# Alcoholic Cupcake **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [August 20, 2010, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcoholic-cupcake/550844 "2010-08-20T06:49:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcoholic-cupcake/550844/41 "2010-08-24T23:16:08Z")
> [@Tranquilis](#): > > Just because marketing agencies and common usage has twisted the meaning of the word [nutrient], it does not follow that such usage is correct or exclusive. It did not say it was incorrect or exclusive, I said it was confusing. > [@wshandling](#): > > Can I get some clarification on what exactly this means? Is this saying that if I take a bottle of vodka, leave it open overnight, 30% of the alcohol content will evaporate, but without much changing in the actual volume of liquid in the bottle? Or is it saying the liquid evaporates with the alcohol? Or what? Vodka is largely alcohol mixed with water (based on the proof) and some other flavorants (essence of whatever). The alcohol will evaporate out much more quickly than the water. The volume in the bottle/glass will drop depending upon the percentage of alcohol vs water and how much alcohol evaps. You will not get concentrated alcohol. You will essentially be diluting the remaining vodka, as the water content will evaporate more slowly, leaving more water for the remaining alcohol. > **[Vodka](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vodka)** > > Vodka (Polish: wódka \[ˈvutka\]; Russian: водка \[ˈvotkə\]) is a clear distilled alcoholic beverage. Its varieties originated in Poland and Russia. Vodka is composed mainly of water and ethanol but sometimes with traces of impurities and flavourings. Traditionally, it is made by distilling liquid from fermented cereal grains and potatoes since the latter was introduced in Europe in the 18th century. Some modern brands use maize, sugar cane, fruit, honey, and maple sap as the base. > Since the 1890s... This says they range from about 75 to 100 proof - that means the _good_ stuff is 50% water, and it goes downhill from there. **Chronos** said: > [@](#): > > With vodka, to a large extent, the liquid _is_ the alcohol. Alcohol is not just water with something in it: It’s its own substance, that just happens to in some ways resemble water. True, but **vodka** is water with something in it - alcohol. ---
**Author:** ![fusionkitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d78d45/32.png) [@fusionkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fusionkitty)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcoholic-cupcake/550844/42 "2010-09-01T21:00:13Z")
Gee. I just throw up every twenty minutes for 24 hours and have to live on white starches for a couple months. Oh, and my Parkinson’s gets worse. And yes, it could happen with one cupcake, based on the recipe. I make something similar – and apple rum cake based on Julia Child’s _Way to Cook_ – and one slice got me. Total estimated ethanol? 1/4 tsp. Don’t discount this kind of thing. The fact is, _nobody_ knows every biochemical thing that happens in your particular body, and the range of things that _could_ happen is a lot wider than medical personnel want to admit. Of course, it was unpardonably stupid of somebody who _knew_ they had a sensitivity to eat anything without knowing what was in it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcoholic-cupcake/550844/43 "2010-09-01T21:36:26Z")
I’m another alcohol-intolerant, but with me, the first symptom is nausea (for which a small sip of wine is enough to trigger it), though not enough to lead to actual vomiting. I don’t know what my more advanced symptoms are, since I took the hint from the nausea, and have never pressed on past that. It took me a while to figure it out, because the situations where I would have a sip of wine correlated with situations with Grandma’s cooking, and so I initially thought I was just eating too much. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcoholic-cupcake/550844/44 "2010-09-01T21:56:19Z")
There are many reasons for [alcohol intolerance](http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/alcohol-intolerance/DS01172/DSECTION=risk-factors). It has been, on rare occasions, the first noticed symptom of Hodgkin’s lymphoma. ---
**Author:** ![Lucyme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecccb3/32.png) [@Lucyme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucyme)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcoholic-cupcake/550844/45 "2010-09-20T01:17:36Z")
I cook with wine quite a bit, but Kahlua has a content of caffeine. Maybe that was the cause of her reaction. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcoholic-cupcake/550844/46 "2010-09-20T04:24:15Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’m another alcohol-intolerant, but with me, the first symptom is nausea (for which a small sip of wine is enough to trigger it), though not enough to lead to actual vomiting. I don’t know what my more advanced symptoms are, since I took the hint from the nausea, and have never pressed on past that. > > It took me a while to figure it out, because the situations where I would have a sip of wine correlated with situations with Grandma’s cooking, and so I initially thought I was just eating too much. Did you maybe figure it out at Communion/Eucharist? I had a Catholic friend who believed you would only get sick or drunk from communion wine if you still had unrepented sin, and thus took it unworthily. He’d have been royally messed up by your condition. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcoholic-cupcake/550844/47 "2010-09-20T09:43:00Z")
> [@Una\_Persson](#): > > I’ve seen people act drunk when they could not be as well - in one case, some guys tricked another guy with non-alcoholic beer poured into a giant stein. He was falling down “_Arthur_-style” drunk, until they told him it wasn’t alcoholic. Then he sobered up, but then started accusing someone of “slipping something else” into his non-alcoholic drink to make him seem drunk - and remarkably, _started acting drunk again_. Anything to save face, I guess. > > I’ve also seen a whole bevy of teenaged girls get “drunk” off of “Hawaiian Punch” which they had been told was made with Everclear. I think there must have been a feedback loop going on in that case. When informed there was no alcohol, there was a lot of embarrassment all around; no chance to save face. This is supported in scientific literature: > [@](#): > > “It appears that some of the short-term effects of ingesting small amounts of alcohol are as strongly related to the drinker’s expectations about the effects of the drug as they are to its chemical action on the body. > > For example, alcohol is commonly thought to stimulate aggression and increase sexual responsiveness. > > Research has shown, however, that these reactions may not be caused by alcohol itself but by the drinker’s beliefs about alcohol’s effects. > > In experiments demonstrating these points, participants are told that they are consuming a quantity of alcohol when they are actually given an alcohol-free beverage with its taste disguised. > > They subsequently become more aggressive (Lang et al., 1975) and report increased sexual arousal (Wilson & Lawson, 1976). > > People who actually drink alcohol also report increased sexual arousal, even though alcohol makes them less aroused physiologically (Farkas & Wilson, 1976). > > Once again, cognitions have a demonstratably powerful effect on behaviour.” > > **“Abnormal Psychology” by Davison & Neale (1997)** [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcoholic-cupcake/550844.md?page=2)