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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

that a muffin is not a cake?

112 replies

notpodd · 17/11/2011 21:00

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

OP posts:
Chulita · 18/11/2011 08:20

YANBU when you need a chocolate mousse cake, a muffin just will not cut the mustard. My DH is the opposite though, I'd send him out for a packet of bourbons and he'd come back with a chocolate gateau because it looked tastier.

reastie · 18/11/2011 08:30

Don't know if this has been said before but traditional muffin recipes are lower in fat than a cake recipe (unless it's a fatless sponge of course) so given the choice between a plain cake or a plain muffin the muffin would be a healthier choice (not sure about with all the choc in it though) I'm full of useless info.

But YANBU in that a muffin isn't really a decadent dessert type cake. YABU to moan though - it's chocolate and it's cakey - I'd be happy Grin

lottiegb · 18/11/2011 08:32

Ok, the OP is clearly talking about an American muffin, not the English bread sort, as those don't come in double chocolate.

The question is, are those apparently cakey 'muffins' sold by coffee chains and elsewhere really cake? I contend they are a bastardised, more cakey (but not satisfyingly so) version of the American muffin, which is itself definitely not cake.

American muffins are intended as a 'healthy' snack or breakfast food and are less sweet and rich than cake. Traditional recipes include bran muffin, blueberry muffin, cinnamon and raisin muffin.

I have before me the relevant 'bible' on the topic, Joy of Cooking. Muffins are NOT in the cake section. They are in 'Yeast and Quick Breads and Coffee Cakes' (seems an odd category but there you go). There is a recipe for cheese muffins, along with the bran, wholegrain and berry varieties. I'm tempted to make some, they are lovely, filling and carry an aura of healthiness - very different from the rich, gooey satisfaction of a decadent cake!

Catsmamma · 18/11/2011 08:43

at least it was a double chocolate muffin and not some dry as a bone bran muffin!

I'd say a muffin was breakfasty baked goods, not really cake!

ScroobiousPip · 18/11/2011 08:59

Muffins are not cake. Over here (NZ) we eat a lot of savoury muffins - with bits of tomato, sweetcorn, zucchini etc in them. Deffo not cake (although icing is not a prerequisite for cake, eg victoria sponge, dundee cake).

But, if you weren't specific, YABU.

PS. Who does buy those horrid chocolate muffins in the four pack in supermarkets? Never yet met someone who actually likes them.

SoupDragon · 18/11/2011 09:24

"I have before me the relevant 'bible' on the topic, Joy of Cooking. Muffins are NOT in the cake section. They are in 'Yeast and Quick Breads and Coffee Cakes'"

That would make them a coffee cake then. Which would make them a type of cake, what with it being int he name and all.

Chambers defines cake as

  1. A breadlike composition enriched with additions such as sugar, eggs, spices currants, peel etc
  2. a separately made mass of such composition
  3. A piece of dough that is baked
  4. A small loaf of bread
SoupDragon · 18/11/2011 09:27

It may not be what the OP had in mind when she asked for cake but that doesn't mean a muffin isn't a type of cake. It also doesn't fit into the category of cake the OP specifically asked for but it is still a type of cake.

SO, Jaffa cakes - cake or biscuit or just plain disgusting?

lottiegb · 18/11/2011 09:30

Soup, none of the muffin recipes contained coffee, so no, not coffee cakes.

SoupDragon · 18/11/2011 09:30

Coffee cakes are cakes to have with coffee. Not cakes containing coffee.

lottiegb · 18/11/2011 09:39

Aha, on coffee, that makes more sense and is confirmed by Joy's inclusion of pastries and stollen in that section.

That matches my 'snack or breakfast food' understanding of the muffin.

I wouldn't dispute that the baking method is essentially similar to that for cake but the proportions of ingredients and intended use are different. I don't think muffins (especially proper ones, rather than sugared-up 'nothing in particular' coffee chain ones) are what most British people mean when they say cake.

We all know the answer on jaffa cakes...

SoupDragon · 18/11/2011 09:52

The whole coffee cake is something I only realised relatively recently :)

"but the proportions of ingredients and intended use are different."

the proportions of ingredients are very different for a mousse cake and a victoria sponge.

samysmum · 18/11/2011 10:00

Pardon me but what does YABU and YANBU mean? Its just so frustrating I can't work it out. I have obviously a dying brain. As for muffins, the VERY last thing I would spend my precious fat allowance on, a bar of Galaxy would be better, not cake by any stretch...

trixymalixy · 18/11/2011 10:06

You are (not) being unreasonable.

Mspontipine · 18/11/2011 10:29

You are lucky he returned.
I asked my boyfriend of 5 years to go out and get me a pork chop.
He left.....me

:(

LadyClariceCannockMonty · 18/11/2011 10:35

YANBU. There's nothing wrong with muffins, but if what you want is cake with filling, icing etc, a muffin is not going to hit the spot.

Peetle · 18/11/2011 10:59

YANBU - muffins are almost health food, you can get fruit, bran, etc ones and you can eat them for breakfast. If I want "a cake" it must be a muscular chocolate gateau. And a cup of tea of course.

PigletJohn · 18/11/2011 11:27

DP asked me to go and get a pint of milk from the corner shop, and said, if they had eggs, to get six.

I came back with six pints of milk. "Why?" she asked.

I replied "They had eggs"

Don't know why she got the hump.

TiggyD · 18/11/2011 11:32

A muffin is a cake and great to eat.

As Aerosmith said "You ain't seen nothing 'til you're down on the muffin"!

FlouncyMcFlouncer · 18/11/2011 11:34

Irrespective of whether a double choc muffin is a cake or not (and I'm tempted to go with 'bun' tbh), the fact remains that is can in no way be described as a "rich decadent slice of cake".

A "rich decadent slice of cake" DEMANDS either buttercream icing or real cream or perhaps both.

MrsWembley · 18/11/2011 11:52

Piglet You belong in Pedants' Corner.Wink

msbuggywinkle · 18/11/2011 12:14

Muffins are not cake. Muffins (in my head anyway and when I make them) have less sugar and fat than cake and contain healthy stuff like carrots and raisins and things (carrot and raisin muffins are lovely for breakfast) I don't like the sugary greasy muffins sold in costa et al.

What about tea loaves? I have them in one book classed as 'quick breads' with soda bread...

AbsofCroissant · 18/11/2011 13:22

Muffins are in the cake family, but more in the "cousin" relations side, rather than "children" (that would be fairy cakes or cupcakes)

I really really really really don't understand why so many people have objections to them though (particularly with the casual xenophobic anti-american thing that's always flung in). They're one of the best things in the world.

FACT

AbsofCroissant · 18/11/2011 13:27

Let us examine why muffins are awesome objectively

Cake is obviously fabulous, but it has two major failings

  1. It's fattening
  2. you can't eat it for breakfast without getting some major judginess going on.

Muffins remediate both these major failings by cake. How can muffins be wrong?

Soups · 18/11/2011 13:29

Yanbu

Leave him.

MrsWembley · 18/11/2011 13:31

GrinGrinGrin @ Soups

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