Martha Collison’s salted caramel popcorn beauties combine everyone’s favourite things into one little cupcake.
Made with crunchy popcorn and a rich, salted caramel icing, resistance is futile when it comes to ‘just one bite.’
Makes 16
Ingredients
• 125g butter, softened
• 200g light brown soft sugar
• 2 large Waitrose British Blacktail Free Range Eggs
• 2 tbsp golden syrup
• 225g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 120ml milk
• 20g Heston from Waitrose Salted Caramel Popcorn or Butterkist Toffee Popcorn
For the icing:
• 100g butter
• 200g dark brown soft sugar
• 80ml double cream
• 250g icing sugar, sieved
• Pinch of sea salt
• Remaining popcorn, to decorate
Method
1 Preheat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4, and line two 8-hole muffin tins with 16 muffin cases. Use an electric whisk to cream together the butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffy (for about 4-5 minutes). Beat in the eggs, one at a time, followed by the golden syrup.
2 In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking powder. Add this gradually into the butter and egg mixture until a thick batter forms. Finally, stir in the milk and popcorn.
3 Divide the mixture between the muffin cases and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the cakes are risen, golden and a skewer inserted comes out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before decorating.
4 To make the icing, melt the butter in a small saucepan. Once melted, stir in the brown sugar and double cream and simmer over a medium heat for 3-4 minutes until smooth and bubbling. Remove from the heat and sieve over the icing sugar. Beat the sugar and salt in using a wooden spoon until the icing is thick and holds its shape.
5 Spoon a dollop of icing onto the top of each cupcake and use a palette knife to spread it out to the edges. Top each cake with a few pieces of popcorn to finish. These cupcakes will keep for 3-4 days in the fridge.
Martha Collinson’s latest book Crave is out now.
