National Cupcake Week 2011 ~ Percy or Pumbaa?

September 12th - 18th is National Cupcake Week, rather timely as Hubby and I are also off work for the week.  With thanks to the tail end of Hurricane Katia curtailing our outdoor plans for today, I headed to the kitchen.

Now these little guys were supposed to be in the vein of Percy Pig, those infamous little sweets from Marks and Sparks that I am totally addicted (M&S should seriously be paying me commission lately!) when I discovered that Percy now comes in bits!!  As horrified as I was at first, the thought of Percy being dismembered in an evil conveyor belt fashion flashed before my eyes, I grabbed a bag each of the Fizzy Tails and the Marshmallow Noses and set them in the baking cupboard awaiting a rainy day.   Once again I thank you Hurrican Katia, you're arrival couldn't be better timed ... not only do you give me the opportunity to bake cupcakes, you also provide me with a comedy act as I watch the workmen across the road trying to construct a monstrosity of a building in 80 mph winds!  Silly men should just cut their losses and go home!

Anyhoo, now my little babies are made I am wondering if they are slightly more Pumbaa than Percy?  I'm ok with it either way, Timon and Pumbaa stole my heart years before I'd ever sunk my teeth into a Percy!  To make Percy / Pumbaa Cupcakes I made a batch a plain cupcakes.  Then I added a drop or two of rose gel paste to a batch of buttercream, just until it was a lightly tinted shade of pink and piped this onto the cupcakes with a large plain nozzle.  A Fizzy Tail went in one end (I've discovered its slightly easier to hold them in place if you pull the cupcake liner away from the cake a wee bit), a Marshmallow Nose on the other and two chocolate chips for eyes completed him.

I'm feeling like a proud Mum now, so is it bad that I know they taste good too?