December 15 National Cupcake Day

donna

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
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Now Florida but always a Kentuckian
The first mention of cupcake was in 1796 in "American Cookery" by Amelia Simmons. The recipe noted "a cake to be baked in small cups".

In 19th century there were two names for this cake, cup cake and cupcake. "A standard cupcake uses the same basic ingredients as standardized cakes: butter, sugar, eggs and flour. Because of their small size, they cook much faster than a standard sized cake.

As to the pan that you cook a cupcake in, originally they were baked in heavy pottery pots. Now they are usually baked in muffin tins. Also paper liners are used to bake cupcakes. They are placed in muffin pan for each cupcake.

Recipe for little Chocolate Cakes (cupcakes)

1 1/2 cups sifted flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, well beaten
3 ounces chocolate, melted
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Sift flour with baking soda and salt. Cream shortening with sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and beat well, then add chocolate. Blend. Add sifted ingredients alternately with milk. Add vanilla. Fill greased pans 2/3 full and bake in moderate oven (350 degrees) about 20 minutes. Makes 20.

From: "The American Woman Cook Book" by Ruth Berolzheimer. 1946.

My Mom and Grandma's favorite cook book.
 
Cupcakes are ok.but the new trend for them has made them insanely overpriced.

True that! I was shocked when I went into a new cupcake bakery...haven't been that shocked since the famous 'sticker shock' of the 80s when car prices raised dramatically... Some of the extreme cupcakes are true works of art, however:

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My impression with cupcakes (like muffins & breads pretty much) is that you can pretty much make every kind of cake into a cupcake for portion control.

Since it is Holiday Time, ergo:

FRUITCAKE CUPCAKES

1lb. dates, chopped
1lb. candied cherries
4 slices candied pineapple
3/4 c. whiskey
1 tsp. pecans, chopped
1 1/2 c. sugar
6 rounded tbs. flour
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 325°F. Soak dates, cherries and pineapple in whiskey
until all is absorbed. Add pecans, sugar, flour and eggs to fruit. Mix and
spoon into cupcake tins.
Bake for 30 minutes.
 
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