A cupcake is a small cake designed typically to serve one individual. These cakes are baked in cup-shaped foil or paper containers and are usually frosted. May it be 19th, 20th or 21st century, cupcakes have always stayed in vogue.
Today, cupcakes have become an incredibly booming business. The increased trend of social media businesses has also expedited the cupcake baking and selling.
According to Google “cupcake recipe” is one of the fastest growing recipe search.
However, the popularity of cupcakes is not new. Cupcakes have been in trend since 17th century. The history of cupcakes is loaded with luscious recipes and frosting techniques.
Cupcake History
The history of cupcakes is attributed to two things. The first is that back in the 18th century, when there were no modern ovens, cupcakes were baked in teacups, ceramic mugs or small pottery bowls called ramekins. So these small cakes adapted the name- cupcakes.
The second is that around the same time cupcake became popular, people were switching from weighing ingredients in ounces to standard measuring with cups method called 1234.
The 1234 mainly refers to the four main ingredients in cake recipe: 1 cup of butter, 2 cup of sugar, 3 cup of flour, and 4 eggs.
Cupcake Popularity
People have been baking cupcakes since long time. They have been popular for kids’ birthday parties, weddings, festivals, and even for serving with casual evening tea.
The modern ovens that baked dozen and more even cakes, magnified people love for cupcakes. Cupcakes also gained immense popularity in the last twenty years with the outset of gourmet cupcakes.
Origin of the name Cupcake
The first reference to cupcakes appeared in 1796 in a book called ‘American Cookery’ by Amelia Simmons where she wrote “Light cake to be baked in a small cup”.
Although she never used the actual word ‘cupcake’. In 1828, Eliza Leslie used the word cupcake for the first time in her book ‘Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats’.
One of the first published cupcake recipes in Britain was by Maria Rundell in her book ‘A New System of Domestic Cookery’ in 1806.
First Cupcake Frosting
In 1950s, Winston Churchill was the first person to suggest frosting cupcakes. Previously, they were made with dried fruits or spices.
First Cupcake Bakery
Sprinkles Cupcakes, opened in 2005, was the first ever ‘cupcake only’ bakery. Sprinkles Cupcakes makes over 25,000 cupcakes a day from 22 different stores.
World Records
The record for eating the most cupcakes is 29 cupcakes in barely 30 seconds. The largest cupcake weighted over 1,176.6 kgs or 2,594 lbs and had over 2 million calories. It was baked by Georgetown Cupcake in Sterling, Virginia on 2 November, 2011.
Most Expensive Cupcakes
- Rox Diamond Cupcake
Price: US $150,000
The luxury jeweler ROX and Cupcake Glasgow created this diamond studded cupcake in 2010.
- Sparkling Red Velvet Cupcake
Price: US $55,000
This cupcake was created by Cupcake Gourmet for Valentine’s Day in 2012. The surprise ingredient in this cupcake was an eight-carat engagement ring.
- Mervis Diamind Fantasy Cupcake
Price: US $30,000
In 2009, Mervis Diamond Importers introduced this cupcake that was topped with two-carat Assher cut diamond and eight ideal cut diamonds.
- Golden Pheonix
Price: US $1,000
This cupcake by Bloomsbury’s Cupcakes is madefrom highest quality Amedei Porcelana chocolate, boasts 23 carats of edible gold sheets and uses top-grade Ugandan Vanilla beans.
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