In many neighbourhood bakeries, from Luzon to the Visayas and even in Mindanao, I notice how they sell ‘cupcakes’ that are actually muffins. I do not have the heart nor the nerve to tell them of their false advertising or mistaken identification. I suppose not many people care for the difference either.

Is there really a difference? Yes there is. To put it simply, a cupcake has a lighter texture, with its batter containing a higher oil, sugar and eggs to flour ratio. From the mixture, cupcakes have a slightly rounded top with icing but nowadays there are un-iced cupcakes and iced muffins. In the UK and Europe, cupcakes are also known as fairy cakes, and are more spongy in texture.

Muffins, on the other hand have a denser, more bread-like texture than cupcakes. There are two kinds, the first being the English muffin, which is a thick, flattened bread roll made from yeast dough and eaten split, toasted, and buttered. An example easily found in the Philippines is the bread on a McDonald’s Sausage McMuffin. The second and more familiar muffin originated in North America and is a small round cake baked with or without liners. A proper muffin, because of the higher flour to oil, sugar and eggs ratio, has a sturdier and higher dome. What are in the neighbourhood bakeries sold as cupcakes are these muffins.

There’s a neat summary of the difference from online references which you might find useful over at Habeas Brulee.