Cupcakes vs. Muffins: what’s the difference?

Do you know the difference between cupcakes and muffins? I get asked a lot about this subject so I thought it was time for an article that explains the difference for you!

Cupcakes vs Muffins

Friends, family and colleagues: they all love my baking. But when I say that I have made them delicious muffins, they call them cupcakes again. “No, they are muffins,” I say. This is almost always followed by the next question: What is the difference between cupcakes and muffins? Well, dear colleagues, friends, family and blog readers (yes, I do get this question in my emails on a regular basis). So pull up a chair, because I am going to tell you in detail about each discipline: from their origin and appearance to the recipe and preparation. What is the main difference between cupcake recipes and muffins recipes?

Where do cupcakes come from?

I am not much of a history buff, and failing grades on the subject is on my list of achievements. I only remember the fun side facts that my teachers thought were unimportant. I do like the history of cupcakes and muffins, and it plays an important part in the difference between these two delicious baked goods.

The very first recipe for a cupcake came from a cookbook by Eliza Leslie in 1828. What I personally find surprising is that Eliza was an American writer, I always thought that cupcakes came from England. At that time, cupcakes were often served at high tea. In those days, cupcakes were baked in a cup rather than the familiar paper liners. This is probably where the name ‘cup’ comes from. (source)

Where do muffins come from?

The Americans and the British still disagree about who ‘invented’ the muffin. Samuel B. Thomas complicated matters. He was an English baker who lived in America. So an English recipe, as the British say, you can understand how the Americans feel about it. Actually, there is no point in discussing this, because the Germans and French knew about muffins much earlier. Here it was called ‘Mufflet’ (Germany) or ‘Moufflet’ (France). (source)

Above is a picture of my basic vanilla cupcake recipe on the left and my basic muffin recipe on the right.

Now we know a bit more about the history of the cupcake and the muffin. But what exactly is the difference, you may ask? If we analyse the appearance of these two treats, we have a good starting point.

The physical difference between cupcakes and muffins

Cupcakes are small cakes that actually have the structure of a cake. They are baked in (often brightly colored) paper baking cups and their flat tops barely rise above the paper. After baking, a cupcake is decorated with fondant/marzipan or a nice swirl of some sort of cream. It can also be filled with a delicious filling.

Muffins have a different structure to cupcakes, which are more like bread and are also often called quick bread. Unlike cupcakes, muffins rise quite high out of their paper cups. Muffins are also not decorated – as soon as they come out of the oven, they are ready.

Above is a picture of my ferrero rocher cupcakes on the left and my chocolate pretzel muffins on the right.

The ingredients in a cupcake and muffin recipe are also different. And when the ingredients in a recipe are different, the preparation is usually different too. You may have guessed it: the same goes for cupcakes and muffins.

How to make cupcakes

In a cupcake recipe you will always see the following ingredients: butter, sugar, eggs and flour. When you use these ingredients to make cupcakes, you always mix the butter and sugar until creamy. Then you add the eggs until they are well mixed and finally you add the flour until you have a nice cupcake batter. This is the basis of a cupcake recipe. Of course, baking powder, salt and any flavorings are added. The final batter will have a smooth texture.

How to make muffins

A muffin recipe often contains less sugar and butter than a cupcake recipe, and milk is added. Butter must be melted and is often replaced by oil. Muffins are much quicker to make than cupcakes. The mixing method is very different to cupcakes. You simply take two bowls, one for the dry ingredients and one for the wet ingredients.

Put the contents of the two bowls together and mix to a muffin batter in about 12 strokes. You need to stir as little as possible, which means there can still be some lumps in the dough. This is the right thing to do, because if you stir longer you will end up with a tough muffin and a much denser texture.

Above is a picture of my stroopwafel cupcakes on the left and my stroopwafel muffins on the right.

Finally, some baking tips for both cupcakes and muffins. Because yes, even the baking tips are different for the two recipes, as the preparation is quite different. And when you get into the kitchen to bake, you want a perfect result.

Baking tips for cupcakes

My tips for perfect cupcakes:

• Fill the baking cups about 2/3 full with the mixture.
• Use good, sturdy paper cupcake liners; if you use cheap/thin paper, you will see that they get very greasy as they absorb all the fat and moisture from the cupcakes. Oh, and don’t forget about my tip to prevent greasy cupcake liners!
• Cupcakes can also be filled. Use an apple corer to remove the centre of the muffin and fill with jam, chocolate spread, cream, etc.

Baking tips for muffins

And here are some of my tips for delicious and perfect muffins:

• You don’t need a mixer. Mix the ingredients separately and use a spatula to mix them together.
• Don’t stir for too long! You should see lumps.
• You can fill the muffin cups almost to the brim.
• Sprinkle some of the ingredients (like chocolate chips) over the muffins before they go into the oven, it looks nice when they come out.
• Always add melted butter (in the case you don’t use an oil)

Now that you’ve read this article, I think you’ll agree that cupcakes and muffins are not the same thing. Hopefully you can now tell the difference, or maybe you already knew, but now you have ammunition to convince others 😉 .

So which is your favorite? The muffin or the cupcake?