When it comes to baking, people can often confuse cupcakes as simply being smaller versions of cakes. However, this is wrong. There are a lot of differences between the two, especially when it comes to ingredients, time, tools, and much more. Below we take you through the key differences between cupcakes and cakes.

Ingredients

A basic cupcake and cake recipe typically have the same, if not very similar ingredients: sugar, flour, eggs, salt, and baking powder. If you’re baking plain cupcakes or a simple cake that follows a similar recipe, the proportion of ingredients will probably be similar. However, if your recipe is more complicated, such as angel food cake, then you will likely need to alter the proportions to accommodate the size of cake you wish to make.

Generally, a cupcake is designed to serve one person, and a cake is designed to serve several.

Tools and time

The most obvious difference between a cupcake and a cake is the size. Cupcakes are baked in tins with several cups. Each cup is smaller than a large cake pan, so a batch of cupcakes generally only takes around 15 minutes to bake. Whereas cakes are baked in larger pans, typically square or round, and can take half an hour or more to bake fully.

Decoration and frosting

Cupcakes and cake can be frosted and iced using the same techniques or extremely different techniques, depending on your level of creativity and skills. You can easily ice a cake with a can of icing and a spatula, and then decorate with frosting tips if necessary. However, cupcakes tend to look messy unless you frost them with a tip and pastry bag. This means they can take more patience and time to decorate.

If you’d like to brush up on your cupcake or cake making skills, then why not enrol in one of our private cake making courses. Learn a new skill and have brilliant fun at the same time! Check out Pearl’s Creations for more information.