that a muffin is not a cake?

[notpodd]

I was after something fattening, and DH was off to the shops, so I requested a "rich decadent slice of cake". He jokingly said "so carrot cake then?" and was corrected with suggestions like "black forest gateaux" and "chocolate mouse cake". He promptly returned with a double chocolate muffin and does not understand why I am miffed? AIBU

bloody barms! they are rolls. a 'barm' is somehow pronounced 'bam' in lancs where im about to move to and a 'bam' where i live now is an idiot

much fun has been had over this..

muffins are in the cake aisle but not cakes afaic. i like rocky road but i dont think thats a 'cake' either

dancingmustard "We have tea cakes with currants in"

that's what I call a teacake.

My yorkshire gran used to make curd tarts
Only ever seen them in a baker's shop oncer, in Durham.

YANBU - a muffin is definitly not a cake. Different crumb, different flour/fat ratios, different preperation methods. I would be vair, vair dissapointed to presented with a scrodery muffin rather than a delicous slice of cake.

a muffin is sommat you put chips on

you are referring to a bun

and a bun is not a cake - for if it were - it would be called cake

A muffin is likely to have been made using oil as the fat. Cake is more likely to have butter or marg.

That crumpet looks suspiciously like an American "English muffin" to me.

Do you know, it's only through reading his thread that I've realised why Americans call muffins (the bread variety) English muffins, in order to distinguish them from muffins (the cake variety). Never occurred to me before.

Oh, and YANBU. You said what you wanted afaic, gateau or mousse cake. Btw, I thought the x made it plural? How many gateaux did you want?

Well a muffin, even a chocolatey one is not decadent. However if you really asked him to buy you a mouse cake perhaps it's not surprising he was confused?

As you are all here and discussing muffins, can anyone tell me where in England English muffins (as sold in the US/Canada come from (if they do). They look like the picture PigletJohn linked to, and are eaten with a breakfasty filling here (like sausage, egg and cheese) and I've never eaten one in the UK.

I made cornbread muffins the other day, and my neighbour told me they were biscuits. All very confusing!

Nooka - the best ones are called Lancashire oven bottom muffins, and you can get them in most supermarkets in the North West. Failing that warburtons make muffins too.

YADNBU. A chocolate muffin from a supermarket is a sad, unsatisfy

YADNBU. A chocolate muffin from a supermarket is a sad, unsatisfying thing. Especially if it was from Tesco, which has incredibly chocolatey looking muffins that taste of nowt.

Thanks MyDogAteMyHomework, I live in Canada now where English muffins are common. Having never seen them when I lived in the UK I wondered if they were regional (I'm a Londoner) or totally made up. so now I know they are a North Western specialty :)

I once asked DP to buy me a Victoria Sponge and he came out of the shop with custard creams. Men just don't understand.

Your welcome Nooka

@ Jolly's DP - that's something my DP would do

Nooka Muffins come from Waitrose.

And I've lived in the south all my life and have often had muffins (bread variety) for breakfast or for a snack. Maybe it's because you're a Londoner...?

Nooka, they come from Drury Lane. Where the Muffin Man lives, obviously.

if you microwave your double chocolate muffin for approximately 30 seconds, it melts the chocolate chips and turns the whole thing gooey.

dh was just remembering the Muffin Man I miss Waitrose! Have to admit I've never spent any time looking out for muffins (of the cake or yeasty variety), I just thought it funny over here to see English muffins when I'd never heard of them before (and obviously I'm English). The closest thing I could think of was piklets, but they aren't really the same.

YADNBU. It's all in the icing.

A muffin is a light-weight, disappointing affair. None of the rich, density of cake. And none of the icing.

I'd be bitterly disappointed to be presented with a muffin.

nooka a quick look seems to suggest that English Muffins were a very popular foodstuff throughout England in the 19th century - an easy tasty fast food I guess.

With such a basic recipe and cooking method I suspect it's very old as it's just a bread cooked on a griddle as opposed to in an oven, I doubt it could be pinned down to any single location. As others have said it's known by other names in many places, but growing up in the west country we always knew it as a Muffin, but I've no reason to think it's regional to there. Unlikely I think.

A lack of icing does not make it not a cake. Many cakes have no icing. Whilst it may not have been what the OP wanted, it is still a cake. Provided it is not an "English" muffin, obviously.

nooka Oh and I've never seen any supermarket anywhere where you can't buy them, here in London I can certainly buy them.

English muffins were described in What Katy Did Next as being like rounds of blanket toasted and buttered (or words to wthat effect).

I like them vair much. I do not like those other things and would not have been happy to have been presented with one when I was eagerly anticipating a squidgy gooey cake.

So YANBU. But at least he tried.

From Mrs Beeton: MUFFINS. INGREDIENTS.?To every quart of milk allow 1-1/2 oz. of German yeast, a little salt; flour.

Mode.?Warm the milk, add to it the yeast, and mix these well together; put them into a pan, and stir in sufficient flour to make the whole into a dough of rather a soft consistence; cover it over with a cloth, and place it in a warm place to rise, and, when light and nicely risen, divide the dough into pieces, and round them to the proper shape with the hands; place them, in a layer of flour about two inches thick, on wooden trays, and let them rise again; when this is effected, they each will exhibit a semi-globular shape. Then place them carefully on a hot-plate or stove, and bake them until they are slightly browned, turning them when they are done on one side.

However, she adds "Muffins are not easily made, and are more generally purchased than manufactured at home."

DC have just been to play with a friend. The mum asked me if they liked pikelets.

I was slightly bemused as it's been about 30 degrees here today but politely said, no, thanks they don't really like crumpet type snacks.

But, and here's the twist, her pikelets were mini pancakes. I did while the dc merrily tucked in.