Let's start with England - baking muffins similar to what we eat appeared in it. The British created two traditional types: muffins and Simnel, an English Easter cake.

Muffins. Why they were called that, the British themselves cannot figure it out. Whether the German muffin , "small pies", or French soft moufflet served as a source - the British call muffins buns for tea. They are sure that this already traditional pastry appeared in the 10th-11th centuries and became the embodiment of the traditional five o’clock tea drinking, which appeared in England not so long ago - from the 18th century.

What do muffins look like in English? These are small flat cakes that do not look like lush cupcakes, rather resemble yeast buns without filling.

They are made from yeast dough and served during breakfast, lunch or tea. Before serving, muffins are heated over an open fire, and eaten with jam, cream or butter.

If you want to have an English-style tea party, then you should know that muffins are usually torn into two parts and flavored with sweet additives.

By the way, American version of muffins- This is a portioned type of cake made from different types of dough, most often with filling, such as vanilla blackcurrant muffins, or pear muffins. Try making English muffins at home and compare with the modern American interpretation in the form of cupcakes with filling - the British consider these pastries exclusively homemade.

Appearance English Easter cake associated with the sentimental tradition of Mother's Sunday ( mothering Sunday ): on the fourth Sunday of Great Lent, fruit cakes were baked for mothers and received a blessing for the whole year.

In the 19th century, the British began to bake such a cake for Easter and call it Simnel Cake – Simnel. Usually this is a rich yeast ring stuffed with candied fruits and dried fruits, richly decorated with fudge or powdered sugar. You can try making Simnel cake according to this recipe.

french cupcake

The French gave us a chocolate muffin - muale(or moileux ). This chocolate dessert has won the hearts of the French and has received many variations.

The secret of love and adoration is in simplicity. Cooking takes no more than half an hour, and in the end you will get juicy, fragrant and slightly alcoholic (you can add rum, cognac, liquor) spicy muffins. We tried it and we got chocolate muffins - moileux from Pierre Herme's book “Larousse. Chocolate".

You can make a variety of moale, which appeared in 1981 - chocolate fondant. You will get a chocolate cupcake with a liquid filling - as in the photo.

german cupcake

We often bake an analogue of a German cake without even knowing it. This kind is called stollen. An oblong shape, candied fruits, fruits and nuts, powdered sugar and a characteristic crack on the crust - all this began to be done by the Germans. The recipe for stollen has not changed since the end of the 15th century. It is baked for Christmas, adding a lot of candied fruits and nuts to the filling, decorating with chocolate or powdered sugar. Stollen is often soaked in alcohol or sweet syrup.

The Christmas cupcake gradually ceased to be such and became a symbol of comfort, mulled wine or tea. Try to make a cupcake with dried fruits - you will like it!

Modern cupcakes look suspiciously like rolls and biscuits compared to those of old.

It would seem that we have tried all the sweets over the many years of the existence of our rubric. Against the background of the sign "SM Number One, People's Expertise" there were French rolls, and oriental kurabye, and, probably, all the sweets - from the elite brand "Korkunov" to the democratic "Korovka". We ate waffles and marshmallows, halva and boiled We treated folk experts with marmalade, plain and chewy, tasted chocolate, bitter, milk and white. Cooking.In the past, when the market was not yet filled with an abundance of imported goods, cupcakes were considered a truly folk product, equally in demand in every kitchen.Today, cupcakes are somehow undeservedly forgotten.We will try to fix this, and at the same time find out how the current cupcakes differ from cupcakes from the past.

Cupcake is a biscuit with splashes

As we managed to find out, the word "cupcake" comes from the English word, which the British designate a variety of rich confectionery products that have a filling in the form of raisins, candied fruits, vegetables, nuts, chocolate interspersed in the dough. The word "cake" came to the Russian language in the 2nd half of the 19th century. from English, where cakes is a linguistic form of cake - "sweet cake, cake".

The closest relative of the cake in the Russian version is the well-known Easter cake, but the technology for making the cake is completely different, it is more like making biscuits. The dough for cupcakes should, as a rule, be fluid, the form is always greased with oil or spread with oiled parchment.

The homeland of the cake is Great Britain. The classic English cake is called the Millennium. What did the British want to emphasize by this? Maybe the antiquity of the recipe, or maybe the fact that it can be stored for a very long time without getting stale?

