To think cupcakes are all fur coat and no knickers?

[StillCoughingandLaughing]

We’ve just been sent a batch of branded cupcakes from a client. They look absolutely amazing - colourful, intricate icing, wonderfully presented - but then I bit into one. Dry, dull and flavourless. The fancy buttercream icing is admittedly tasty (if a bit of a sugar overload), but the cake itself? Feels like a waste of 300 calories.

It got me thinking; most of the cupcakes I’ve had have been like this (apart from a couple of independent bakeries). They look beautiful and everyone oohs and aahs over them, but if you ignore the multicoloured icing flower with edible glitter, you’ve actually just got what tastes like a pound shop cake mix effort; the sort of thing you might make with the kids on a rainy day.

Am I the only one who doesn’t get excited about these all style no substance cakes? I’d much rather have a proper slab of cake with a gooey centre that actually tastes of something, regardless of how it looks.

The sponge is what makes the cupcake! If that's bland then no matter what you decorate it with, it'll be shite.

I love making cupcakes, it's my hobby. I don't eat them much myself because most get snaffled by everyone else pretty quickly.

The issue with factory or large batch baked cupcakes that you get from bigger stores is that they contain preservatives and the cheapest, nastiest "spread" is used. No real butter in sight. Then add to that they're chilled really cold which absolutely ruins a cupcake.

I hate those teeny weeny sugary dry bits of cake with loads of awful icing chucked in the top

I do make cupcakes but they are big cakes in muffin cases made with top quality ingredients and less sugar than normal. No cheap oily marg, synthetic flavourings and large quality organic eggs.
I also just put a small amount of really good buttercream or icing on. Hardly any, just a taste as my family and friends prefer it that way.

• rosewater and proper vanilla
• desiccated coconut and lemon zest with white chocolate
• high cocoa chocolate ganache

So glad it’s not just me. I want the whole cake to be delicious, not just super sickly but beautiful to look at icing!

You have clearly not had one of my home made ones

Moist, tasty & moreish or so I’m told.

YANBU. DS1 used to eat the icing off the top of them and then give me the crappy little bit of licked cake to eat (thanks, DS). I could always see why he rejected it.

Cup cakes are fairy cakes with no fruit.

The point is that it’s not mandatory for the cake to be dry and tasteless.

It’s a shame that it so often is. But that’s about crap commercial baking rather than cupcakes per se.

Most of the time they are bland and uninspiring.

Sometimes the cake is nice but the ratios are all out. It's 25% cake and 75% icing.

Plus, what's wrong with really tasty fairy buns? Tasty cake with a bit of buttercream or icing. Why did 3 inches of pink glittery icing become desirable?

I'm another one that loves fairy cakes - thin bit of buttercream icing on top instead of a huge glob. I would pick a slice of cake over a cupcake over cupcakes any day as I find the icing way too much.

cupcake over cupcakes? thanks sleep deprivation!

Cup cakes are fairy cakes with no fruit.

I don't think a fairy cake normally has fruit in it...

Yup.

You need a slab of date and walnut and a brew instead

My cakes are amazing top to bottom but I have banned myself for making them "just for us" we eat too many so if anyone wants to come for tea and cake just LMK...

They are all butter icing but not too much, baked in an aga so fluffy squidgy and delicious and can be made in 20 minutes.

DS1 used to eat the icing off the top of them and then give me the crappy little bit of licked cake to eat

DD1 used to do this too! She's still not a fan of cake. DD2 however... Cake fiend!!

Cup cakes are muffin tin and fairy cakes are the smaller shallower tins in my head anyway. Butterfly are fairy with tops cut off icing in and top chopped in half and put back like wings. Another good way to reduce the icing element and popular at school cake sales as icing doesn't go all over the bag

Bring back fairy cakes, a much better proportion of cake to decoration. Cupcakes all have too much cream/icing.

I'm fed up of the cupcake takeover, most of them are just fancy buns.

Butterfly buns are my absolute favourite, I'd much rather have one of those than a sugar fest pimped up version.

I still make cupcakes and get loads of orders for them, but I don't do much decoration. I concentrate on making nice cake instead.

Oh yes I agree. Colleague brought in box of 24 cupcakes from a local baker. They just looked gorgeous, all themed, all with perfect little icing features. Sadly, they were dry as a bone (I suspect that colleague had had them at home for a day or so though, so that will have had something to do with it, as they were in a cardboard box not an airtight tin - possibly just iced they would have been lovely) and the icing was that fondant stuff so there wasn't even a butter hit. So disappointing!

I agree. They are all style and no substance.

Infinite possibilities for looking absolutely gorgeous, but really they never, ever live up to what they promise.

YANBU at all, I'm not a big cake fan, and cupcakes are especially shit. My kids seem to love them though. I just don't get it, it's just a lump of cake with sugar on top

I much prefer my home made fairy cakes. Most shop cupcakes are not worth buying.

Totally agree that most are like that.

My SIL gets really offended that at family things my cupcakes are more popular than hers. Her decorating is wonderful, they always look fab whereas mine are cake with a bit of icing on top. However, mine taste really good.

If she could get by her petty jealousy we could actually have had a wee business on the go for a while (we were asked to caretake a friends business for a while), but she couldn’t do it

Agreed! A cupcake needs to be dainty like a homemade little fairy/butterfly cake, or with some kind of jammy/chocolatey filling. Also find the masses of icing usually sickly (and I like sweet!). I always prefer some proper cake instead.