Hallelujah! My first blog recipe, here we are. The occasion is my daddy’s birthday, so with New York still in my heart I decided to make some of the most popular American treats, the cupcakes. Muffins and cupcakes are also some of my favorite sweets and I have always wondered if there is different between them. And indeed it seems there is. As I have googled “difference between a cupcake and a muffin” I found a lot of debating on the matter.
Very simply “Cupcakes are said to have icing (or frosting) on them and to be little, miniature cakes made for special occasions, while muffins are usually eaten at breakfast, don't have icing on them, and often contain fruit of some sort”. A more technical explanation is to be found on Wiki Answers: "A muffin is any quick bread (mixed by muffin mixing method & does NOT contain yeast) that is in the shape of a cupcake. A cupcake is any cake batter mixed with the straight method or creaming method made into the shape of a cup. Cupcakes (traditionally) have frosting on top, while muffins have no frosting, but muffins can have a glaze on top. Many people think that the difference is either frosting or no frosting, or that it's "in a paper liner" or not, but that is a common mistake. Either one can be made with or without a paper liner; it's just the baker's preference. A quick bread (or muffin) CANNOT be baked like a sheet cake or round layered cake because it won't bake properly. The same goes for a cupcake batter- a cake batter (or cupcake) cannot be baked in a loaf or bund pan because it will not bake properly. But, since both can be baked into a smaller shape, everyone seems to want to declare that they're the same."
Anyway, the “best” description of the difference is for me this one taken from englishforums.com: “If you threw a cupcake against the wall, you would hear something of a "poof!" If you threw a muffin, you would hear a "thud!". A muffin goes with coffee, a cupcake with tea. (That's a rather controversial statement, so perhaps this discussion should be moved to the controversial topics zone.) Fast food joints deal in muffins, especially in North America, but I have never seen one that sold a cupcake. Sociologically, a muffin is everyday living, whereas a cupcake is "we're getting fancy." Theoretically, a man could say, "hey honey" to his waitress while he was chewing on a muffin, but with cupcake in his mouth he could only say, "my dear””.
I also "liked" this comment on the cupcakeproject.com: “when your wife is younger you can call her cupcake, when she is older with double chin, you can call her muffin…”
Well, what I can say from my experience is that a cupcake is “ just a good little thing” that helped me to say : “I love you Daddy, Happy Birthday!!!” I and my family enjoyed them both with coffee and tea, and also with a sparkling sweet or semi sweet wine, like a Spumante Italiano. Che buono!
Here’s the recipe to make 12 Orange cupcakes with white chocolate cream (the recipe is adapted from Muffin e Cupcakes, a book from Cucina Moderna, Italy).
75 g whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
100 g fine ground almonds
125 g cane sugar
2 big eggs
2 teaspoons fine grated orange peel
1,25 dl + 4 spoons filtered fresh orange juice
50 g refined sugar
White Chocolate cream
90 g white chocolate
125 g softened butter
¼ teaspoon vanilla essence
½ spoon milk
150 g icing sugar
Preheat the oven to 170 ˚ (centigrade). Line cupcake pans with paper liners. Sift whole wheat flour, baking powder and almonds. Beat icing sugar, eggs and orange peel on medium – high speed until a cream is obtained. Lower speed at minimum and mix the dry ingredients and 1,25 dl orange juice, then pour the mixture into the paper liners until 2/3 full. Bake the cupcakes for 20-25 minutes until they reach the right consistency. In the meantime warm the left orange juice with sugar on medium-low fire for 5 minutes, stirring until you obtain a syrup. Prick the lukewarm cupcakes with a toothpick, brush them with the orange syrup and let them cool.
Prepare the white chocolate cream. Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie while stirring. Take away from fire and let it cool down. Beat the butter and vanilla on medium – high speed until a light cream is obtained. Mix the milk, the chocolate and last, the sugar. Distribute the cream on the cupcakes and decorate as you desire.
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