Cupcake

Mostly dessert, baking and small celebrations. Next to talk of baking, a café or a sweet craving it simply means the cake. After good news it is a small treat or a little party that doesn't need the candles of 🎂.

The thing itself: a cupcake is a cake for one, baked in a cup-shaped paper or foil case and usually topped with frosting, often with sprinkles or a cherry. The tall, heavily decorated style is associated with American bakeries; in Britain the smaller, thinly iced version is called a fairy cake. A muffin looks similar but is usually less sweet and unfrosted. Since there is no muffin emoji, some people send 🧁 for one, though the picture clearly shows frosting.

Is someone flirting when they send you 🧁?

Usually not; it's cute and kind, not a coded message. After your name or a compliment it means they find you sweet. In American English "cupcake" is also an old-fashioned pet name, traditionally for a girl or woman, and it can sound patronising from a stranger.

Friends and family send it too, so affection here isn't romance by itself. Whether it's flirting depends on the rest of the message, not the frosting.