Fruit & Nut Muffcake

I made a batch of these for an afternoon picnic and an interesting discussion arose. What's the difference between a cupcake and a muffin?

In my opinion, look-wise, muffins have a puffed head, cupcakes are flat and so they allow for being topped with forsting, icing, anything. Ingredient-wise, you use milk or at least buttermilk for muffins. Also cupcakes are supposed to be a bit thicker while muffins are fluffier.

a puffy head

However, this recipe comes from a cookbook I got from a dear friend and since it's called 200 cupcakes, I'd imagine them knowing what they write about. They call it a Fruit and Nut Cupcake and the recipe is supposed to yeild 18 yummy cupcakes. But my tray has only 12 places and I didn't have time to make two batches so I put more batter in than I should and the cupcakes grew and grew and became muffcakes - cupcakes with a puffed head. Sorta.

Anyway, it's my favourite recipe from the book, so I was glad I could make it after such a long time of no baking. It is true that there guys are a bit softer, fluffier than standard cupcakes, that's why I called then muffcakes. I guess it's because of the amount of butter and muscovado sugar.

Fruit and Nut Muffcakes
for 18 of them you will need:

the batter is very yellow

• 150g lightly salted butter, softened
• 150g light muscovado sugar
• 200g flour
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon of almond extract
• 50g of chopped nuts (i use a mix of walnuts, almonds and hazelnuts)
• 75g of mixed dried fruit (i get a pack of dried forest fruit)

1. Line 2 12-section bun tray with 18 paper cases. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Chop the nuts if needed and slice the dried fruit into small pieces.
3. Put the butter, eggs and the almond extract in a bowl and whisk well together. In a different bowl mix the flour, sugar and the baking powder, then add to the egg mix and stir for about a minute or two until light and creamy.
4. Add the chopped nuts and dried fruit and stir until evenly combined. Divide the batter between the paper cases.
5. Bake in the oven for about 25 minuts or until risen and firm to touch. Let cool in the tray before taking them out.