Finding at least four cupcake manufacturers was not so easy. Despite the same name, cupcakes can look completely different, have a rectangular and round shape. Perhaps the most common is a cupcake, which in appearance is not much different from a regular roll, especially judging by the packaging. This is a Yubileiny cake produced by Royal Cake LLC, Safronovo, Smolensk Region.

In grocery stores, we managed to find small round cakes, six in one pack, with very similar names - "Magdalenas" (manufactured by Harris CIS LLC, Moscow) "Magdalena" from Chipita St. Petersburg LLC. The fourth type of cake looked very, very familiar - round, brown, without packaging, from the Irkutsk manufacturer of PE "Nina". To give objectivity to the people's tasting, all the cupcakes we bought were with apricot filling. Locally produced cupcakes are baked only with raisins.

We're spoiled for biscuit dough

It was decided to conduct a people's examination in a traditional place - in the Miracle Dish cafe.

An amazing coincidence: the first tasters to come to the table were our colleagues: Vasily Yashkinas, deputy editor-in-chief of the Pyatnitsa newspaper, and his wife Olesya.

The most airy and juicy cupcake is this one, - Olesya points to the Magdalenas cupcake from Harris CIS LLC. “That’s exactly what a real cake should be, in my opinion.”

Cupcakes, you say? How long have I not tried them! - exclaimed Irina Petrovna, our next expert, - I remember that earlier, when there were only candies "dog's joy" on sale, and even some rather boring primitive sweets, we cooked a lot ourselves. I baked cupcakes for the kids, kneading them from the dry mass, which was sold in bags. It was very convenient, although the cake turned out to be a bit dry, my children soaked it in tea. Today is a completely different matter. Cupcakes are not something to be soaked - you don’t need to drink them down, they are so juicy. But I am true to the old taste.

It is this cupcake, in my opinion, that is most similar to the real one, - said Irina Petrovna, pointing to the confectionery from the state of emergency "Nina".

Cupcakes are not at all what they used to be - a woman named Valentina joins the conversation - they are too clearly reminiscent of rolls and cakes.

Most of all I like this cupcake, - Valentina points to the Yubileiny cupcake, - its taste is real, not interrupted by flavoring additives.

A cupcake without filling (from Nina PE. - Author's note) is also okay, but, apparently, we are already spoiled with products that do not even need to be chewed, which melt in the mouth that we no longer perceive more severe food, - Valentina says with a smile.

Cupcake is such a cool word; when you hear him, you don’t imagine food at all ... This is such a familiar address to a male representative ... There is also such an expression: “The best diet: a cupcake in the morning, in the evening ... well, you understand,” Christina, a student, smiles fervently - This is, perhaps, all I know about cupcakes, and also - they are sold in student canteens, but they are not popular, we buy cakes with filling.

By the way, the cupcakes that you give for testing are no worse than cakes. I like this one the most,” Christina points to a plate of Magdalenas cake.

According to the results of the people's examination, the first place was taken by the cake "Magdalenas" produced by LLC "Harris CIS", Moscow, the second place was taken by the people's experts from the Irkutsk manufacturer PE "Nina", and finally, the third place with an equal number of votes was taken by cupcakes " Magdalena" from LLC "Chipita St. Petersburg" and cake "Jubilee" produced by LLC "Royal Cake", Safronovo, Smolensk region.

Irkutsk sweet tooth made their choice:

Cupcakes "Magdalenas", (LLC "Harris CIS", Moscow) - 45%

Cupcakes from PE "Nina" (Irkutsk) - - 25%

Cupcakes "Magdalena" (LLC "Chipita St. Petersburg") - 15%

Cupcake "Jubilee" (LLC "Royal Cake", Safronovo, Smolensk region) - 15%

Holiday cupcake recipe from "SM Number One"

Ingredients: 1 cup flour; 34 cups of powdered sugar; 100 g butter or margarine; 2 eggs; 12 cups of raisins; 12 cups of nut kernels; 12 cups of dried apricots; 12 teaspoons of baking soda; 1 teaspoon lemon juice; salt on the tip of a knife.

Preparation: separate the yolks from the whites. Grind the butter and half of the powdered sugar until white, add the yolks one at a time, stirring thoroughly until the sugar crystals are completely dissolved, add salt, soda, lemon juice, mix everything. Pour the sorted, washed, dried raisins, chopped dried apricots, chopped nuts and mix, then add the flour. Whisk the egg whites with the remaining powdered sugar until stiff peaks form, quickly add to the batter, and mix gently from top to bottom.

