“CUPCAKES are called FAIRY CAKES in the United Kingdom and are known as PATTY CAKES in Australia.”

National Geographic 5,000 Awesome Facts, fact # 4 of 35 on Decadent Desserts

Fairy cakes are a bit smaller than the American cupcake and tend not to have as much frosting as the cupcake. Per https://www.huffpost.com, Mich Turner, a British baker and champion of the fairy cake, describes American cupcakes as “having the wrong icing: great wodges of lurid buttercream, rather than the traditional non-fat glace stuff.” They are also made with a lighter sponge cake than the butter cakes used in cupcakes.

A fairy cake is also like a cupcake with its top cut off and replaced in two pieces, like wings. They have also been called butterfly cupcakes.

On the other hand;

“Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker’s man. Bake me a cake as fast as you can Roll it, pat it, and mark it with a B Put it in the oven for Baby and me” is the nursery rhyme for patty cake, but a patty cake in Australia is just the same as a cupcake but is more like a single serving of a cake. https://wikipedia.com