Do you know that both cupcakes and muffins are different and belong to different food families? Both may look alike abut both are quite different. Let’s discuss those basic differences you should know.
1. Cupcakes are the smaller version of cakes while muffins aren’t necessarily desserts. They can be savory as well. Savory muffins are made with items like bacon, cheese, etc.
2. Butter is used in cupcakes while oil is used in the making of muffins.
3. The process of making these to also differ a lot. The ingredients are added one after the other for making cakes but while preparing a muffin all the ingredients are mixed all together.
4. One more simple yet big difference they make is cakes have fruity, flavored frosting on top while muffins lack it.
5. Cupcakes use cake flour. Usually 60-80% of the four is used. But muffins use al flours especially whole grain flour is used.
6. Cupcakes are deserts and so are 100% sweet while muffins can be sweet or savory. Cupcakes use favors like vanilla, chocolate, red velvet or lemon etc. but muffins use chocolate chips, dried fruits, nuts, bacons, cheese etc.
7. Emulsion is important for cakes while muffins don’t need it.
One more definition you can give is when the sugar, egg, and fat ratio of muffins doubles, it reaches the cake level.
So these are the major differences between these two. We love both.