food
Salted Caramel Popcorn Cake
This cross between a pinata cake and lava cake has the most satisfying salted caramel surprise!
food
Salted Caramel Popcorn Cake
This cross between a pinata cake and lava cake has the most satisfying salted caramel surprise!
Supplies
- Vanilla cakes:
- 200g caster sugar
- 200g softened butter
- 200g self raising flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 4 eggs
- 2 tbsp milk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
- Chocolate cakes:
- 200g caster sugar
- 200g softened butter
- 150g self raising flour
- 50g cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 4 eggs
- 2 tbsp milk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
- Salted caramel:
- 400g granulated sugar
- 180g butter
- 240ml double cream
- 2 tsp salt
- Buttercream:
- 250g butter, at room temperature
- 600g icing sugar
- Half of your salted caramel (200g salted caramel and 1 tsp salt)
- Toppings and filling:
- Half of your salted caramel (200g salted caramel and 1 tsp salt)
- Salted caramel popcorn
- 100g dark chocolate, melted
Steps
- Salted caramel: heat the sugar in a saucepan over a medium heat, stirring constantly. When the sugar has melted, add the butter and use a whisk to combine the two.
- Add the double cream in a slow drizzle, stirring with a whisk constantly, then allow it to come to the boil for one minute - it will rise up so make sure you are using a big enough pan.
- Remove it from the heat, stir in the salt, and allow to cool before you use it.
- Sponges: preheat the oven to 190C or 170C fan.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together with an electric hand whisk.
- Add the eggs one by one, mixing them in fully before adding the next one.
- Add the flour, baking powder and milk - then cocoa powder if it’s the chocolate cake, vanilla essence for the vanilla cakes.
- Beat until the mixture is combined then divide it between two greased and lined 20cm tins.
- Bake for 20 minutes, or until the sponges are risen and a skewer comes out clean.
- Let the cakes cool in their tins for 15 minutes then remove them to a wire rack to cool fully.
- Buttercream: in a large mixing bowl or stand mixer, beat together the butter, icing sugar and salted caramel (or caramel and salt) until light and smooth.
- Put half of he buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm nozzle.
- Cover the remaining icing with cling film and put to one side.
- Assembly: use a bread knife to level the top of each sponge. Use a 5cm biscuit cutter to cut a circle out of the middle of one chocolate cake, and one vanilla cake.
- Pipe a small dot of buttercream onto your serving plate or stand, then place the whole vanilla cake on top of it and press down gently to secure it.
- Fill this layer with piped buttercream, but leave a 5cm gap in the middle of the cake.
- Add the layer of chocolate sponge with a circle cut out, then pipe another layer of filling.
- Add the vanilla sponge with missing middle, then fill the cavity with salted caramel.
- Pipe buttercream filling over this layer, then add the remaining chocolate sponge.
- Coat the whole cake with remaining buttercream and pile salted caramel popcorn on top of the cake.
- Put the melted chocolate into a piping bag - wait until it is quite cool but still liquid - then cut off the end and then use it to drizzle thin lines of chocolate across the top.