You can bake one large cupcake, you can have several small cupcakes, for the preparation of which it is better to use corrugated basket-shaped molds.

Bake at 180 degrees until done. Carefully remove the cooled cake from the mold, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Making the perfect fluffy cupcake is not as easy as it sounds. For beginners, magnificent muffins will come out far from the first time, but we advise you not to despair. We offer three recipes that are worth learning how to bake.

Semolina muffins with jam

Ingredients (for 6 servings):

100 g flour
50 g semolina (semolina)
0.5 tsp baking powder
60 g powdered sugar
1 egg
70 g vegetable oil
100 ml milk
jam or jam (dense)

Cooking method:

1. Mix all dry ingredients in one bowl.
2. In another bowl, mix egg, oil and milk. Whisk.
3. Pour the egg mixture into the dry ingredients and stir.
4. Place 1 tbsp. in each cupcake pan. l. test. Then add 1 tsp. jam (jam). In addition to jam, you can put nuts, seeds, dried fruits or sesame seeds inside the cupcakes. Lay out the dough so that the molds are filled to two-thirds of the volume.
5. Bake semolina muffins with jam for 25 minutes in an oven preheated to 180 degrees. You can decorate the semolina cupcakes with confectionery powder or whipped cream if you like.

Marble cake with almonds

Ingredients:

6 eggs
200 g sugar
200 g butter
300 g flour
1 tbsp baking powder
150g nutella (or 4 tbsp cocoa)
orange peel
chopped almonds

Cooking method:

1. Take 5 eggs and separate the whites from the yolks.
2. Beat the yolks for about 5 minutes with a mixer. Add the remaining egg and melted butter to the yolks. Beat for 5 more minutes. Add flour sifted with baking powder and beat for another minute, then set everything aside.
3. Beat the whites with a pinch of salt until a thick foam forms.
4. Mix the whites with the rest of the mass, carefully laying them out with a spoon or wooden spatula, then add the almonds to the dough.
5. Heat Nutella in the microwave (30 seconds).
6. Divide the dough into two equal parts. Add orange zest to one and Nutella to the other. Mix well.
7. Pour both masses at the same time into the mold, pre-greasing it with oil and covering it with baking paper. With a wooden stick (or the handle of a fork or spoon), mix both masses a little, making patterns, but not mixing completely.
8. Bake for 35 minutes at 180 degrees and then another 5 minutes at 150 degrees.
9. Remove from oven and let cooked cool.
10. The combination of chocolate, almonds and orange will give the cupcake a delicious taste and smell!

Delicate lemon cupcakes

Ingredients (for 6 servings):

3 art. flour
7.5 Art. l. Sahara
3-4 tsp baking powder
1-1.5 st. l. lemon peel
a pinch of salt
1 st. milk
2 large eggs
4.5-5 st. l. vegetable oil
vanilla essence or vanillin

Cooking method:

1. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and lemon zest in a bowl.
2. In another bowl, lightly beat eggs with milk and vegetable oil. Add 0.5 tsp. essences or vanilla and stir.
3. Combine both mixtures and mix well (the dough should be a little lumpy).
4. Grease a muffin tin with butter. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Fill the molds two-thirds with the dough and bake for 20-25 minutes until done, checking with a toothpick.
5. Leave the cupcakes in the tin for 1 minute, then transfer to a serving platter. You can sprinkle the top of the muffins with powdered sugar.

Cupcakes in molds (simple recipe)

Delicious homemade cupcakes

I, like many adults, have a sweet childhood memory of simple Soviet muffins with raisins and cottage cheese muffins, which were sold in all canteens and culinary establishments. It was very tasty! Therefore, even now, as soon as I see ruddy cupcakes with a wavy skirt on the counter ... my hand reaches out to buy.

Modern store-bought muffins from canteens and cafes still taste good, but those muffins sold in pastry departments seem to have shrunk in size and lost a bit of flavor. Something wrong is added there. Do you think so too?

And after a visit where a friend treated me to excellent soda muffins with kefir and margarine, which she served hot with a generous portion of ice cream and a glass of dessert wine, I decided to remember my childhood and cook my own.

Cross-section of a cupcake with cheese and dill, here you can clearly see the moves that air bubbles make, flying up and loosening the dough. Open the photo in a separate window, read the recipe.

What molds to take for cupcakes

Cupcakes are:

• in the form of a large pie (with and without a hole), in the form of a log (long box) - this is 1 pie for several servings;
• small portions, for 1 serving (like cakes or cookies).

