The history of cupcakes

My name is Terezie Jirsova and I have a decades of experience in the cupcake sector. After deepen research on the history of Cupcake i introduce you the "real story" on the origin of the cupcakes.

Cupcakes they are one of the most associated desserts in history to small pastry shop, especially in English-speaking countries, where they were widespread and immediately.

These sweet monoportion, from the simple recipe, they can be prepared in different sizes, wrapped in thin pirottini of aluminum or paper, with any decorations, such as creams, glasse, blundling and sugar beads

Cupcakes, from English cup (cup) + Cake (cake), They originated around the beginning of the 19th century thanks to their comfort and ease of cooking.

1796 - At this date the first recipe and documentation of cupcake by American writer Amelia Simmons, who wrote the first American Cookery pastry book.
In the book are called "Cake to be baked in small cups", ie cotts cooked in small cups. The current name is still not used, for that you will have to wait another 30 years.

1826 - This date leads to the first time, which is used the name cupcake for these miniature cakes.
As their name says, initially he used to cook them in ceramic cup-shaped molds, because at the time there were no disposable molds as instead of I am nowadays. By there the name remained to indicate round sweets, size of a tea mug.

Another interpretation of the name derives from the unit of measurement used to prepare them: in fact, butter, sugar, flour and eggs are used, measured in cups and not by weight. This also led to the use of the name 1234 Cakes, due to the proportion of the ingredients, or 1 cup of butter, 2 of sugar, 3 flour and 4 eggs.

Both interpretations have their historical foundation and consider themselves valid.

Regardless of the origin of the name their simplicity, , comfort and preparation speedThey allowed these small sweets to spread after the First World War, with the advent of small cooking containers for commercial packaging. Since then cupcake they increased by popularity, becoming pop icons of pastry, with the creation of stores exclusively dedicated to their sale especially in America and England.

1919 - Hostess, a confectionery company begins the industrial production of miniature cake tortines, ie cupcake.
This company has marked a breakthrough in the history of the preparation of sweets industrially.

In the 1920s - The cupcakes start to be glazed by hand with chocolate or vanilla glaze.

1947 - Cupcakes start having today's form thanks to the D.R "Doc" Rice, to which the task of changing its design was assigned.

2000s - In New York Cupcakes stores like "Magnolia Bakery" they got a great success thanks to the HBO television series "Sex and the City" and this great success has helped spread cupcakes anywhere in the world.

2009 - Daniel Gross expected the decrease in the popularity of the cupcaked, but it seems that for now the popularity of these sweets is always very high.

In England they are also very popular so called "fairy cake" ie size cupcake reduced. 
The name suggests that thanks to their small size they were suitable for being served at fairyten's parties.

To create the "Fire Cake"The lighter recipes of the classics are used cupcake, Often without using butter as an ingredient and even the glaze are lighter than the classic creams of butter.

In recent years the fashion of cupcake has also arrived in Italy.
These small sweets have become very popular especially in children's parties, thanks to their practicality of consumption. But more and more often we can see them also at weddings and birthday parties.

Over the years, decorations have evolved.
From simple glaze spreads, passing through decorations with sac to a few, in recent times they are often decorated with sugar paste, flowers in ostia and many colorful sugar of various types.
Often the decorations reproduce the theme of the party, as well as the cake that accompanies them almost always

Cupcakes recipe 

There are various recipes (and subsequent variations), but being essentially cake versions even the ingredients of a basic recipe of these can be sufficient: butter, sugar, flour and eggs. 

It is possible to use virtually any recipe for cakes also to prepare thecupcakes and vice versa, because in the end they are nothing but miniature cakes.

Given their nature reduced i cupcakes they have a rapid cooking, which makes them excellent as snacks.

Basic recipe:

Glazed cupcake (9 pcs):

Mixture:

110 g butter at room temperature;

110 g granulated sugar;

2 eggs, slightly slammed;

110 g Auto-alternating flour;

1-2 teaspoons of milk;

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.

Icing:

140 g butter at room temperature;

280 g icing sugar;

1-2 teaspoons of milk;

A few drops of food dye (optional).

Preparation: 

Heat the oven at 180 ° C, using a mold for silicone muffin with paper for cupcakes.

Mix the butter and sugar in a bowl until the cream reaches a light color. Little by little add the eggs, and then the vanilla extract.

Embed the flour and add the little milk until the consistency becomes uniform and you can drop the mixture from a teaspoon.

Fill the paper prints and bake for 10-15 minutes in half, or until the top is golden and the inside of one of the cupcakes is dry.

Cool for 10 minutes, then remove the molds from the mold for muffin and place them in a grid.

For the glaze, beating the butter until it takes a soft consistency. Add half sugar until it reaches a homogeneous and smooth consistency again. Add the remaining sugar, along with the milk, until the icing is smooth and creamy.  If necessary, help with additional milk.

Finally, add any dye, obtaining a uniform color, insert the icing in a few sac with starry spout and decorate the cupcakes with a spiral movement.

THE cupcakes they have as very different sizes, with the mini versions usually large 45 mm and another 50, while normal versions reach 65 mm wide and 55 in height.

Curiosity about cupcakes

• The record of greater number of eaten cupcakes in less time it is 29 cupcakes in 30 seconds
• On average in America is eaten a cupcake a head daily
• In New York is forbidden the consumption of cupcakes in schools to counteract obesity.
• In 2010 the cupcakes represented the 10% of total tax sales in the United States, with the largest chain, sprinkles cupcakes, which produces over 25,000 cupcakes daily.
• The world's largest cupcake it was built in November 2011 by Georgetown Cupcake (USA), a special oven and a tart of weight 305.9 kg was built to realize it. The cupcake weighed 1,176,6 kg, the diameter was about 142 cm and height 91 cm
• In October 2017 in Vereeniging, in South Africa, volunteers of a non-profit association "Cupcakes of Hope" have built a huge structure of 10.77 meters on which they positioned 6,370 cupcake for a collection of funds.