In a quest to end my repeated laziness regarding Shan's What's Cooking Wednesday, for which I have been a long participant but have been lax lately, I've stockpiled a few new recipes I've made over the past week or two so that I have no excuses any more, damn it!
I have to admit that I've been making too many desserts lately and eating too many of them too. This falls into the former part of that admission but not the latter because I did not like this dessert. John, on the other hand, went gangbusters all over this cake. He kicked this cake's ass! Hah, take that cake! I rule you, he exclaimed!
The reason I didn't like it is because I don't like the texture of soft popcorn. To me, it is like chewing on styrofoam, or what I imagine that would be like. However, I did really like the combination of the salty almonds and sweet Smarties kept together with marshmallowy goodness. Are you intrigued yet?
This recipe was overseen by Emily out of one of her library cookbooks: Emeril's There's a chef in my Family! by Emeril Lagasse. We've had a lot of fun browsing and making a few of his recipes and as a rule, they pretty much rock but you're not going to be losing any weight making any of these. They're darn tasty though.
Miss Hilda's Popcorn Cake
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons plus 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 12 cups popped popcorn (plain, unsalted and unbuttered) [I used 8 instead and that was more than enough]
- 2 cups M & M candies [I used one bag of Smarties because, hey, I'm Canadian, eh?]
- 1 cup lightly salted cocktail peanuts [I used roasted salted almonds, and OMG were there good. I would definitely do that again. Made it taste like Crunch N' Munch.]
- 1 stick unsalted butter [half a cup for those of us who don't use sticks]
- 1 pound marshmallows [equal to one 454g bag]
Directions
Grease a large tube or bundt cake pan with 2 teaspoons of the oil, and set aside.
In a large bowl, mix the popped corn with the M & M candies and the peanuts. [And he means LARGE.]
In a small saucepan, melt the butter, remaining 1/4 cup of oil, and marshmallows over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. When melted, pour over the popcorn mixture, and stir to combine. Pour into the prepared cake pan, pressing down to fit. [Use a large metal spoon dipped in cold water to prevent sticking. Really press on that sucker! Otherwise it'll never fit.] Cover with aluminum foil to keep moist and let rest until firm, 3 to 4 hours.
To serve, invert the cake pan onto a large cake plate or platter. Shake gently to release. Serve at room temperature. [Shake gently.... yeah, right! I had to pry and shake hard. It came out eventually and still looked very pretty.]
As I said, this was not my favourite to say the least. Emily, John and Hope loved it. Especially John who loves anything marshmallow. That was my other issue. I like marshmallows roasted over a campfire or baked into certain kinds of squares. Beyond that I'm not a big marshmallow fan. I liked the combination of marshmallow here with the almonds but I didn't like it with the squishy popcorn. Too marshmallowy. To be honest, my idea of a cruel death would be having my mouth filled with marshmallows out of the bag. The texture immediately makes me gag. Ugh.
Still, it was gone in about a day with no help by me. Although I may have picked out a few almonds and Smarties along the way. John will not be thrilled with me telling the blogosphere that he went nutso all over this cake. Usually that's my job in this house in regards to baked goods.
I was happy to let him have that role for one day anyway. And then came the Maple Sugar Apple Pie and all was back to normal.
6 comments:
I second your hatred of all things mallow. Blech blech blech. But the cake does just scream "kid approved!" What that says about John, I'll leave up to you guys :)
Have fun with your sister and niece.
Have lots of fun with your Beth and Kate! If I ever become an assassin, I will keep me mind the death by marshmallow technique.
Okay what is with my spelling...let's blame the 4 year old who requires my approval on his current craft project. I meant to say, If I were an assassin, I would keep in mind the death my marshmallow technique you so kindly described.
I think the girls would likely love this, but I'm with you. Marshmallows are for campfires only.
My son would absolutely adore this. D and me - not so much - I'm with you on the soggy popcorn and the marshmallows.
It's such a FUN idea, though!
Did you say maple sugar apple pie? And with Bethy and The Kid being there... don't be surprised if you find me on your doorstep!
So... I took your "American accent" quiz -- and it says I sound like I'm from "The West." I recall something about "lowest common denominator." But... is that what happens when a Canadian goes to Michigan then Illinois? The accent just keeps going West??? I was worried... so I went back, and made "About" NOT rhyme with "loud" or whatever the question was (it was a close call), and now I'm Canadian again, just like the rest of you (C:
-E
Post a Comment