Cupcake History
What is so special about the humble cupcake? Where did they first originate from? How have they changed over the decades? Why are they so popular today? These are all questions we will aim to answer within this section of the book. There can be no doubt that we are in the middle of a veritable cupcake explosion, so let’s take a closer look at the humble cupcake in an attempt to discover why it has become so spectacularly popular.
Cupcakes have been in the national news many times over the last few years, if we take the time to reflect upon the events that took place during the cupcake revolution, and right on through the cupcake wars, it seems incredible that something as simple as the cupcake could have caused such a stir… or is it? Let us take a quick journey through the history of the cupcake and see if we can find some kind of reason for their popularity and recent newsworthiness.
Cupcakes have been around in a recognisable form since the early 19th century, they have been enjoyed by young and old alike for over 100 years, and if anything, are more popular right now than they ever have been before.
The development of the cupcake was primarily driven by baking techniques in the early 1900s. Measuring tools were fairly crude back then, so recipes and portions were fairly standardised, as they were passed on by word of mouth, and used simple measures of ingredients, as opposed to the complicated way that we weigh and apportion ingredients in modern times. If we look back to the way food was prepared and presented almost a century ago, we find that most food was served in significantly smaller portions than they are today. The original cupcake would have been around three times smaller than the gargantuan dessert treats that are being baked in modern times, they were also far more basic, the multi-layered, impressively decorated examples we now see being produced are a fairly recent trend.
Cupcakes have been around for a long time, so it is hardly surprising to find they have become one of the most often baked, sold and consumed sweetmeats on the globe. We have also witnessed several variations on the Cupcake theme developed by specific companies such as Hostess, who changed the traditional formula a little to create products such as Twinkies. We have also seen companies producing mini or bite sized cupcakes, which just goes to prove that you can never have enough of a good thing! When we consider the modern cupcake, it can sometimes be hard to remember that originally, they were cakes, and not the incredible dessert they have evolved into.
Cupcakes continue to gain in popularity for a whole range of different reasons. They are a perfectly portable food, and come in a convenient, single serving portion. They are easily incorporated into a picnic or a lunchbox, and are not messy or overly sticky in the way many other desserts are. All of these reasons are no doubt contributory factors to the current rise in the popularity of cupcakes; however, there are several less obvious reasons for their success. Due to the fact that cupcakes come in a convenient, single serving size, they can be embellished by using decoration, or baking them in unusual shapes, and let us not forget that they can be wrapped in professionally designed packaging, which has been engineered by experts to illicit a desire response in the consumer. This final point serves to highlight the fact that cupcakes are not only tasty and attractive, but they can be marketed, and this has been the foundation of the entire cupcake revolution so far.
No other dessert has captured the hearts of the American public quite as firmly as the cupcake. Fundraising events will often take the form of cupcake bake sales, parties and celebrations will usually see cupcakes as part of the spread, and cupcakes are arguably the most frequently consumed form of dessert in the office environment. There is just something about cupcakes that appeals to people, from their convenient size to their attractive packaging, they seem to strike a note with just about everyone. Children love them, adults love them, and they can be eaten anywhere and at any time. A real taste of home cooking in a fast food packaged, they are bound to be a sure fire hit.
