'Cupcake' instead of fairy cake or bun

I've lived in several areas and as far as I can see, pikelets and crumpets are the same thing in England. However, in Scotland, a crumpet - at least in my youth - was like a thin pancake, about the dimensions of a tea plate but with holes in one surface like an English crumpet/pikelet. It was spread with butter and jam and rolled up.

In Derby covered market (when I were a lass) there were lots of little stands selling either pikelets(thin) or crumpets (thick). I thought I had it sussed until I met my husband, who is Leicester bred Nelliemoser, whose family call them all 'pifelets'.

I haven't seen any variation in thickness J04. Maybe they only sell one kind around here cos they think we couldn't cope with the confusion

According to wikipedia my pikelet is actually a crumpet.

Nelliemoser that's what we called pikelets in Yorkshire as well. I had never heard of a crumpet and I'm still not sure what one is. It's all very confusing.

Absentgrana I must ask! How many armadillos have you eaten! and can you recommend a recipe!

The thick ones are the crumpets NellieM.

Pikelets are the thin crumpets. They are delish too.

Actually it has occured to me that the original cupcake recipe was a cupful of everything - fat, sugar, flour, plus eggs.

Nobody does that now. Think it was an American thing.

Someone on Radio 4 just mentioned fairy cakes and followed it up with "oh, we mustn't call it that now, must we?"

It's total confusion all round.

Re the references to Muffins/Crumpets do you mean what I grew up with in Leicester knowing them as "pikelets" (The thick doughy white things with holes in?)

I think they are now known as cupcakes because people feel they have to reinvent the wheel and create new fads and marketing opportunities. The little cakes in paper cases our grans, and mums taught us to make were little different, apart from cup cakes now having piles more oversweet butter cream icing on top, thus adding to the obsesity problem (I do like a good whinge.)
We had fairy cakes, butterfly cakes, Rock cakes, individual chocolate cakes of all kinds. I particular remember some small shop bought cakes with a lovely pinapple flavoured topping I've not seen them for years! Does any one else remember them?
Perhaps we need to think of a new product to promote, out of what to us was a standard old recipe and make our fortunes.

Looks luscious, shysal. Almost too good to eat! Not!

Ha! Ha! Sock it to us, shysal! Nothing shy about that cake!

All you cupcake haters will feel sick at the thought of the giant cupcake birthday cake I have put on my profile then! It was a chocolate and vanilla marble cake, baked in one of the silicone baking 'tins' that are available everywhere these days - it was huge! I sliced it into 4 layers sandwiched with alternate chocolate and vanilla buttercream. Yucky but yummy!

I've never liked muffins at all. Too solid somehow. Crumpets are my thing for Sunday tea.

whitewave at a school fete I went to recently there were two cupcake stalls. One was by a couple selling their very upmarket ones for £2 each, the other was several schoolgirls selling their, much less butter-creamed but much nicer ones, at 50p a throw.

The girls were selling out. The couple seemed to have no takers! I wonder why?!

Oh, just switched on before breakfast and am drooling at the thought of a proper (British) muffin for breakfast! I can't eat those horrible over sized, over flavoured and over here American muffins. Too much raising agent (bi-carb? Baking powder?) I tried one when they first appeared here. An enormous chocolate mound I seem to remember. I blew up into a very uncomfortable nauseous balloon and haven't wanted one since!

Whatever became of the divine rum baba. I'd gladly pay £2.50 for a chance of eating one of them again!

Going back to cup cakes for a bit. My Grandsons village had a fete and there was a stall with some delightfully decorated cupcakes on it and the children all flocked around but they were £2.50 each!! I thought that was terribly expensive, just for a gloryfied fairy cake.

Yes you can, jings! Good grief! Why would anyone eat artificial cream when real cream exists?

They're the ones Anagram. They've definitely gone out of favour now. You can't beat a nice bit of artificial cream!

There is considerable variation along the muffin/crumpet terminology fault lines. I come from Wales and disagree totally with my DH who uses black country terms.
Welsh cakes are made with rock cake dough and cooked on a griddle. Eaten warm lovely but dull once they have cooled. I think maybe the same might apply to rock cakes.

They sing on the griddle or girdle as my Glaswegian friend called it!

Do you mean 'hinnies', jenni. I've never heard of singing ninnies - have probably heard some though.