Barneblad: Cupcakes… or muffins?

Heidi Håvan Grosch
Sparbu, Norway

Photos: (left to right) Michael Stern / Wikimedia, Pixel, Pi.phage / Wikimedia
The muffin/cupcake identity crisis is on display here, from an obvious cupcake on the left to a cranberry muffin on the right, with a very confused chocolate-topped “muffin” in the middle. How do you know which kind of baked treat you’ve got ahold of?

It is so confusing in Norway because in Norwegian, cupcakes are muffins and muffins are muffins—at least for older people. Younger people call cupcakes, well, cupcakes. You know the ones: sweet cake with lots of frosting. They haven’t been as popular in Norway for as long as they have been popular in the United States. Now, however, cupcake mania has hit, and you can find everything you need to make and decorate a cupcake.

You can listen to a song (in Norwegian, for kids) about cupcakes—except they call them muffins. Here is the link: youtu.be/tyiEuaSC4h8

Photo: Heidi Håvan Grosch
Did you know that cupcake papers don’t have to just be for cupcakes? Here is a craft you can try. Just follow the picture and use your imagination! Have fun, and perhaps you need to eat a cupcake while you work?

If you are going to Trondheim, you can go to a little café that specializes in cupcakes. It is called Fairytale. For your information, there they call cupcakes… cupcakes. You can also go to my favorite baking shop if you are in Trondheim. It is called Traktøren, which I know sounds like tractor, except it doesn’t sell John Deere OR Massey Ferguson. Unfortunately, some of their products are for muffins (which are really cupcakes). Ah well. As long as it tastes good!

This article is a part of Barneblad, a monthly feature by Heidi Håvan Grosch to share with kids and grandkids.

This article originally appeared in the Feb. 24, 2017, issue of The Norwegian American. To subscribe, visit SUBSCRIBE or call us at (206) 784-4617.