to want people to stop saying cupcakes and call them fairy cakes instead?

[GetOrfMoiLand]

I don't know why I care really.

I just think that they should be called fairy cakes like days gone by

Saw Hummingbird cupcake book in a shop and thought should be Hummingbird fairy cakes.

Or is it just me?

Damn this thread. I had to go away and convince DD that we should make a shed-load of fairy cakes* and I have eaten three in the last hour.

*These are small cakes, baked in cases in a bun tin but decorated with butter icing, or indeed frosting. Are they fairy cakes or miniature cupcakes?

This is my local cupcake shop I'm ashamed to admit that I do stand and gawp through the window as I love the look of the edible glitter etc but the cakes themselves are always disappointingly sickly.

In my mind cupcakes are iced so that they are flat and the thickish icing comes to the top of the cake case. Fairy cakes can be a bit pointy on the top with perhaps a smidge of water icing on them and maybe some sprinkles or similar. About the same size though.

This is based entirely on cakes my mum made/bought when I was about 7 though no basis in fact whatsoever.

Oh and I think I'm going to move to Worthing!

Weeeeell, I wouldn't be in a great rush to do so FullMoon. I think 'Parklife' might be just about all the town has going for it. Oooh! And a new Hennes opening this week!

lol, I have been drooling my way through Parklife's photostream - particularly loving this

I noticed that most of the cakes seem to have frosting and not fondant...

I thought cakes in general were iced with fondant in the UK?

[hopeful emoticon - can't stand fondant]

Did anyone used to make fairy bread?

I'm with the buns brigade. not fairy cakes. not cup cakes. buns.

and now I've been on here I think I'm going to have to make some

Diddl are you an Aussie? My DH is and he always talks about fairy bread.

No, I´m not.

But it made wonder if that´s where the name for fairy cakes came from with the "sprinkles"

Or do some people call butterfly cakes fairy cakes because of the "wings"?

I heart this thread!

(Although don't understand all this bun talk ... what?!)

in Ireland we call them queen cakes and they will NEVER be cupcakes no matter what they are advertised as!!!
we call queen cakes with the top bit halved and cream and jam put in fairy cakes cos the top half then looks like fairy wings

They will always be buns to me, I will accept fairy cakes at a push but not cupcakes.
A hotdog roll with icing on is an iced finger and burgers are served in a breadcake or a bap not a bun.

Gregs Tv advert for Halloween BUNS! Yay we are not alone bun lovers (shame it was Greggs though )

robie - i'm irish and i have never heard of queen cakes, we have always called them buns. must be a regional thing both in ireland and the uk.

Ooh!

Burgers definately go in a bun!

Queen cakes for me are individual sponge cakes with raisins in.

Or sultanas?

Cake is cake to me, but if you like, you can all send me some (courier service not through the post, they will never arrive) and I will eat them and let you know if they were fairy cakes, cupcakes, buns or whatever.

YABU. Fairy cakes, buns, and cupcakes are very different.

Fairt cakes are smaller, have a coarser crumb, and are usually iced flatter.

Buns, well that is an Englishism I only encountered once I was here. Bun in the US is what you call a bap.

Cupcakes are a completely different thing. Not just size, but also ratio of fat/flour/sugar. The atrocities which are called cupcakes in the country are pretty dire. A cupcake is NOT a large fairy cake!

meant fairy cakes, not fairt cakes!

I love cake, but I'm heartily fed up with this cupcake malarkey. It's totally over-fetishising something that is basically a poxy small cake. I hate the vast pile of frosting you get - I actually can't physically eat it, it's so much sugar (and I am far from a health freak). I think a lot of "cupcake" purveyors see it as a marketing wonder and a thing of beauty and forget that it's actually food that's supposed to be nice to eat. I have seen horrendously pricey cupcakes for sale at craft fairs and in posh household shops and they are just sat around uncovered at room temperature all day. Yuk.

On a po-faced political note I think this whole cath kidston cupcake 50s housewife domestic goddess fembot craze has a deeply dodgy side. It's like women are fleeing back to something they are supposed to do well and revel in - obsessing over cakes and spriggy florals - at a time when feminism is really struggling and many, many women just want to turn away from demanding real equality. It is dressed up as ironic retro kitsch etc but a lot of it is plain old mindlessness. And we're being played for it financially on a grand scale.

(and I say that as someone who does love my cakes and my craftiness - but I hate the way it's become some kind of fetishised wondrousness)

So there.

Madamedubain, may I shake you warmly by the hand. you have just encapsulated exactly what it is I hate about cupcakes. Including the too much icing.

Bravo!

Oh, quite sad that cupcakes represent anti-feminism to you.

To me they represent individual cakes that my mom used to make and let us each ice our own to our own little, artistic hearts' content.

To me it is getting my very own, personal little cake that I put a smiley face and a flower on All By Myself.

It has nothing to do with retro or kitch and everything to do with childhood happiness.