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The curse of the cup-cake - why not leave good cakes naked?

(29 Posts)
Merseymog Sun 13-Dec-15 07:11:33

We all know that too much sugar is a bad thing. My better half insists on being artistic with cakes. They may look very pretty and appealing but I remember a time when fairy cakes had either no icing or a mere smear of icing so you far more cake than icing. I liked that type of cake.

Yet now we shops specializing in providing toppings for cakes which encourage us to eat more and more sugar. A naked cake small or large so often tastes better than an elaborately decorated one; on its own it is had more than enough sugar content.

Who agrees that excessive cake decorating detracts from the cake itself. Encourage us to eat more sugar, thereby adding to obesity. Causes stress when people keep trying to give cakes more and more extreme decor. Who scrapes off the icing and eats the cake.

Am i a spoil sport for preferring a naked cake (cooked by a clothed or naked baker) or merely saying what a lot of you think. Individual cakes (cup or tray bake) are useful and can be appreciated with minimum icing rather than OTT sickly topping.

Eloethan Mon 14-Dec-15 01:06:35

I like home made butterfly cakes, with just a little buttercream icing. But these modern cup cakes are just too sickly - and, as you say, very unhealthy.

rubysong Sun 13-Dec-15 23:35:47

When did they 'cup cakes'? They were, and still are in this house, buns. Did anyone this side of the Atlantic grow up calling them 'cup cakes'?

Nelliemoser Sun 13-Dec-15 23:13:59

Coolgran65 I dislike butter cream icing as well and the mounds of it that you could see on the tips of cupcakes was dreadful.

A nice chocolate muffin or slice of carrot cake might have as many calories as a cup cake but it would not have all that dreadful sweet fat spread on top.

Coolgran65 Sun 13-Dec-15 22:41:49

I've never eaten a modern cupcake. Can't abide butter cream, a wee bun with a touch of water icing is just fine.

jinglbellsfrocks Sun 13-Dec-15 22:22:23

I love madeira cake. I once ate a whole one with my lunch. There was no one else in the house so no one knows. tchshock

Rubyredshoes Sun 13-Dec-15 19:34:24

Saw an item on TV recently about edible glitter just being the normal metallic stuff much to the horror of some professional bakers who had been using it! Not a fan of the cupcake - thanks Tanith - cloying perfectly sums it up for me.

Lona Sun 13-Dec-15 15:53:49

I've never been keen on butter cream and when it's so sickly sweet I think it's disgusting. However, a little bit of lemon icing on a lemon drizzle cake is perfection! ??

tanith Sun 13-Dec-15 15:09:53

thanks thatbags grin

Deedaa Sun 13-Dec-15 14:59:27

Since I bought a mini cupcake baker I've been making quite a few of them. I put what I think is quite a dollop of icing on them, but it's nothing like the quantity you get on shop ones.

MiniMouse Sun 13-Dec-15 14:08:36

It's not just the quantity of icing that scares me off, it's the glow-in-the-dark colours! tchshock

Greyduster Sun 13-Dec-15 13:40:33

I make a lot of cupcakes - mostly for selling at GS's school bake sales or to raise funds for his footie team, and the more elaborate they are, the better they sell. I enjoy fiddling about with piping and the like. I never buy ready made frosting, it's generally horrible. However, when it comes down to it, the more icing there is on them the more disinclined i am to want to eat them. I like butterfly cakes, or just fairy cakes with chocolate chips and no icing.

thatbags Sun 13-Dec-15 13:02:10

The word cloy is perfect to describe the excess sweetness, tanith. Full marks for that grin

tanith Sun 13-Dec-15 12:42:00

I only bake plain fairy cakes as OH won't eat them any other way, I used to do a bit of icing and sprinkles when the kids were small but otherwise plain and slightly overdone... he loves them like that.

I do agree about cupcakes I find them oversweet and cloy (is that a word?) in my mouth.

pensionpat Sun 13-Dec-15 12:13:32

It was Nigella who decreed that cupcakes were sexy!

thatbags Sun 13-Dec-15 10:19:07

I'd never heard of cupcakes or fairy cakes until I was an adult. As a child in Yorkshire and Lancashire, I only ever heard small cakes called buns whether they were 'stand alone' yeasted types or sponge cake types made in bun cases.

thatbags Sun 13-Dec-15 10:17:01

Hear, hear! merseymog. I totally agree. I'm perfecting my muffin-making technique in protest. No decorations, just cake, and good cake at that.

Teetime Sun 13-Dec-15 09:26:38

I don't like cup cakes- as you have all said too much sugar and they are far too sweet for me. I'm a good solid fruit cake lover. |Looking forward to a slice of my un-iced Christmas Cake - decorated with nuts only.

granjura Sun 13-Dec-15 09:15:21

I'd say it's not only about cakes- far too much fancy food around. Give me a plate of good wholesome food made with quality products- and i'm happy.

Indinana Sun 13-Dec-15 08:42:00

Whole, not while. Or, not of. Stupid iPhone.

Indinana Sun 13-Dec-15 08:40:42

The while cupcake thing really irritates me. We used to have fairy cakes which we decorated subtly with a touch of icing (not frosting- that's American for icing), of a blob of buttercream if we were turning them into butterfly cakes. Or we left them alone. Cupcakes were chocolate fairy cakes with a quarter inch thick chocolate fudge icing.
Then someone decides to reinvent fairy cakes, add mountains of gunk, and call them cupcakes. And everyone acts as if they've never come across individual, iced fairy cakes before. confused

Leticia Sun 13-Dec-15 08:07:38

Madeira cake is a bit dry- one I avoid.

Marmark1 Sun 13-Dec-15 08:05:52

Too much is too sweet even for me.Mind you, I put a dollop of cream on Madeira cake.

Leticia Sun 13-Dec-15 07:50:28

The topping is too sweet to eat! Horrible!

annsixty Sun 13-Dec-15 07:45:10

Well to me that topping on cupcakes tastes far better than the bland bit of cake under it, and at about £2:50 a throw I have only had about 4 in my life so it isn't going to kill me.

Leticia Sun 13-Dec-15 07:40:34

They look nice but I have to scrape it off before eating it. They are works of art and not food!