Cupcake Vs. Muffin: Making the Case for Team Muffin

About author / Amy Powell

World traveler; gourmet 30 minute meals; lover of exotic ingredients; winner on FoodTV's Chefs vs City; graduate French Culinary Institute. Her recipes will tantalize your taste buds.

A friend of mine, Adam Weiss, engaged his twitter followers in the age-old debate: if a cupcake and a muffin were to get into a fight, who would win? Well, maybe that wasn’t exactly his proposition; it was more of a Team Cupcake vs. Team Muffin query. What Adam was getting at is, what is the big deal with cupcakes? Are they just insecure muffins hiding under a lofty frosting top hat? Or is a muffin, in its super-sized, super calorie form that we know it today, nothing more than a sorry excuse for its more glamorous cupcake cousin?

I was quick to weigh in: Team Muffin all the way. Here are the reasons why.

A muffin will always be there for you, no matter what time of day. A cupcake by its definition is a miniature cake. A cake is a dessert, something usually enjoyed after a main meal typically dinner. A muffin however is far more versatile. It can be eaten as breakfast, with lunch or dinner as an alternative to a roll, or yes, even as dessert.

Often sweet, sometimes savory, a muffin goes where a cupcake dares not. Blueberry, cranberry-orange, banana-nut. The form we are most familiar with when it comes to muffins is the fruity, sweet, breakfast variety. But muffins are a bit sexier than their saccharine sweet dessert counterpart. Sometimes muffins prefer to go all dark savory. Think creamed corn muffins, pumpkin-cardamom, or whole wheat muffins studded with sunflower seeds. A muffin, simply a quick bread in miniature, can transform in ways those prissy little frosted cupcakes would never think to.

Healthy or decadent, a muffin always tastes good. Ever hear your friends raving about low-calorie cupcakes? I didn’t think so. Again, a cake by its very nature requires fat and sugar, usually lots of both. Those so-called healthy versions never really measure up. Not so the muffin. One of my favorite cookbooks, an ancient, well-loved now out-of-print paperback called Dr. Cookie’s Cookbook is one of my favorites for the very fact it has not one, but many recipes for low-fat, low-calorie muffins that taste just as good as their fattier counterparts. By adding in natural moisture from yogurt or applesauce, and healthy sweeteners like orange juice, crushed pineapple, and shredded carrots, those recipes prove that you don’t have to bust your diet just to have a muffin snack.

Good muffins never require long lines. Possibly the number one reason the muffin wins is that a good muffin, hot out of the oven, is never more than 30 minutes away. It seems cupcakes on the other hand require waits in long lines just to purchase a heavily decorated mini cake creation at exorbitant prices. I understand why people prefer to buy cupcakes versus make them at home: an excellent cupcake, such as those at the famous Magnolia Bakery, often require sifting flour, creaming butter, whipping eggs, the sorts of labor intensive activities that most of us don’t have the time, energy, or talent to undertake.

Meanwhile little old muffin will never make you wait in a line. With little more than a few simple pantry ingredients and a whisk, hot fresh muffins can be had anytime your heart desires.

That being said, I’m not anti-cupcake, just strongly pro-muffin. I’ll enjoy the occasional cupcake but I’ll take the muffin any day. Plus in a fight, the muffin would totally win.

Serves/Makes: 12

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1/2 cup non-fat plain yogurt
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 2 tablespoons raw pumpkin seeds