PrintCuffins? Mupcakes?
In today's NYT, Melissa Clark declared that muffins are "sweet little cakes" no different from cupcakes. I disagree. My ideal muffin is more on the dour side, never iced, and often has additions like nuts, fruit, and so on. They can also be split, toasted and buttered. What do you think? I have a feeling we might see a regional and/or generational split here.
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12 Comments:
Baked goods are serious business. I think people often feel when they are speaking about them that they are the authority on whatever it is that is so passionate about. Bakers will argue on what is a cake and what is a bar cookie. I don't really think that is up to her to decide what a muffin is. My husband likes to split, butter and toast babka which is cake or is it?
I smell a delicious debate.
JerzeeTomato at 11:56AM on 04/16/08
The primary difference to me would be in the method. A muffin is made using the muffin method (whoulda thunk?), or just like you'd make any quickbread. A cupcake is made using the creaming method or other traditional cake method. Taste or ingredients doesn't really come in to play for me even though a chocolate muffin tastes an awful lot like cake.
buffyholic at 1:15PM on 04/16/08
Muffins are supposed to be "healthful" and less sweet than cupcakes; but not necessarily savory. Let's face it, who's had a "Bran Birthday Cake"? You've probably had Devil's Food Cake as a birthday cake and a cupcake. But a muffin?
Melissa Clark is wrong.
chiff0nade at 1:36PM on 04/16/08
I totally disagree with Melissa Clark (which I frequently do). I think the major differences are:
-the method (as buffyholic mentioned) and therefore the texture (muffin is denser than cupcake)
-the sweetness (a blueberry muffin is less sweet than a blueberry cupcake)
-the mix-ins (with the exception of carrot cupcakes, most cupcakes don’t have nuts and dried fruit floating around in them, but carrot cake is actually made using a quickbread/muffin method)
-frosting (muffins might have a glaze but never a full-out frosting)
I also think she picked a poor example in her column just to win her argument. Gingerbread is one of those things that straddles the line between cake and quickbread, and so she really didn’t take a true cake batter and “muffinize” it as she claims to have done. I’m sure that if she used a recipe for white cake, mixed in nuts and raisins, and then poured that batter into a muffin tin, there is no way she would have called that a muffin.
charm city cupcake at 2:27PM on 04/16/08
Cuffins & Mupcakes--hahaha, I didn't even notice the new words the first time I glanced at the title.
haha.
I don't know who Melissa Clark is, but if that is her idea of an adequate description of muffins, then she should revisit her vocation.
wookie at 3:49PM on 04/16/08
If you call it a muffin you can feel okay about eating it for breakfast! :)
Carosone at 5:50PM on 04/16/08
I like muffcake, personally, but I'm sure it's controversial. Anyway, needs to be out there.
Yeah, I agree that there is--at least should be--a difference between a muffin and cupcake, at least in principle. I think of muffins as the diminutive version of a quick bread, but some people call those tea cakes. Is banana bread a bread or a cake?
Anyhow, I think muffins should be less sweet, but all too often bakery or coffee shop muffins are at least as sweet, if not sweeter, than cakes I'd make at home.
My last batch of muffins used whole wheat flour, zucchini, sweet potato, carrot, and flax seeds. I don't think anyone would ever get away with calling that a cupcake. They were really good, too, and just right for breakfast.
Here's where I go way off-topic:
I'm rarely that interested by Melissa Clark's writing. I readily admit that it's most likely due to the green-eyed monster. Still, when it comes to diet books by food writers, I'm much more interested in tips from someone who's lost a lot of weight (eg Pam Anderson) than someone who just isn't happy when they're not at size 2. One sounds like hard work, the other like genetic fortune.
renzata at 7:04PM on 04/16/08
@renzata - when did you make your last batch of muffins? Did you use a recipe or was it your own invention? I'm asking because my last batch of muffins (made last week) contained whole wheat flour, flax seed flour, zucchini, sweet potato and sauteed onions! I came up with this combo after a morning pantry raid, and I just "winged" it from there. So imagine my surprise when I read your post!! Btw, both hubby and I loved the result and he made me write down the recipe (of course, I do not remember exact measurements, but I'll figure it out:-)).
brooke29 at 7:32PM on 04/16/08
Brooke29, probably a month ago (they went into the freezer).
Actually I dosed out a quick-bread recipe from epicurious:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/2674
But I didn't have enough zucchini or sweet potato, so I filled the rest with carrot. Swapped the flour for white whole wheat, the walnuts for pecans, and added ground flax seed, about 1/4-1/3 cup. I'd use more next time, but it was a really tasty and moist combination. I do prefer my muffins more sweet than savory, but whats great about those veggies is how they can go either way.
How funny.
renzata at 7:47PM on 04/16/08
Argh, I got so excited about renzata's muffins that I forgot to write what I was going to! In any case, to me, muffins are always bread-ey, while cupcakes are, well, cake-ey. I fancy a muffin now and then, but I have no interest in cupcakes. That alone says to me that the two are not the same! And of course, as buffyholic and charm city cupcake pointed out earlier, the methods of preparation are distinctively different, as well as certain ingredients. I have a feeling that I wouldn't want to eat a muffin baked by Melissa Clark since it would be a cupcake:-)
brooke29 at 7:51PM on 04/16/08
@renzata - Indeed! I also loved it how moist they turned out. I actually prefer my muffins savoury rather than sweet (other than blueberry muffins, which I absolutely love), but it was a perfect balance between savoury and sweet and just plain tasty! I didn't add any nuts (since I didn't have any on hand), but I can see that they would be great in these muffins. Thanks for the link, I'll certainly check it out!
brooke29 at 8:03PM on 04/16/08
Hmm I do agree that there are distinct differences between muffins and cupcakes, however there are certainly situations where their boundaries cross paths. For example, if you frost a muffin, does it then become a cupcake? It's all very unclear.
Hillary
Chew on that
Chew on That at 10:12AM on 04/18/08