Not quite a muffin, but not quite a cupcake, either...
Fundamentally, while cupcakes and muffins look alike, their stock and substance are supposed to be somewhat different.
A cupcake involves a rich, buttery, sugary batter baked in small molds and frosted in a manner appropriate to their decadent character. Plus, they are commonly served as dessert. Muffins, on the other hand, are less sweet and are made with more wholesome ingredients (oats, dried fruit, oil rather than butter, wholemeal flour, nuts, seeds, carrots, etc.); they’re also considered as a part of a good breakfast or – as Nigella Lawson describes really bad supermarket muffins – a block of dry, aerated wodge that’s more of a breakfast scourge.
So where in either category would Sweet Ideas‘s blueberry muffin fit in?
It’s certainly the right size for a muffin, about larger than a standard cupcake. It’s quite densely textured. It has quite a bit of blueberry conserve swirled through it like a proper blueberry muffin.
However, it’s also made with a fluffy, moist buttercake batter and would not be out of place if served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream (or strawberry, for that matter) on top like a proper bit of cake. It also tastes decadent which, to be blunt about it, would be utterly out of place in a muffin.
Looks like a muffin, tastes like a cupcake...
So what is it? Frankly, I don’t want to know. All I do know is that it’s incredibly delicious, costs P 40.00 each, worth buying again, and is the perfect partner for one’s mid-morning cuppa coffee. :D
