National Chocolate Cupcake Day is every year on October 18 – a day where office break rooms everywhere fill with a special kind of joy only brought by chocolate cupcakes (thanks Jan). Chocolate cupcakes were born out of a 1796 cookbook called American Cookery and have since grown into a worldwide craze and dessert staple. So let’s appreciate all there is about deliciously chocolate cupcakes and the happiness they bring to everyone who enjoys them.
National Chocolate Cupcake Day Activities
1. Whip up some homemade chocolate cupcakes
Spend some time in the kitchen (try not to eat all that delicious batter before it hits the oven) and bake some homemade chocolate cupcakes. There are more chocolate cupcake recipes on the internet than anyone could get through in a lifetime, but you have to start somewhere.
2. Try out a local bakery
If you live by a legendary cupcake favorite, like Sprinkles or Buttercup Bake Shop, today is a great day to stop by. That said, National Chocolate Cupcake Day is also a great opportunity to give some love to the local business in your area. Head over to a local bakery and try some of the best chocolate cupcakes they have to offer!
3. Watch a baking show
Once you’ve settled onto your couch with a cupcake to enjoy, turn on The Great British Bake-Off, Cupcake Wars, DC Cupcakes, or Cake Boss to celebrate the bakers who work so hard to get those perfectly-crafted cupcakes on the shelves.
History of National Chocolate Cupcake Day
Chocolate cupcakes made their first written appearance in what was also the first cookbook to be penned by an American. That American was Amelia Simmons who, in 1796, simply titled her book American Cookery, and featured novel, individual-sized cakes. But these delicious delicacies weren’t called cupcakes until about 1828, when another cookbook first coined the phrase. In fact, before muffin tins were more widely available, people baked cupcakes in whatever small vessels they could find – ceramic cups, ramekins, vases. What initially started as a new, American idea has since spread into a worldwide, confectionery darling.
The cupcake craze may have ultimately peaked in the mid-00s, with a famous Manhattan bakery making a cameo in the Sex and the City movie, but chocolate cupcakes make appearances in every baking show, contest, or competition and are a staple at the vast majority of office birthday or holiday parties. Whether you’re dozing off to the Great British Bake-Off or trying to impress your friends, chocolate cupcakes have so joyously woven their way into our lives they deserve their own holiday.
