to want to throw molotov cocktails into CUPCAKE cafes named after small birds

[GetOrfMoiLand]

There is a new one in Cheltenham (ponce town) called the Swallow Bakery.

Staffed by supercilious Diana Vickered hair students who curl their lip when you ask them to clear a table. Don't speak down to me, young lady, you work in a CAKE shop, like Barbara Royle.

£2.80 for a cupcake
£4.90 for slice of chocolate cake
£4.50 for a milkshake
£10 yes TEN ENGLISH POUNDS for a devon cream tea
£6 for tuna carpaccio sandwich.

I took DD in there for a treat (breaking a lifetime cupcake veto) and it made me fume.

Am I a miserable bastard or do I have a point in HATING cupcake business ventures?

ACTUALLY the original American recipes for cupcakes have buttermilk in, which adds a slightly sour tang to counterbalance the sweetness, and some also have a dash of vinegar, which again just cuts through the fat somewhat. That's the difference between them and fairy cakes, which have the classic English flour / sugar / eggs / butter sponge.

I think the problem is that the buttermilk and vinegar have dropped out of the recipes as they sound weird, and so we're left with these ludicrously sweet concoctions.

I think that the op is being unreasonable getting upset about poncey cupcake shops when she is talking about Molotov cocktails. What's up with a good old fashioned petrol bomb? I bet she puts a little umbrella in the the top of her Evian bottle before lighting it.

I had forgotten, when last I posted, that I had put a pack of cupcakes on my tesco order - I had ordered red velvet ones but they subtituted cookies and cream ones - which were very nice. Good plain sponge with a little hollow full of chocolate spread in the middle, and not too much buttercream. I have made a mental note to order the red velvet ones again next week, to see if they are as good.

Bumper - I think the secret to butter icing is lots of butter - I use a whole pack, softened, and beat in icing sugar until it tastes right, then add flavourings. Rose water and lemon juice gives you a kind of turkish delight flavour, but coffee is my favourite.

I do use salted butter, though - somehow the hint of salt cuts through the sweetness a bit, and I like that contrast.

The most expensive snacks dh and I have ever had were in St Tropez (darling) in a little cafe on the waterfront, overlooking the big, posh yachts, with all their polished chrome and mahogany, and shiny everything!

We had a soft drink each and a crepe each - which came to 50 Euro for the five of us!! We felt we wanted the experience of sitting in a seafront cafe in St Tropez, but by 'eck it was an expensive experience! We did enjoy watching the staff carrying huge vases of flowers and boxes of expensive provisions onto the yachts, though.

In defence of some cupcake bakeries, there are much cheaper ones around (OK, I put my hands up - we had cupcakes from one such eatery named after a small yellow flower for our wedding, who took our rather odd requests in their stride admirably) and frankly those prices seem outrageous.

Our local cafe in the park charges £2.10 for a slice of cake, which still seems steep for me bearing in mind it hasn't required any individual decoration - at least cupcakes are a bit more labour-intensive than taking a slice out of a Victoria sponge...

Still think they taste just like deeper fairy cakes, but I am a total sucker for buttercream icing and am still waiting for the inevitable butterfly cake revolution.

do you know how they decorate cupcakes? with a gloved hand they splodge butter icing on top then twist hand and close fingers. sprinkle edible glitter et voila! i saw this on tv, so it must be true. i was [shocked] for some reason, it seemed a rather intimate way to do it, but i suppose the hand was sheathed in plastic.

right i'm going to try that

we went to a 1st birthday party recently where they'd made & decorated different coloured cupcakes. They looked lovely. We were given some in a box to take home (without his business card!!) and 9 month old DD opened the tupperware box & stuck her face in a yellow one when no one was watching :o
Now I'm all for BLW but that's too far!

Do you think it' maybe just opened in time for the Literary Festival? Catch people before the set off back down the Prom, or into Montpellier?

Give my vote to Tiffins in Montpellier:)

Also another one who frequents the Cafe in Waitrose

proper laughed out loud at aitch's, "some women need to masturbate more..."

I wholeheartedly agree. I detest the whole cupcake thing.

GROW UP

....all that fucking pastel. Gaaaaaah!

...saying that, i had a rant about this at work the other day, and they all thought i was BU.

Orf, yanbu. And I did thoroughly ernjoy your op.

A Twit at my work bought six harvey nicks cupcakes to take to a pal's when invited over for a blether.

Have some people no understanding of right and wrong?

I walked past a place today called "Sugar Daddies"

I suppose its a change from divorce settlement...

I nearly wretched.

'Divorce settlement' would make a great name for a cupcake shop. I'd be less tempted to sneer at it. Honesty works for me.

who did I set up "Ugly buns and rank coffee" with? Obviously I've been working hard on it?

y'know, that might have been me spb.

yeah anyway about the last 6 months' takings...your half's in the post

They're buns where I come from

stealthy, the squish and twist method produces <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=www.thesunblog.com/gourmetgal/cupcakes.jpg&imgrefurl=www.thesunblog.com/gourmetgal/flav_raves/&usg=__5L-PK9mePn313Zy06RB0S4nLce4=&h=300&w=400&sz=35&hl=en&start=57&sig2=cl5g5n9HAyqv63DAqWlw0g&zoom=1&tbnid=Y1PwzO_5uRXEcM:&tbnh=144&tbnw=192&ei=FYinTNfoFJSOjAe7gtjsDA&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcupcakes%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official%26biw%3D1366%26bih%3D636%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C1564&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=853&vpy=276&dur=108&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=120&ty=69&oei=ooenTOuXAZDKjAfGi6npDA&esq=12&page=4&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:11,s:57&biw=1366&bih=636" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">this effect. best done with a dampened glove i suspect

That'll be the glistening poo effect.

heheh. ganache, surely? i think the chocolate cakes look better than those poofy pink things.

My sister made some whoopiepies. I didn't fancy one, I can't remember what was in it but it sounded odd to me.
I haven't had a modern cupcake either. I am so behind the times.

Ugly Buns and Rank Coffee sounds like a fantastic name for a coffee shop, SPB - can I bring my knitting group to drink coffee, eat cakes, knit and blether, please? We promise to eat loads of cakes!