history of the cupcake
There's a famous saying that says "In order to know where you are going, you must first know where you came from." I thought it would be fun and interesting to provide where cupcakes originated and how they came to be one of the most well known treats. According to FoodTimeLine, there are two theories on how cupcakes get their name.
- #1: The name comes from how the ingredients were measured, "1 cup." In a time where ingredients were measured using weight instead of cups and teaspoons, using just one cup make measuring much easier.
- #2: The cakes were baked in small clay cups or teacups. These small cups provided individual cakes rather than large, "unfinishable" cakes.
It turns out that both of these theories are true. Small pound cakes, often called "Queen Cakes", were baked individual-sized "cups" and very popular during the 18th century. A recipe for the first cupcakes wasn't published until 1826 in an American cookbook. But some recipes have been found that date bake to the late 1700's. It probably will never be known who exactly invented the cupcake and how it cake to be.
the cupcake goes mainstream
Hostess introduced its first cup cake snack in 1919, forever popularizing the treat. But the Hostess cupcake we all know didn't come to be until 1947 that Hostess developed the cream-filled, loop-de-loop design that makes Hostess so recognizable. They were a hit among kids and so a cupcake craze was born in the 1950's. But now-a-days cupcakes are glamorous and fancy. Simplicity, although very much admired, often falls by the wayside. Cupcakes can be vegan, gluten free and even alcoholic. Cupcake culture is here to stay and it has our attention.