Muffins vs. Cupcakes Redux

Personally, I've never had much difficulty telling the difference between a muffin and a cupcake. But it seems others do. Here's a Q and A on this very subject from WESH.com:

Q: I purchased chocolate, chocolate chip muffins from local grocery store. My husband said they weren't muffins they were cupcakes. I asked the bakery department. They didn't know difference, but said what I purchased was muffins. What is the difference between muffins and cupcakes? --Maureen

A: The quick-and-dirty answer on this is that cupcakes have frosting, whereas muffins do not. However, in researching, I found an excellent formulaic definition of the difference courtesy of Diana's Desserts: "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."

Comments

Angie said…
Well, I've heard that cupcakes are just pretty muffins! No, they are not. One thing is not the other. (Very eloquent, right?) Where do they serve bran birthday cake? Somewhere, I'm sure. But the point is that cupcakes are to cake what muffins are to loafbreads. They hav different consistency, texture, etc. I guess the only 'muffuny' cupcakeake would be carrot cake. It's the best of both worlds, and it take the frosting!