Popcorn Cake

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 340 g butter, room temperature
• 260 g sugar
• 2 packets of vanilla sugar
• 4 eggs
• 500 g flour
• 2 packets of baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• Mix 600 ml buttermilk or 600 ml milk with the juice of 1 lemon and let stand for 5 minutes
• 250 g butter, room temperature
• n. B. Salt
• 1 packet of vanilla sugar
• 500 g powdered sugar, sifted
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 50 g corn (popcorn)
• 650 g white fondant or sugar paste
• 250 g fondant, red, or sugar paste
• Sugar glue

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour; Cooking/baking time approx. 25 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 25 minutes

Vanilla cake with fondant and popcorn

This time, the cake base consists of a moist vanilla sponge cake (you can find a few suggestions for variations below if vanilla is too boring for you). This batter is enough for 4 cakes with a diameter of 18-20 cm. We’re baking 2 x in 2 springform pans each, as we need 4 cake bases. In case you’re wondering why we’re using 2 springform pans instead of just one and then splitting the base in half: If the batter is divided between 2 pans, it rises better during baking, stays moister, bakes faster, and therefore doesn’t get a dry crust. Of course, you can also do it differently. To make the batter, first cream together 170 g butter with 130 g sugar and 1 sachet of vanilla sugar. Then add 2 eggs to this mixture. Make sure the eggs are at room temperature so they combine with the butter. If they’re too cold, the butter will solidify and the batter won’t form a smooth mixture. Next, we move on to the dry ingredients: Mix 250g of flour with 1 sachet of baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon of salt, then add this mixture to the butter and egg mixture, alternating with 300ml of buttermilk. Divide the batter between two 18-20cm springform pans lined with baking paper and bake at 175°C (fan oven) for 25-30 minutes. Since we need four cakes in total, we repeat this step with the second half of the ingredients after baking. Once the cakes have cooled completely, we move on to the buttercream: Put the room-temperature butter in a bowl with the salt and vanilla sugar and beat until it looks light and creamy. Then gradually add the sifted powdered sugar, and beat the mixture on high for about 3 minutes. Finally, add the lemon juice to break up the sweetness a bit and freshen up the cream. In the next step, take three of the four cakes, fill and spread them with the cream, and place them in the refrigerator for half an hour to set. After this time, place the fourth cake (with the dome facing up) on top and spread it with the cream, leaving a 1 cm border around the surface. Once the cream is evenly spread over the cake, continue with the white sugar dough or fondant. Roll it out and place it over the covered cake. If it’s very sticky, you can lightly sprinkle the work surface with sifted powdered sugar. The fondant can then be easily cut out with scissors where no cream was applied. You can then further decorate the cake with the red sugar dough and the sugar glue. You can, of course, let your imagination run wild here. And since the popcorn is a must, let’s move on to that. Since we wanted to use sugar- and fat-free popcorn (because of the buttercream), we used a popcorn maker, which pops the kernels with hot air. You can, of course, also buy popcorn or make your own in a pot. Finally, the cake surface is covered with the cream and the popcorn is scattered on top. The buttercream helps to hold the popcorn together, making it easier to cut the cake later. If you want to vary the batter, you can use, for example, jarred cherries (let the fruit drain well) or canned mandarins (let the fruit drain well), 4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, chocolate chips (white or dark), 4-6 tablespoons desiccated coconut (but use 4 level tablespoons less flour), 4-6 tablespoons ground nuts or almonds (but use 4 level tablespoons less flour), or food coloring (if you like it colorful).