What's cooking? from Inbal

Dear Word Snoop,

Did people used to cook cupcakes in cups?

Maybe this is a cooking question.

from Inbal

Dear Inbal,

I think it's a cookingword question, actually.

The word "cupcake" is nearly 200 years old. Now it may be that people used to cook them in cups, so that gave them the shape of a little cup.

Or it might be to do with the ingredients. Have you ever heard of something called a "pound cake"? This sort of cake got its name because it was made from a pound of butter, pound of sugar, pound of flour, and a pound of eggs. (A pound, for those who don't know, is about 450 grams.) So maybe cupcakes were made from a cup of butter, a cup of sugar, a cup of flour and a cup of eggs.

Nowadays most recipes for pound cakes and cupcakes don't follow this description!

When I was little we used to call them "fairy cakes". Or sometimes "butterfly cakes" - but that was if you cut the top off and made a little pair of wings out of the little bit of cake. Then you put the wings on the cake with some cream and jam.

You know, you've got me thinking now. I'm going to see if I can invent a recipe for "Word Snoop Cakes."

see you later (in the kitchen)

your friend, the Word Snoop