The preparation method is another difference, Muffins have a lumpy, solid batter where as cupcakes have a silky smooth batter.
For muffins you have to mix all the dry ingredients together and lightly stir them with wet ones, which will result in a dense batter. Whereas for cupcakes, one needs to whisk the ingredients a lot more and add them one by one this makes the batter bubbly in order to obtain a silky batter. There are no lumps in this batter, it is also fluffy.
When we are talking about Cupcakes Emulsion is very important that is we make an emulsion of fat and water whether in muffins the batter can only be made up of fat like butter, oil etc. Moreover Oil is usually not used in cupcakes but in some homemade recipes people tend to replace butter with oil.
There are also bakers who rely on a general recipe for muffins, and when the amount of ingredients doubles or increases significantly — like the fat, egg, and sugar ratio, its a cupcake.
Frosting or Fillings
A very Obvious reason which can be identified visually.
The cupcake is a miniature cake which you can eat in one bite, and it’s always topped with frosting. All cupcakes are sweet, and they never have a filling, as the batter is already sweet enough to make it palatable. You cannot have a savory Cupcake.
Muffins contain less sugar as compared to cupcakes and can be sweet or savory. A muffin can be made with bacon, vegetables, and fruits, and it can contain a filling of nuts, chocolate, jams or fruits. There is no frosting on the muffin. They are complete in themselves.
Texture
Muffins have a very moist and dense texture, it can be eaten as it is. Whereas Cupcakes are lighter and have pores in them therefore a frosting is required on it.
The Way its Eaten
Cupcakes are miniature cakes and muffins are miniature pastries or quick breads.
Cupcakes are always eaten cold. Muffins, on the other hand, can be eaten both hot or cold, depending on its filling and an individuals liking.
Muffins are Eaten for Breakfast
Muffins are less sweet and can be loaded with many wholesome fruits, cereals and fillings which make them a perfect bread to be eaten for breakfast. Muffins are made up of Oats flour, wheat flour etc which tend to provide roughage to our body required energy for the day.
While Cupcakes are high in sugar and consuming Sugar in your first meal is not a vert good idea keeping health in mind.
If you think when you remove frosting from a cupcake you have a Muffin, then you are wrong. Until an unless you can pour batter into 6-inch pan and bake a birthday or wedding cake out of it, you have a muffin.
If you still don't believe me Then bake some yourself, eat them together and you will understand the difference.
Fine Recipe of Red Velvet Cupcake here
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