Laurel, we couldn’t agree more. Cupcakes are truly the little hand-sized delights of the confectionery world, coming in as many variations as your imagination can dream up, topped with everything from sprinkles to frosting to candies. Cupcake Day tells you to reward yourself with one of history’s most delightful treats, the cupcake. It’s heaven in just three bites.
History of Cupcake Day
Cupcakes, surprisingly, haven’t been around as long as you might suspect. That isn’t to say that they don’t have a long and respectable history, they were first unofficially invented in 1796 when Amelia Simmons published a recipe for “a light cake to bake in small cups” in American Cookery. It wasn’t until 1828 that they would come to be known as ‘cupcakes’, a term coined by Eliza Leslie’s cookbook receipts.
Back in the early days of cupcakedom, they were made in distinguished ceramic cups, and a remnant of this practice can be found in the modern ‘mug cake’, where a ceramic mug is filled with ingredients and placed in a microwave to create a quick and moist cake. Things have advanced a bit since the days of cups of heavy pottery, and these days you can find cupcake “pans” made of everything from stainless steel to silicone rubber, each with their own advantages.
However, you prepare them cupcakes are sure to be a hit at every venue you go to. There are even gluten-free and vegan varieties of these cakes for those who are on restrictive diets, and while that may not sound immediately appetizing rest assured that some of these recipes are positively taste-bud-blowing.
How To Celebrate Cupcake Day
The best way to celebrate Cupcake Day is to produce your very own cupcakes from scratch, using your creativity and flair to create a style of cupcake uniquely you. Science organizations at schools and colleges are particularly fond of making a ‘periodic table of cupcakes’, each of them marked with the atomic number and abbreviation of an element. What ways can you think of to use cupcakes to promote your favorite causes and interests? The possibilities are limitless with the tantalizing desserts that are cupcakes.