Sunday 11 December 2011

Bah Humbug Cupcakes !


Bah Humbug Cupcakes ! The Christmas Machine is in full swing here in the UK, in fact with only two weeks to go, the Cadbury's cream eggs are just around the corner, literally. So spend, buy, consume..... Bah Humbug! or have I turned into Ma Humbug? It's funny what sets you off and for the post of most cringe worthy gift..... I would like to nominate the Baa Humbug Candy Pooping Sheep!


Time for a nice cup of tea and a tiny cupcake to lift your spirits up and a calm down. After all 'Misery loves company' but even Scrooge's 'Bah Humbug' couldn't last. So for this penultimate post of the year, the humble humbug has been my inspiration. With it's lovely stripey peppermint coat and a toffee centre, it is a traditional old English candy. Was Scrooge referring to these sweets? Probably not, as the word also meant hoax or jest, maybe he would have been sweeter for one or two?

What I really fancy, is a cake......

I haven't included a full recipe as the flavourings are very simple. Use you favourite cupcake recipe and substitute the white sugar for light brown sugar. Flavour with dark caramel or toffee essence.

 Cut a small teaspoon of cake from the middle and pop some caramel sauce or dulche de leche in and replace the cake piece.

Treat yourself to this from Waitrose. In the States, lots of caramel sauces, you are the King of Caramel sauces! Of course you could make your own.....

Cover the top with a simple buttercream flavoured with a few drops of peppermint essence*.


For the fondant topping; first flavour the fondant with a couple of drops of peppermint flavouring and extra icing sugar to stop it getting sticky, *the idea is not to overdo it but build up the peppermint flavouring on the top. Now you have a choice; you can cut circles out of the fondant and paint stripes on them with black colouring or; roll out thin strips of black fondant, place and roll them into the white fondant, then cut the circles out. You can see the different ones below:




You can make little humbug shapes and add Christmas Decorations if you want to get carried away. Give to anyone who is looking miserable and cheer them up. Meanwhile if you fancy the real thing;


From A Quarter Of
 or

From Amazon USA
Of course, while looking for additional images I got side tracked because Mother Nature has the best stripes courtesy of WebEcoist:















Cor Humbug !

10 comments:

  1. Haha, these are precious! Love the sentiment, I am so annoyed with the consumption craze. Your cupcakes are not only cute though, they look really, really delicious. :)

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  2. LOVE these! My kitchen is a complete disaster area and I have barely started on my holiday baking or shopping. I think I'll take a break and eat a humbug cupcake :)

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  3. Thanks Kiri and Lizzi, these certainly cheered us up. At least with online shopping I don't have to listen to all the old Christmas shopping musak.

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  4. Very witty idea for a Christmas cupcake, I know one or two people (they know who they are!) who would justify these!!!

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  5. Pauline, you do make me laugh with your witty posts such as this one. Love how you get the inspiration for your cakes. Oh I remember these humbugs well and your cakes look fabulous. That party sheep pooper? Hilarious! Thanks for the giggles. J xo

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  6. Thanks Crusader, thought you might ! Yes Jill that sheep, whatever happened to the charm of nice sweetie gifts like chocolate covered coins and candy canes?

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  7. Oh wow, I've never heard of bah humbugs before. How neat!

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  8. Yummy, yummy, yummy!!! Can I have a cupcakes please?

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  9. Fabulous cupcakes! And I agree - the "baa humbug" sheep is quite sad!! Here's one to give it a run for it's money though - a game that's been advertised here in the States - I cringe every time the commercial comes on tv! :(
    http://www.doggiedoogame.com/

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  10. Just fly over Eftychia :-)

    Thanks Becky, yes I couldn't believe the doggy game , I saw it on amazon but at least we are don't have the tv commercials, I think that deserves no 1 on the cringe worthy game. Maybe they use modelling chocolate :-) eww

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