The first form is rectangular and deep, the second is for portioned rounded muffins, this was prepared by Marina in the recipe for the Hazelnut Chocolate Muffin.

Small cupcakes can be baked in almost all cupcake and muffin tins (cupcakes with filling) where there are sufficiently high sides (4-5 cm).

That is, a cupcake (both small and large) should not be flat and long, but voluminous - knocked into a ball, with a large internal space. And in terms of shape, strive not for a plane, but for a filled ball, cube or parallelepiped. Then inside your cupcakes there will be a lot of delicious and juicy cupcake pulp, and not dried edges of baking.

Therefore, for small cupcakes, traditional forms with wavy edges (large and small), molds for 6 or 12 cupcakes in the shape of hearts, roses, truncated pyramids or cones are perfect. And the most ideal form for cupcakes is a mold in the form of a glass or a coffee cup (as they are aptly called cupcakes in English - a pie in a cup).

Flipping the cupcake pan

Large cupcakes can be baked in deep pie tins (sides at least 4 cm) - round, rectangular or square. Or in a form with a hole, from which muffins with a hole in the form of a wreath or bagel are obtained.

I made this cake with prunes. Click on the photo to open the recipe.

Form with or without hole

For a whole cupcake-pie with a large volume of dough, high forms with a hole are good. The walls of the mold form a hole, allowing tall cakes and muffins to bake in the middle.

In its usual form, such a large tall cake or cupcake will bake for a long time, it must be done slowly and at a lower temperature (150-160 degrees), so that the sides and bottom do not burn out, and the cupcake has not yet seized inside.

And, anyway, at the same time, you risk getting baked goods with heavily browned edges and a raw middle. And in a mold with a hole, the middle has already been taken out and hot air easily bakes the dough along the contour of this recess. Or do not fill the entire volume of a high form without a hole, pour a little less dough so that its layer can be guaranteed to bake (be guided by your experience + the properties of the form and oven).

But small molds with a hole are not always suitable for baking small cupcakes. The space taken up by the hole often makes the walls of the cake too thin, and the baked goods may seem dry and harsh to you. Therefore, for small portion cupcakes, it is best to take simple molds without holes.

How to grease cupcake molds

Silicone molds should be lubricated with vegetable or butter.

You can do the same with metal molds, porcelain cups, or other cupcake tins.

Paper molds (disposable) are inserted into ordinary (reusable) molds and filled with dough. And ready-made cupcakes are obtained - each in an individual package. Cute and comfortable. Photo: hstuart.dk

Large cake molds can also be sprinkled with breadcrumbs, but this is not necessary at all for silicone (there is enough oil, nothing sticks to it anyway).

All portion molds for cupcakes can be laid out with special disposable parchment paper molds. Then the dishes do not need to be lubricated, just insert a wavy pleated piece of paper into the mold. And there already lay out the cake dough. Paper folds give cupcakes a beautiful corrugated shape, prevent sticking to the dishes and serve as an elegant wrapper for portioned baking.

How to pour cupcake batter into molds

During the baking process, the cupcakes grow and increase in volume. Therefore, the molds should be filled with cake dough only 2/3.

If the filling of your keses is large, then you can lay it like this: pour 2/3 of the entire dough. Lay out the filling. Pour the remaining 1/3 of the dough, as in (very tasty).

This is how we put the filling in the chocolate cupcake.

This is a chocolate cake with a banana and prunes in the cut.

On which shelf to bake cupcakes

From experience, it is better to put cupcakes in the oven on a higher shelf. If you leave the forms with the dough on the middle shelf of the oven, they run the risk of burning on the bottom and not having time to brown on top.

How to store cupcakes

Cupcakes without filling can be stored in a tin or in a plastic bag for a long time until they are stale (2-4 weeks, as it turns out. If you don’t gobble it up). But the place should be cool, not hot. You can generally, over time, put them in the refrigerator.

And if the muffins are stuffed, the filling can ferment and spoil like in ordinary pies. Therefore, depending on the additives, the shelf life of cupcakes may be reduced.

All of our cooking tips and tricks apply to cupcakes made with this and similar biscuit dough recipes. If you are making cupcakes from yeast dough, there will be other rules and tips that are suitable for yeast baking.

These delicious cupcakes were prepared by Victoria Yuksel. Well done! Vika reduced the norm of products by 2 times, she got 12 small ones + 1 more))

These mouth-watering cupcakes on kefir were baked according to our recipe by Elena Shiyan. Well done)))