Quick Breads and Muffins / Discuss

!MimosaMicheMichelle! says:

The difference between a cupcake and a muffin.

My group is about quick breads which includes muffins.

Cupcake batter is very different from muffin batter and is very well blended. Even the fattest and sweetest muffins are not cupcakes. A cupcake is made with a cake batter.

A muffin is not at all as light as a cake. There is more flour than a cake batter. There is more liquid and less fat and sugar. There is always either baking powder or baking soda (with an acid ingredient) or both to make the batter rise because there is usually only one egg (rarely two). Often, there are extra ingredients such as fruits or nuts. A muffin is heavier than a cake. It is in the family of quick breads, not cakes.

The standard ingredients and proportions are

2 cups of flour
1 cup of milk (buttermilk etc)
1 egg
2 teaspoons baking powder (or ¼ teaspoon baking soda with an acid ingredient)
1/4 or 1/3 cup sugar
1/4 or 1/3 cup butter or oil
salt

Many variations can be made but one needs to know the secrets of baking especially with baking soda. The batter is very lightly mixed to prevent the formation of gluten.

What to conclude when your muffin includes two eggs and/or both baking powder and baking soda. Although in some rare cases there is one more egg than usual, it is only to aid the batter to rise but in a muffin, one egg is normally used and sufficient. Baking powder and/or the baking soda is the principle rising ingredient in quick breads.

Baking powder (prepared) is a modern invention from around the turn of the 20th century. Before that, people only had baking soda, an alkaline ingredient, which they needed to combine with an acid ingredient in specific proportions. It is just like when you put baking soda and vinegar in your sink drain and quickly cover the drain to unclog and refresh your drain. The two make a reaction like a volcano. When you combine your alkaline (baking soda) with an acid ingredient, the batter already starts to rise so you must rush to place your bowl in the refrigerator or in the oven for immediate baking. If you also use baking powder, its rising action will continue with the contact to the heat. You can use one or the other or both.

Examples of combinations:

¼ teaspoon combined with

-1 cup of buttermilk, or milk soured 5 minutes in advance with a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar
-1 cup of an acid fruit (ex: mashed bananas, apple compote, a berry fruit)
-a lot of honey or molasses

Baking powder has ¼ teaspoon of baking soda and ½ teaspoon of a dry acid ingredient. It also has ¼ teaspoon cornstarch just to give 2 teaspoons to make the measurement easy.

Here is an example:

In a recipe that uses buttermilk and blueberrie, these are the two acid ingredients. The standard 2 teaspoon of baking powder for 2 cups of flour can either be omitted or combined with the baking soda. The latter will then mainly used to neutralize the acid ingredients but would make the batter rise as well. In fact, you could bake the same recipe without the baking powder and the batter would rise beautifully. I often use only baking soda as long as I have an acid ingredient.

Any mention of cake or cupcakes in your photos would be incorrect and contradictory. When you want to add a photo to my Quick Breads and Muffins group, you must make sure that it is not a cupcake and that it does not have the title or tags for cupcakes. It can be one or the other but never both cupcake and muffin. One is a cake and the other is a quick bread (because made with baking powder or baking soda instead of a lot of eggs - more than one egg).
Originally posted 79 months ago. (permalink)
!MimosaMicheMichelle! edited this topic 57 months ago.