CUPCAKES Synopisis: Cupcakes are re-emerging as a favourite at tea-time, at children’s parties and swish weddings. But how much do you know about this diminutive, yet colourful confection. This article will tell you things that you probably didn’t know about this previously popular sugar-topped treat. Individually portioned confections have a long and venerable history and, more importantly, are now coming back into vogue. These, often highly colourful creations, and indeed other diminutive iterations of popular traditional baked goods, are finding their way back to their previous levels of popularity and now being increasingly enjoyed when portability and ease of service is appreciated. Cupcakes, or fairy cakes as they were originally known in the UK, are small confections designed to serve one person, and are usually made in a small paper cup container. As with larger cakes, frosting and other cake decorations, such as sprinkles, are defining characteristics of modern day cupcakes. Cupcakes have traditionally been served as a relatively inexpensive accompaniment to afternoon tea as they are seen as a more convenient alternative to normal cake on account of their smaller size and lack of utensil requirement for division into appropriately sized pieces. A simple cupcake uses the same fundamental ingredients as most other standard cakes: butter, sugar, eggs and flour. Cupcakes are usually frosted with colourful, or highly ornate sugar toppings, which are ensuring their return as a firm favourite with children and discerning adults alike. Cupcakes, not be confused with Cup Cakes A cupcake’s nomenclature finds it provenance from the fact that it is, simply enough, a cake the size of a teacup. Previously, before muffin tins were available, cupcakes were often baked in individual pottery cups or small ramekins. Recipes for "Cup Cake", on the other hand are recipes whose ingredients were measured using a standard-sized cup, instead of weighing the ingredients. However, the two should not be confused as they are, indeed an entirely different product. “Cup Cakes” were more commonly baked in tins as layers or loaves and, eventually, when the use of accurate empirical measurement became widespread in domestic kitchens, these recipes became known as “1234 Cake” or “Quarter Cake”. Cupcake Poetry and Art. Not content with simply re-emerging as a confectionary favourite, cupcakes are being increasingly used in poetry and art. The Gumball Grenade shop in the US provides one such example where a coloured print depicts a cartoon figure in an old fashioned sleeping costume and long sleeping cap bringing a cupcake to someone for their birthday. The inscription accompanying the art reads: “Bethezda’s Birthday came today! I baked three cupcakes on a gilded tray. One cupcake for you, One cupcake for me, And a cupcake for Bethezda you see!” Additionally, being such an icon of “the good old days” the cupcake features in a number of notable artworks, both in the fine art and populist spheres. Cupcake Wedding and Birthday Cakes Cupcakes are even now being used by couples seeking an alternative to a standard wedding cake. Cupcake Towers are produced by an increasing number of cupcake speciality bakers for such occasions. This method of presentation can provide a convenient way of giving each of the couple’s guests a piece of the wedding cake without having to wait for it to be cut, plated and served. Also, cupcakes are being increasingly used in celebration of childrens’ birthdays, and other significant celebratory events. Unlike traditional cakes, they already come in individually sized portions and can be coloured and arranged in such as way as to create maximal visual effect. Many speciality bakers have also designed very clever presentation boxes for their product that can quite easily be given as a smart, and original, gift. Cupcake Wars Please don’t think that arguments over cupcakes are confined to who is allowed to have the last one at tea. The increase of demand for cupcakes as a speciality product, and therefore a serious money-spinner for bakeries, has precipitated many alleged cupcake controversies! In particular, a recent court case in New York City has involved the, owner of the Buttercup Bakeshop attempting to sue a former employee for opening a new cupcake-focused bakeshop in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, called the Little Cupcake Bakeshop! According to an informant, the owner of the Buttercup Bakeshop "wants the "Little Cupcake Bakeshop" to remove 90% of the items featured on they"re [sic] menu or else not to open its doors." The defendant explained how he had been hired because of his previous pastry-chef experience and formal training. He claims that the owner of the Buttercup Bakeshop had invested a lot of time and money into setting up a franchising operation to expand the Buttercup brand nationwide and that she had hired him as a manager to teach the "nuts and bolts of baking technique" to new franchisees. The franchise has, however, not been particularly successful. Vitriolic cease-and desist letters had flown to-and-fro before the court case, but such is the heat of the respective passions that neither of the two parties would give in and the case is going through the US court system. Given the fact that the owners of the Buttercup Bakeshop’s own recipes for both Magnolia and Buttercup Bakeshop are in the public domain through the cookbooks that she has published, the defendant has claimed that, even if he were using her recipes, that he would have be within the letter of the law to do so. Moreover, he told us that his recipes are not exactly the same, and that the only similar cupcake on the two menus is the "lemonade." As the defendant in this case has stated in the New York press: "The claimant thinks she invented the cupcake." Death by Cupcake On a much more tragic note, it is important to realise that cupcake abuse can be dangerous and the following story serves as a potent reminder that everything, including this seemingly harmless confection, should be taken in moderation. This warning has found particular pertinence following reports that an inquest is to be held on a man who died during a contest to see who could eat the most cupcakes in a short space of time. The case was reported on the BBC in February of 2008 when the man, thought to be from Birmingham, collapsed at a Swansea nightclub during an event at the end of a party to raise funds for an art exhibition. It is believed attempts were made by staff and customers at the nightclub to revive the man but these were unsuccessful and the man later died. when your cake is ready put it in here for safe keeping or it will get eaten alive !!.  nice slice of cake |
|
 |