Cupcakes Rule the World

Cupcakes are two or three bites of moist individual mini cakes with sweet flavored icing, just enough for one or even two people to share. Cupcakes have taken over the baking dessert industry to become the latest pop culture trend. Weddings, sweet sixteen parties, birthday parties, or bat or bar mitzvahs, have turned to cupcakes as the desired dessert to celebrate with.

Cupcakes originated in the 19^th century. They were believed to save time in the kitchen with all the heavy baking in that era. The ingredients were easy to gather and also preparation. The Food Timeline Web, reports they aren't certain where the cupcake name originated, but believe it may have something to do with batter being placed in small cups.

The original recipe included:

One cup of butter

Two cups of sugar

Three cups of flour

Four eggs

One cup of milk

One spoonful of soda

Since this first recipe ingredients have been added in so many combinations, and cupcakes are the one baking dessert that you can truly make individualized, adding ingredients, flavorings, colorings, icings, and decorations. Normal sized cupcakes and jumbo sized cupcakes are available in bakeries now.

Some bakeries now dedicate themselves to selling cupcakes only, having customers lining up to enter their bakeries to grab one of the homemade miniature cakes. Television series highlight a few specialized cupcake bakeries.

"DC Cupcakes," features two sisters, Sophie LaMontagne and Katherine Kallins, who run a bakery devoted to cupcakes in Georgetown Washington. You can catch them on The Learning Channel (TLC) Check out their website, http://tlc.discovery.com/tv/dc-cupcakes/

"The Cupcake Girls," features two best friends and business partners, Heather White and Lori Joyce, who run a chain of cupcake bakeries and share the love of their craft and the stress of dealing with their personal lives. You can catch them on The W Network. Check out their websites, http://www.wnetwork.com/shows/thecupcakegirls.aspx or http://www.wetv.com/the-cupcake-girls

On both websites you can find further information about the series history, the people involved and also cupcake recipes. There are other cupcake television shows airing like, "Cupcake Wars," on the Food Network. Check your local television guides for other cupcake series.

There are also multiple magazines dedicated to the love of cupcakes. Below is a sample listing. You can find others by searching the web for cupcake magazines.

"Cupcake." http://www.cupcakemagazine.com/

"Martha Stewart's Cupcakes." http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Martha-Stewarts-Cupcakes/Martha-Stewart-Living-Magazine/e/9780307460448

So go and indulge your love for cupcakes. Cupcakes will continue to rule the world as sweet miniature cakes.

For further information about the history of cupcakes click on the below website link.

http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring07/Ayers/history.html

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