Cupcake crazy

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Posted at 12:02PM, 28 October 2009 by Elaine Stocks - Deputy editor, Good Food magazine

Cupcakes are everywhere, from stands piled high in smart cafes, to fashionable bakeries and even yummy mummies cooking up batches at home. It's a growing industry that seems unstoppable. There are scores of websites dedicated to them, competitions to bake the biggest cupcake and bakeware manufacturers offering supersized tins for those who just can't get enough. In these credit-crunched times, it's all a bit of affordable fun and frivolity.

I'm always seduced by the girly glamour - the muffin-size cake topped with a swirly dome of frosting

As a state-registered glutton, cupcakes should be my idea of heaven but somehow the reality never quite lives up to the promise. I'm always seduced by the girly glamour - the muffin-size cake topped with a swirly dome of frosting. A perfect package of indulgence all for me. But halfway through the fluffy sponge and teeth-jangling sweetness of the topping, I'm gasping for a cuppa and a defibrillator.

Call me old-fashioned, but I find I prefer the modest prettiness of a fairy cake. They're lighter, smaller, elegant and very nostalgic. They bring back a host of memories. My first baking session with my mother. Childhood parties and picnics.

Then there's the creativity factor. Once you've piped the frosting on to a cupcake, you don't need any more. Whereas the smooth slick of icing atop a fairy cake is a wonderful blank canvas for any number of decorations - flowers, silver balls, Smarties, chocolate buttons...

But I suspect I'm in the minority and we're all powerless to resist the invasion of this flashy American big boy that has the endorsement of Nigella and those Sex and the City girls, to name but a few. Or maybe not. I'm starting a campaign to Bring Back the Fairy Cake - anyone want to join me?

Comments

Baking For Pleasure

28 October, 12:43PM
Baking For Pleasure

Cupcakes and fairy cakes are both fiddly and take time to decorate. To be honest, although I do enjoy baking both and have a preference for fairy cakes purely because of my home equipment, I'd far rather have less faff and bake one big cake.

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ErinB

28 October, 12:56PM
ErinB

The best thing about cupcakes (and fairy cakes, though I've never heard of them before) is that I don't have to do all the decorating. I bake the cakes and make the frosting, and then let the kids have at it. They enjoy decorating their cupcakes moments before eating them. Decorating becomes part of the meal!

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Nicola

28 October, 1:08PM
Nicola

Yeah, I agree - they always look fantastic, but I manage to resist when out for a bit of cake, as I know they are not the best tasting of cakes. I'd rather have a slice from a big cake personally! But I'm sure they are versatile enough to be able to make mini versions of all my favourite cakes...perhaps I'll try!

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Chris Brack

28 October, 4:19PM
Chris Brack

Cupcakes are the most over rated bun/cake eva......the icing is usually there to hide the fact that the sponge part is stale and the icing is usually layed on way to thick. So all you are tasting is icing sugar and stale sponge-disgusting. While I am on a rant regards over rated cakes-need I mention the dreaded brownie......

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sioden

28 October, 5:56PM
sioden

Living in the US, cupcakes are everywhere. And waaaay too sweet for my liking. Actualy most ckaes here have at least an inch/inch and a half of frosting, and I just find it too much. Give me a nice sponge cake with apricot jam any day - yum!!

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tanya

29 October, 10:52PM
tanya

I like cupcakes. They are nice and cute. They help me with keeping my portion small (just one at a time). I usually do them without frosting, simply using decorative paper cases and special serving plate. I'm not sure what is the difference between cupcakes and fairy cakes. Can anyone explain, please?

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Barney

30 October, 10:24AM
Barney

Iâm leaving myself open to be left with flour on my face but the way I understand it a fairy cake is a simple little sponge cake, which can differ slightly in the flavour added to the sponge, but is always a sponge base. Cupcakes on the other hand are basically any cake base you wish just baked in miniature and normally covered in what we call icing but our American friends would probably call frosting.

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Caity

30 October, 12:09PM
Caity

What about butterfly cakes? I used to love those!

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Barney

30 October, 1:16PM
Barney

Butterfly cakes are a fairy cake with the top cut off and cut in half and then stuck back onto the cake with a splodge of icing so they resemble (kind of) butterfly wings.

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Mounses2

2 November, 11:12AM
Mounses2

I agree that they are over rated. They are so sweet and leave the back of your throat sticky from sugar. I like plain fairy cakes that you get at school bake sales and so on. With just plain icing or else jam and coconut like my mum used to let us make when we were small.

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geoffers1

6 November, 3:47PM
geoffers1

I always thought that cup cakes were bigger than fairy cakes? Not quite muffin size but bigger than fairy cakes. I agree that they are usually overly sweet and gooey.

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Doylee

6 November, 9:32PM
Doylee

They look gorgeous and whipping up a batch are fun and cheap! Im about to embark any minute now on a batch and am sooooooooooo excited about about using my new sprinklers and my new piping bag and nozzles. And yes it is friday night and yes Doylee doesn't have the most exciting of social events lined up this weekend..........

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