Choco caramel popcorncake

Ingredients:-

Chocolate cake:-

Eggs 2 nos

Oil 115gm

Vanilla 5 gm

Cocoa powder 75gm

Salt 5gm

Castor sugar 225 gm

Hot water 130 gm

For popcorn infused milk:-

Corn kernels 100 gm

Oil 1 tsp

Butter unsalted 15gm

Whole milk 800 gm

For brown butter popcorn cream:-

Flour 55gm

Butter 225gm

Salt 5 gm

Milk 390 gm

Butter 350 gm

Vanilla 5 gm

For caramel popcorn

Coen kernels 100 gm

Oil 1Tsp

Butter 15gm

Salt 2 gram

Sugar 200 gm

Water 80 gm

Butter 200 gm

INSTRUCTIONS

 

for chocolate cake layers

• Preheat your fan oven to 160°C (325°F) or 175°C (350°F) if you're not using a fan oven. Grease and line with parchment paper three 6" round cake tins. Alternatively, you can use two 8" cake tins.
• In a medium bowl sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Add sugars, whisk until combined and set aside.
• In a small bowl or a measuring jug, whisk together eggs, vegetable oil, sour cream and vanilla extract. These are your wet ingredients.
• In a small pot, bring your water to a boil or simmer, it's important that it's hot. Add the wet ingredients to dry ones, stir a little bit, it'll be somewhat dry. Then add the boiling water and whisk until combined. I usually add the water in two stages to minimize clumps forming. 
• Divide the batter evenly among the 3 tins and bake for 23-25 minutes or until skewer inserted in the middle comes out with few moist crumbs. Do not overbake it.
• Once they're done, let the cakes cool for 10-15 minutes on a wire rack before removing them from the pans to cool completely.

for popcorn infused milk

• First up - make the popcorn. Put the oil and butter in to a tall pot, heat it up and then put the corn kernels in. Stir with a wooden spoon or a silicone spatula to evenly coat the kernels. Cover with a lid and leave to pop. When it's done, season it with salt.

  Meanwhile, bring the milk to a simmer in a medium-large pot. Put all of the seasoned popcorn in the milk and stir with a wooden spoon/silicone spatula to make sure everything is coated in milk. Cover with a lid and leave it to steep for an hour.

  Afterwards, strain the milk through a fine mesh sieve to get rid of popcorn. If your popcorn soaked up too much milk, then add regular milk to get the amount needed for buttercream.

for brown butter popcorn buttercream

• The first thing you need to do is to make brown butter. Cut the butter into cubes and melt it in a small saucepan, over a medium to high heat. Once melted, you want to keep heating it, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, until brown specks appear and you can feel that nutty aroma. Be careful not to burn the butter, but also don’t “underbrown” it.

  Once your butter is browned, transfer it in a bowl and let it cool in the fridge, stirring occasionally. Before using it, bring to room temperature.
• In a small saucepan (I always use heavy-bottomed one to prevent burning) combine flour, sugar, salt and popcorn infused milk. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly with a whisk until it thickens. This can take about 15 minutes. The moment you realize it's thicker, cook for another 3-4 minutes. 
• Once it's done, put a cling film over it touching the surface to prevent "skin" forming and let it cool to room temperature. This is your pudding base. You can do this in a fridge, but before using it let it come to room temperature.
• Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the brown butter (with the addition of unsalted butter to get to 350 g) for 5 minutes until it's pale and fluffy. Then add spoonful by spoonful of previously made pudding. Mix until it's all nicely incorporated and with no lumps. Add vanilla extract and mix until everything is combined.
• Cover with cling film and leave it at room temperature until you're ready to assemble the cake.

caramel popcorn

• Put the oil and butter in to a tall pot, heat it up and then put the corn kernels in. Stir with a wooden spoon or a silicone spatula to evenly coat the kernels. Cover with a lid and leave to pop. When it's done, season it with salt and transfer into a large bowl.
• In a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine sugar and water. Make sure every sugar granule is covered with water. Heat it up over medium to high heat, until it reaches golden amber colour. DO NOT STIR IT. This will take about 15 minutes.

  Remove from the heat, add butter, stir with a silicone spatula. Quickly pour over salted popcorn and stir with a silicone spatula to get it distributed as evenly as possible. Trasnfer to a silicone mat and press with a silicone spatula to even it out. Leave to cool and harden.

assembly

• Using a cake leveler or a long serrated knife level the tops of your cakes if needed.
• In the middle of your cake board or a serving plate put some buttercream to stop the cake from moving around.
• Place one cake layer on a cake board or a serving plate. Using a small offset palette knife or a piping bag, spread the frosting over the cake layer and make a small dam around it. Drizzle with caramel sauce and sprinkle some caramel popcorn. Top it with the next cake layer and repeat the process.
• Place final layer on top, upside down, and do a thin crumb coat on the cake. Chill for 20-30 minutes in the fridge before final decorating once frosted smooth place the fridge for 45 min. Pour the top with caramel. Decorate with popcorn and enjoy!!!! 🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