5 Fun Facts About Cupcakes

5 Fun Facts About Cupcakes… Apparently, 770,000,000 cupcakes were eaten in the US in 2012. That same year, Sprinkles Bakery, the world’s first cupcake-only bakery from Beverly Hills, developed a hole-in-a-wall ATM that dispenses cupcakes 24 hours a day. It holds up to 600 fresh cupcakes at a time! Cupcakes have swept the culinary world in the last few years, and it’s no wonder why! With cupcake flavors ranging from the classic (vanilla), to deliciously sweet (caramel apple), to oddly savory (jalapeño cheddar), there is a cupcake flavor for everyone!


5 Fun Facts About Cupcakes
That Will Sweeten Your Day

A Cup of Cake

The term ‘cupcake’ was originally used in the late 19th century for cakes made from ingredients measured by the cupful. The traditional pound cake recipe was easy to remember for its pound of butter, a pound of sugar, a pound of flour, and a pound of eggs. Likewise, the name “cupcake” comes from how the recipe was measured: 1 cup butter, 2 cups sugar, 3 cups flour, and 4 eggs.

Early cupcakes were baked in teacups or ramekins (small clay pots) before the invention of the multi-cup pans we use today. Hence, a cup of cake!

Here Comes The… Cupcake?

Apparently, 13% of brides decide to serve cupcakes at their wedding as opposed to the traditional wedding cake. Cupcake flavors are basically only limited by your imagination, so why settle for just one type of cupcake for your reception?! Cupcakes can be decorated just as elegantly as any wedding cake, or they can be more casual for an easy-breezy wedding. Check out this Pinterest board of wedding cupcakes for some inspiration!

What’s In A Name?

In Britain, cupcakes are called fairy cakes. Fairy cakes use a lighter glacé icing compared to the buttercream used by American bakers. They also are traditionally made with a lighter sponge cake as opposed to the thicker butter cakes used in our cupcakes. Alternatively, a fairy cake is a type of cupcake with its top cut off and replaced in two pieces, like wings. These are also called “butterfly cupcakes.”

In Australia, they are called patty cakes (as in “patty cake, patty cake, baker’s man…”).

The Hostess With The Mostess Cupcakes

Hostess Cupcakes, arguably the world’s most famous cupcake, were originally made in the 1950s. Instead of making full-sized cakes, the company decided to make cupcakes because they take less time to bake than cakes. Less time baking (17 minutes) means more cupcakes can be made in a single day! The Hostess conveyor oven can turn out 11,000 cupcakes an hour!

Hostess sells over 600 million Cupcakes each year!

The World’s Largest Cupcake

World's Largest CupcakeOn August 15, 2009, GourmetGiftBaskets.com broke the world record for the largest cupcake ever made. The cupcake was 1,224 pounds, 4 feet tall by 10 feet wideclip_image001, and had 2 million calories. No, we don’t sell anything that big on our Baked Goods page, but just imagine the shipping cost 😉

 

© Featured Photo by HannamariaH from iStockPhoto

© Blog Photo by GourmetGiftbaskets.com

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