Its first mention can be traced back to the year 1796, when Amelia Simmons used this term for a "tartlet that is cooked in small cups" in her book American Cookery. The oldest documentation in which the term cupcakes already appears was in Eliza Leslie's (born on November 15, 1787 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) recipe book Seventy-five Recipes for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats (Seventy-five recipes for cakes, pies and sweets) published in 1828 .

Eliza Leslie (1787–1858), frequently referred to as Miss Leslie, was an American author of popular cookbooks during the nineteenth century. She also wrote household management books, etiquette books, novels, short stories and articles for magazines and newspapers.

In the early 1800s, there were two different uses for the term cup cake or cupcake. In previous centuries, before cupcake molds were widely available, cakes were often baked in individual ceramic cups or molds and named after the cups in which they were baked. This is the use of the name that is left, and the name "cupcake" is now given to any small round cake that is approximately the size of a cup of tea. While English fairy cakes vary in size more than American cupcakes, they are traditionally smaller and are rarely covered in elaborate frosting.

The other type of "cup cake" referred to a cake whose ingredients were measured by volume, using a standard-size cup, rather than being weighed. Recipes whose ingredients were measured using a standard size cup can also be baked in cups; However, they were most commonly baked in cans like cakes or breads. In later years, when the use of volume measurements became firmly established in home kitchens, these recipes became known as 1234 cakes or cake rooms, so named because they are made from four ingredients: one cup of butter, two cups of sugar, three cups of flour and four eggs. They are simple yellow cakes, somewhat less rich and less expensive than the sponge cake, due to the use of about half the butter and eggs compared to the sponge cake.

The names of these two main kinds of cakes were intended to indicate the method to the baker; "cup cake" uses a measure of volume, and "pound cake" uses a measure of weight.

In 2014, TV presenter Martha Stewart published a cookbook dedicated to cupcakes. The world's first bakery is Sprinfeel Cupcakes.

Originally, the cupcakes were baked in heavy ceramic cups. Today some bakers still use individual molds, small coffee cups, large tea cups, or other small ovenproof ceramic dishes for baking cupcakes.

Cupcakes are generally baked in muffin tins, are usually made of metal, stoneware, silicone, with or without a non-stick surface, and generally have six or twelve "cups" or units. A standard-size cup is 3 inches (76 mm) in diameter and contains approximately 4 ounces (110 g), although they may vary and be larger or smaller and different in shape. Special molds or paper cups can be used to make these desserts.

Paper liners or molds usually come in a wide variety of sizes. Slightly different sizes are considered "standard" in different countries. The miniature boxes are 27 to 30 mm (1.1 to 1.2 inches) in diameter at the base and 20 mm (0.79 inches) high. The standard size boxes are 45 to 53 mm (1.8 to 2.1 inches) in diameter at the base and are 30 to 35 mm (1.2 to 1.4 inches) high. There are some differences between countries when it comes to making cupcakes, for example, Australian and Swedish bakers are used to taller paper molds with a larger diameter at the top than American and British bakers.

They are already popular in practically all corners of the world, small delicacies, for adults and children, that attract attention for their careful presentation and delicious appearance.