Comments on: Is it a cupcake or a muffin???

By: ruby

ruby — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 04:02:00 +0000

cake is done using the creaming method or foaming method where the first stage is devoted to properly incorporating air into the mixture. Blending method results to quick bread products such as muffins. the resulting crumb for blending method made products such as muffin is supposedly crumbly (assuming the baker did not overmix the batter or it will be tough and really tight…gummy as well). as opposed to a cupcake or cake, you can take the piece out as a whole and wouldnt crumble (but not tough) as compared to products made through the blending method.

The book you cited mentioned cake flour. Cake flour is especially capable of providing the fluffiness to the cake because of the bleach in cake flour. Bleaching agent specific to cake flour production is chlorine, which deteriorates gluten and thus the starches have higher tolerance to high ratio of liquid in the batter. Chlorination of flour is now banned by the European Union because of its health risks to consumers.

All cake flours are bleached; if it is not bleached, then it is simply pastry flour (Pastry and Cake flour come from Soft Wheat…cake flour undergoes further processing – bleaching). Cake flour is also ideal for recipes such as the pound cake (the dummified recipe you mentioned) which has high ratio of liquid and sugar to flour in the batter.

Speaking of high ratio liquids, most of the cakes we have commercially available and mass produced contain high-ratio hydrogenated fat that has transfatty acid. The high-ratio shortening has the ability to emulsify more liquid into the batter with little quantity of stabilizer such as flour necessary, thus minimizing the cost of the baked products.

Let’s educate Filipino consumers on what they are taking in. High ratio products taste good but consumers should be aware. Just like consumer advisories reminding customer’s about health risks associated with eating raw or undercooked products, consumers should also know the potential risks with widely utilized ingredients present in what they are eating. So even if in the end consumers still choose products containing those, it may be a health-wise sound choice, but at least, it was an informed decision for them to make.

Sources: How Baking Works by Paula Figoni
On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee
Baking and Pastry Book The Culinary Institute of America

By: liza

liza — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 04:03:02 +0000

I haven’t tried your muffins but according to some of my friends it’s really amazing. I tried sonja’s but the cupcakes there is very expensive and not as good as it looks like.

I was looking for something that is not only appealing in the eyes. It must be affordable and easy to sell.

If you can give me details pls keep in touch since i wanted to have a kiosk here in our mall in Lipa City.

thanks and more power!

By: Chal

Chal — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 06:28:56 +0000

Speaking of cupcakes, have you tried Cuptails?

https://www.clickthecity.com/clipcast/?v=242

By: carmina

carmina — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 08:46:47 +0000

in our province (mindoro), bonete is an alternative for pandesal. it’s oilier but delicious when hot. i never considered it a muffin, but i could be wrong.

By: Marketman

Marketman — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 06:34:06 +0000

edel, sorry, I am not so familiar with a “bonete”…

By: edel

edel — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 17:03:54 +0000

what about the ‘bonete’ sold in the provinces? these are muffins right? though its becoming a rarity nowadays

By: Marketman

Marketman — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 06:57:30 +0000

bluegirl, I have a recipe for a dayap pie in the archives, it was incredibly good, but incredibly rich and sweet…

By: bluegirl

bluegirl — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 06:50:31 +0000

This is off topic but didn’t know where else to put this. I want to say a big “Thank you” to you. Because of your Meyer lemon & Key Lime post, I learned that dayap = key lime!

I’ve always wanted to taste Key Lime but I thought it was not available here. Today, I found dayap in our Saturday market and I’m going to try something Key Lime tomorrow! Given this topic, I just might try making Key Lime Muffins!

Now, all I have to do is to hunt for Meyer Lemons! =)

By: Apicio

Apicio — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 20:54:39 +0000

Ahh muffin tops. I am like Elaine (from Seinfeld) who only likes the tops of muffins because they are crisp and tender at the same time and they are easier to dislodge from the pan, specially when you do not use those paper cups which half of the muffin stumps (bottoms) stick to anyway. Within a few months of that (May 1997) episode airing, muffin top pans were all over the place. I even bake individual coffeecakes in them now.

By: Mila

Mila — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 16:55:43 +0000

There’s a place in New York that started selling the “muffin tops”: so many muffins were being baked extra large and with an extra overhang along the rim. Folks would eat the top part, but discard the rest of the muffin. So someone came up with the idea of just selling that part, the mushroom cap of the muffin. It was probably because with the supersized nature of the muffin, the cap was enough to fill one’s tummy. One large muffin was probably 2 to 4 servings anyway. No longer healthy eating.

And “muffin top” also describes the overhang of a person’s tummy, usually when it hangs over a pair of jeans.

Scones, love them when hot and fresh, with dollops of cream and jam. Not the kind you find locally that’s been sitting all day in the display case, hard and dry with a few raisins for consolation.