The Craftiest Workshop

There are certain things you eat as an adult that instantly transport you back to your childhood. When I was growing up, just before Halloween my mom would make popcorn balls to give out as treats. If I remember correctly, those popcorn balls were held together with a honey or corn syrup mixture not a marshmallow one. This popcorn cake reminded me of those special Halloween treats.

Fast forward to last week….

I decided to pop some corn with my air popper with the plan to feed some of it to the birds. The plan ended up being a bit of a bust when I took a bowl out and none of the chickadees seemed interested in the popcorn; they just tweeted at me demanding peanuts. I left a pile of popped kernels near the feeder and eventually a bird or deer did eat it.

I popped a full 1/2 cup of kernels so now I had plain popcorn that I needed to do something with. I had planned to make popcorn cake during the holidays but never quite got around to it. I bought some small jujubes specifically for it at Bulk Barn before Christmas that reminded me of Dots candy. I also had some leftover PC brand Christmas mini eggs and I always buy a big bag of mini marshmallows for Christmas baking so I had lots of those left.

Often my baking in Jan/Feb is me trying to use up left over Christmas baking ingredients.

Ingredients

12 cups popped corn

1/2 cup butter

10 cups of marshmallows

2 tsp vanilla

1-2 cups candy, candy covered choc, nuts (I used 2 cups but found it a bit much…personal choice). Chocolate without a coating tends to melt as you stir it and it makes the popcorn start to turn brown.

Here are my jujubes and mini eggs that I tried to slice in half.

Directions

Melt butter and marshmallows in a large sauce pan over a low heat.
Stir until all marshmallows are melted down. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

Place popped corn in a large mixing bowl.
Pour marshmallow mixture over and stir to combine.
Fold in candy/chocolate/nuts.

Spoon into a well greased Bundt pan.
With buttered fingers press the mixture gently into the pan just to get a smooth top.

After ten minutes, loosen the edges with a plastic knife and turn out onto a large plate.

Once cool, slice into manageable pieces. Place in a plastic storage container.

If nothing else, this cake is colourful and aesthetically pleasing.
I do like the combination of the crunchy popcorn, sweet chocolate and chewy candy.