Dense cupcakes?

[Night Elf]

What makes a cupcake super dense and heavy? I bought some at a cupcakery and am stunned at how heavy they are. I thought cupcakes were supposed to be light and airy. Did they add too much of something?

[Onceuponatime]

Maybe they forgot the leavening. Or too much of fat or liquid.

[Cinder]

Bakery cakes are typically more dense than box-mix cakes. I've noticed that when I make a cake from scratch it's also more dense. I know I've read about the why but I don't remember what it is. I'm sure there must be a Good Eats show about this. Hopefully a knowledgeable boardie will come along to enlighten us.

[unsinkable]

What makes a cupcake super dense and heavy? I bought some at a cupcakery and am stunned at how heavy they are. I thought cupcakes were supposed to be light and airy. Did they add too much of something?

Dense in a bad way?

 

Certain types of cake are more dense, like pound cake (lots of butter) and carrot cake (lots of moist carrots and sometimes other things like raisins, pineapple, etc. )

[Belacqua]

I wonder if it had anything to do with the sweetener. Cooking Light magazine had an article last year about that; they made the same cake with several different sweeteners (white sugar, brown sugar, honey, coconut sugar, Splenda, etc.). The texture was dramatically different depending on which sugar was used.

[plansrme]

Maybe they have to be brick-like to sustain the massive quantity of icing most cupcakeries put on their cupcakes.  I am no icing prude--I love homemade icing; but the icing and the icing/cupcake ratios on the cupcake stores around here are disgusting.

[Belacqua]

Maybe they have to be brick-like to sustain the massive quantity of icing most cupcakeries put on their cupcakes.  I am no icing prude--I love homemade icing; but the icing and the icing/cupcake ratios on the cupcake stores around here are disgusting.

 

I agree entirely. Every cupcake I've ever purchased has had far too much icing. They look pretty, but it's just excessive. 

 

And "icing prude" is my new favorite phrase. :)

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

Adding pudding mix makes it more dense and helps keep it moist too.

[Night Elf]

Dense in a bad way?

 

Certain types of cake are more dense, like pound cake (lots of butter) and carrot cake (lots of moist carrots and sometimes other things like raisins, pineapple, etc. )

 

We got a banana pudding cupcake, chocolate cheesecake cupcake, and apple pie cupcake. All 3 are heavy. When I make cupcakes from scratch they aren't anything like these. We haven't tried the chocolate cheesecake one yet, but the other two were dry and crumbly. I'm just not impressed with this place, and I paid $12.81 for these. Isn't that crazy? I was already at the register with them in front of me when I found out the price, and I was embarrassed to say I wasn't going to pay that much. I figured it would be a one time treat. Oh well. Lesson learned. I'll stick to my own cupcakes.

[Night Elf]

Maybe they have to be brick-like to sustain the massive quantity of icing most cupcakeries put on their cupcakes.  I am no icing prude--I love homemade icing; but the icing and the icing/cupcake ratios on the cupcake stores around here are disgusting.

 

Nope, they didn't put much icing on them at all, just a dollup. That surprised me.

[Amy in NH]

I bought one cupcake from a fancy cupcake place once.  Just like your experience, it was overpriced, heavy, and crumbly.  The texture was just unappealing - almost sawdust-like - and the flavor wasn't that great either.  Never again.