There’s a food holiday for nearly every occasion and cupcakes are no exception. Today is the official National Cupcake Lovers Day! So where did cupcakes come from you may ask? At the turn of the century, multi-cupcake molded tins became more popular and available to the general public, leading to consumers baking the mini-sized dessert. The corporatization of the first mass-produced cupcake, the Hostess CupCake with its chocolate cake and signature white frosting squiggle that is still available today, also contributed to the popularity of the cupcake. And in the 1940s and 1950s, baking at home became easier with the introduction of box cake mixes.
Since then, cupcakes and gourmet cupcakes have risen even more in popularity. Cupcake shops have popped up in every town and people can’t get enough of the versatile dessert. Cupcakes have even become a hugely popular trend at weddings as an alternative to the classic wedding cake. After all, you can make virtually any flavor combination, filling and topping imaginable!
- Cupcake liners do more than make it easy to remove them from the pan. Traditionally, sides of tins are greased for easy removal, but also floured because the batter needs to have something to cling to. A cupcake liner takes care of both.
- On August 15, 2009 GourmetGiftBaskets.com broke the world record for largest cupcake ever made. The cupcake was 1,224 pounds, 4 foot tall by 10 foot wide, and had 2 million calories.
- The first mention of a cupcake recipe goes as far back as 1796. Amelia Simms wrote a recipe in “American Cookery” which referenced, “a cake to be baked in small cups”.
- However, it wasn’t until 1828 that the actual word cupcake was used by Eliza Leslie in her cookbook “Seventy-five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats”.
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