What's the difference between a muffin and a cupcake? :)?

Answer 1

There might be some technical differences that a cook could tell us about, but from the consumer's point of view, the difference seems to be that a cupcake really is like a miniature cake: light in weight, sweet, and often covered with icing and decorations. It tends to be not too tall because it's texture isn't strong enough to allow for a very tall structure. It's always made with white flour as far as I know. A muffin is significantly heavier in texture and also in weight; with its cohesiveness, it can contain fruit, nuts or chocolate chips, which are not common in cupcakes. It is never iced and need not be particularly sweet. It can be made with ingredients as heavy as bran, and can be rather tall and have a large overhanging rim that doesn't threaten to fall off. (The cupcake also has a rim, but it is rather delicate and not too large.)

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." If you were writing a novel, it would be a gross literary error to substitute a cupcake for a muffin.

Answer 2

There isn't much difference between muffins and cupcakes, except that when I hear "muffins" I usually think of something a bit more savory (corn muffins, zucchini bread muffins) or that can be baked in either a loaf pan or a muffin tin; while cupcakes are sweeter and are usually baked in a cake pan (sheet, layer, or cups). There is no hard-and-fast rule, though, as muffins can be sweet, too -- blueberry muffins, chocolate chip muffins, lemon poppy seed muffins, etc.

Answer 3

Muffins may be sweet or savory; cupcakes are always sweet. Technically, there are some differences in the way the two are mixed. The "muffin method" (mix all dry ingredients in one bowl, all wet ingredients in another and then bring the two together by mixing NOT beating) generally results in a coarser product with large, irregular holes. Cakes are usually (but not always) created by the "creaming method" and tend to be more tender than muffins. Also, cake batters are often beaten to refine texture.

Answer 4

A muffin is a quick bread. It has less sugar than a cake. It is mixed so that the ingredients are just mixed, so that it does not get tough . It has a rougher texture. It can be made with a crumb topping. But it is a bread product.

Cupcakes are little cakes. Cakes are beat until the ingredients are smoother. It has much more sugar which is what makes it less tough after more mixing. It generally has an icing, more sugar.Cakes are deserts.

Answer 5

Simple: A cupcake has iceing and is more of a dessert food. A muffin is a healthy breakfast food.

Answer 6

Muffins are generally a healthy snack - not much sugar. Frequently fruits and nuts are added as well as bran, wheat and other things to add fiber to the diet. Cupcakes are little cakes and hold very little in the way of nutritional value.

Answer 7

Quite alot Muffins are rather rough and cupcakes have icing

Answer 8

Have you ever had a bran cupcake? Muffins are just adult cupcakes.

Answer 9

That yummy yummy frosting, and a cup cake is just a cake in smaller form. Muffin is not a dessert.

Answer 10

muffins are made from a dense batter and cupcakes are made with cake flour- a much lighter flour than standard baking flour.