

Like cupcake pans, several sizes of paper liners are available, from miniature to jumbo. The use of liners is also considered a more sanitary option when cupcakes are being passed from hand to hand. Liners can facilitate the easy removal of the cupcake from the tin after baking, keep the cupcake more moist, and reduce the effort needed to clean the pan. These are typically round sheets of thin paper pressed into a round, fluted cup shape. Individual patty cases, or cupcake liners, may be used in baking. These were baked on a flat baking sheet in a double layer of paper cupcake liners. Ĭupcakes may be plain cakes without any frosting or other decoration. As an alternative to a plate of individual cakes, some bakers place standard cupcakes into a pattern and frost them to create a large design, such as a basket of flowers or a turtle.In recent years there has been an increase in stores that sell only gourmet cupcakes. Gourmet cupcakes are large and filled cupcakes, based around a variety of flavor themes, such as Tiramisu or Cappuccino. A gourmet cupcake is a somewhat recent variant of cupcake.These are typically formed from crumbled cake mixed with frosting, rather than being baked as a sphere. A cake ball is an individual portion of cake, round like a chocolate truffle, that is coated in chocolate.Elaborately frosted cupcakes may be made for special occasions such as baby showers, graduations, or holidays.Other decorations, such as sprinkles and icing sugar, are often added over the cake. The two halves are placed onto the filling to resemble wings. The top of the cake is separated and split in half.


This is the use of the name that has remained, and the name of "cupcake" is now given to any small, round cake that is about the size of a teacup. In previous centuries, before muffin tins were widely available, the cakes were often baked in individual pottery cups, ramekins, or molds and took their name from the cups they were baked in.

In the early 19th century, there were two different uses for the term cup cake or cupcake. The earliest extant documentation of the term cupcake itself was in "Seventy-five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats" in 1828 in Eliza Leslie's Receipts cookbook. The earliest extant description of what is now often called a cupcake was in 1796, when a recipe for "a light cake to bake in small cups" was written in American Cookery by Amelia Simmons.
