刚来这里的时候，我常常把这两个单词给混淆了，因为把它们翻译成中文的话，都是“纸杯蛋糕”的意思，可在英语里，它们却代表两种不同的蛋糕。

从网上看到一篇如何来区分 cupcake & muffin 的文章，写的非常有趣。

我把这篇文章逐句翻成中文，看英文觉得累的姐妹可以看我的中文翻译，当然热爱原版的姐妹，看原汁原味的英文会比较直观。

先贴两张图对比一下这两种蛋糕。

Cupcake

There might be some technical differences that a cook could tell us about, but from the consumer's point of view, the difference seems to be that a cupcake really is like a miniature cake: light in weight, sweet, and often covered with icing and decorations.

职业糕点师可能会从技术角度告诉我们这两者的区别，但是从一个消费者的角度来看，cupcake 更象一个迷你蛋糕，它比较轻巧，口味也偏甜，蛋糕顶部通常浇有一层奶油或者会放置一些装饰品（蜡烛、彩色小糖屑等）。

It tends to be not too tall because it's texture isn't strong enough to allow for a very tall structure. It's always made with white flour as far as I know.

cupcake 通常使用白面粉为主要制作材料，它的内部组织比较松软，所以无法做出顶部高高的造型。

Muffin

A muffin is significantly heavier in texture and also in weight; with its cohesiveness, it can contain fruit, nuts or chocolate chips, which are not common in cupcakes.

与 cupcake 不同，Muffin 的内部组织比较紧，糕体相对厚实，所以它比 cupcake 重。我们在制作的过程中，在原材料中会加入一些水果（蓝莓、草莓、香蕉）、坚果，或巧克力碎等。

但在制作 cupcake 的过程中，我们通常什么都不放。

It is never iced and need not be particularly sweet. It can be made with ingredients as heavy as bran, and can be rather tall and have a large overhanging rim that doesn't threaten to fall off. (The cupcake also has a rim, but it is rather delicate and not too large.)

Muffin 的顶部不会被浇上奶油，口味也不是很甜。

制作 Muffin 的原材料中会用到一些粗粮，比方说：麦麸。它的顶部比较高，而且会有一圈明显突出的蘑菇边。（cupcake 也有一圈边，但不明显）

If you threw a cupcake against the wall, you would hear something of a "poof!" If you threw a muffin, you would hear a "thud!"

"——这句话比较幽默。"

如果你把 cupcake 扔向墙壁，会听到“扑”的一声。但当你把 muffin 同样扔向墙壁，你会听到“砰”的重击声。

（我想没人会为了区分是Cupcake 还是 Muffin，去做这样的实验吧！）

A muffin goes with coffee, a cupcake with tea. (That's a rather controversial statement, so perhaps this discussion should be moved to the controversial topics zone.)

吃 muffin 的时候，我们通常会喝咖啡。而吃 cupcake 的时候，我们会选择喝茶。（关于这个观点，有不同的意见，所以仅做参考）

Fast food joints deal in muffins, especially in North America, but I have never seen one that sold a cupcake.

在北美的快餐店，我经常能看到有 muffin 卖，但却从没看见有 cupcake 卖。

（的确，无论在 Tim Hortons，还是 Starbucks，我也只见有 muffin 卖，另一种热销的食品就是 donuts 了）

Sociologically, a muffin is everyday living, whereas a cupcake is "we're getting fancy."

从社会学的角度说，muffin 是面向大众，而 cupcake 则是“小资”。

Theoretically, a man could say, "hey honey" to his waitress while he was chewing on a muffin, but with cupcake in his mouth he could only say, "my dear."

从理论上来说，男人在嚼 muffin 的同时，可以直呼女招待“甜心”。但如果是在品尝 cupcake ，他则要文雅地称呼女招待“亲爱的”。

If you were writing a novel, it would be a gross literary error to substitute a cupcake for a muffin.

如果你在写一部小说，在文中混淆了两者的概念，把 muffin 称为 cupcake ，那可是犯了个很严重的文学错误。

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自我总结一下，muffin 好比 instant coffee，而 cupcake 好比上乘的 ground coffee，需要细细品味。