It's National Popcorn Day!

"Oh! what fun. popcorn cake."

Being the snarky type, I read that line in my mind with a deadpan monotone voice.
But if we read on (see below ad), it appears Wrigley's gum is saying, "No!  Really!!  Everybody LOVES popcorn!"

Maybe that's why there's a national holiday set aside to honor the humble exploded kernel.  What could be better than to combine it with peanuts, chocolate, and cake?!  After all, popcorn can be as bland as stale cotton balls on it's own.

This idea for Popcorn Cake comes from the fine folks of Wrigley's chewing gum.
There's a recipe on the ad (click for enlargement) but I did my own thing.  It made sense to me to use a butter cake mix to compliment the buttered and salted popcorn.  I also used salted chopped peanuts to amp up the salty/sweet aspect.  I don't care for prefab chocolate icing so I tried making my own.  I always have powdered cocoa on hand so I used this recipe for the frosting.  I wouldn't recommend it for a cake like this that you have to stick stuff to it because it dries like a glaze, even though the photo from the site clearly shows us a creamy texture.  Hershey's, why you got to be a liar?  But, I will say the "frosting" is really rich and yummy, just keep in mind your sprinkles are going to bounce right off.  I put the extra frosting in the fridge and it firmed up into the most delicious fudge!  That's what I would use it for again for sure!  Another tip is to put the popcorn on right before eating (using a true creamy and sticky chocolate frosting).  I put mine on a couple of hours before serving it because I could see the icing was not going to allow any stickage when served later that evening.  This resulted in the popcorn becoming chewy and that ain't a characteristic you want your popcorn to take on, that's best for the gum.  The butter cake with the chopped peanuts and chocolate frosting was "delicious to eat" and "all loved it", so Wrigley's did get that right.  And it really is "inviting to look at"!

There are a bunch of these recipes from Wrigley's in old 1950s home magazines.
I always find them odd, being from a gum company but no gum is involved in the making.  The recipes are always weird enough on their own without the gum though.

Here is a Wrigley's recipe I did back in 2006 for a Huge Wedge O' Pie.

Enjoy another popcorny post of the past:
National Popcorn Day 2018: Jiffy Pop Fridge Magnet DIY Craft