A few years ago my boss at the time asked me to do some baking for a local fundraiser. I think that I baked some biscuits and 3 types of cupcakes. This was back before I became completely obsessed with cupcakes but one of the ones I made was a Caramel Popcorn Cupcake. I don’t even remember what was in it, it could have just been vanilla cake with caramel popcorn on top. The fundraiser went really well and they sold out of all of my baking. Since then, I had tried to make them again but I wasn’t having any luck with the caramel popcorn and it didn’t turn out right.
A couple of months ago, I came up with a new recipe and finally, I have a recipe that turns out perfectly every time. This is my favourite cupcake to make at the moment cause it is simple but it looks so effective and is really delicious.
You can make the caramel popcorn the day before as long as you put it into a airtight container. I put mine in a snap lock bag and then a sealed plastic container just to be sure. Losing the crispness to the popcorn takes away a bit of the magic of this cupcake. The caramel sauce isn’t essential to cupcakes, I just think that it adds a little something extra. They are still really delicious without it so you can skip that step if you like.
- CUPCAKE
- 325g self-raising flour
- ½ tsp bi-carbonate soda
- 265g brown sugar
- 1tsp vanilla extract
- 150ml vegetable oil
- 1½ cups almond milk
- 2 flax eggs (30g golden flax meal with ⅓ cup water)
- CARAMEL POPCORN
- 100g raw popcorn kernels (Cook)
- 100g brown sugar
- 1601ml rice malt syrup
- 80g vegan margarine
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp bi-carbonate soda
- CARAMEL SAUCE
- 185g brown sugar
- 400ml coconut cream
- Pinch sea salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon corn flour
- ICING
- 350g vegan margarine
- 400g icing sugar
- 1tsp vanilla extract
- Pre-heat oven to 175C (347F).
- CUPCAKES
- Add sifted flour, sugar, bi-carb into a large bowl and mix well.
- Brown sugar can clump so I put on gloves and break up those clumps.
- Add almond milk, oil and vanilla into dry ingredients.
- Beat until just combined
- Add flax egg and mix until just combined
- Spoon into cupcake wrappers - an ice-cream scoop gives the perfect amount.
- Place on a flat tray (or cupcake tin if using paper wrapper instead or cardboard)
- Cook for 18-20 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.
- Transfer to a cooling rack.
- CARAMEL POPCORN
- Pre-heat oven to 120°C (250°F)
- Cook popcorn in your preferred way. I do mine in the microwave in a popcorn cooker.
- Cool popcorn and spread over a large baking tray which has been lined with baking paper.
- Add rest of ingredients except bi-carb soda into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer and test with a candy thermometer until it reaches 116°C (240°F).
- Remove from heat and add bi-carb soda. It will start to fizz.
- Pour over popcorn. Mix through until most of the popcorn is covered.
- Put into oven. Take out every 10 minutes and mix caramel through popcorn. Put back into the oven and repeat until popcorn has been in the oven for a total or 30 minutes.
- Once out of the oven, transfer to another tray to cool. As soon as it cools, put into an airtight container until you need to use it.
- CARAMEL SAUCE
- This can be made the day prior.
- Add all ingredients to a saucepan and whisk over medium heat until it boils.
- Reduce to simmer for about 10 minutes or until it starts to thicken.
- Remove from heat and pour into a container and put into fridge to cool and thicken further.
BAKING TIPS
Flax Meal
My preference is for Golden flax meal. I feel like it works better in the cake batter but that could be my imagination. It definitely looks better in a light coloured cake because the brown flax meal can leave flecks of brown which you can see.
I usually get golden flax meal from a health food shop but when I couldn’t find the one I like recently, I bought Golden Flax seeds from my local IGA supermarket (Australia) and ground them myself in my coffee grinder. I am so happy with how my cakes turned out, that I am going to grind my own from now one. It takes a few seconds in an electric coffee grinder and the meal is nice and fine.
Cupcake Wrappers
I also prefer to use the more upright cupcake wrappers in a thin cardboard rather than the traditional wrappers. The reason is that the traditional wrappers can be very fickle about peeling back from the cooked cake. If you undercook slightly then do it. If you keep them in a sealed plastic container, they do it. It doesn’t always happen but with the wrappers than I now use, it never happens and that make me happy! The other great advantage of these wrappers is that you don’t have to use a special pan. Then just sit on a flat tray and won’t lose their shape.
ICE-CREAM SCOOP
This is the best and fastest way to get the perfect amount of cake batter in each cupcake wrapper. You need the old style scoop with the release handle. Makes baking so much faster.
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