Flavoured with Toffee Popcorn Hot Chocolate, these muffins taste just like a tub of fresh popcorn and are the perfect treat for movie night.
I have a love/hate relationship with scary movies. On one side I appreciate the storylines, production and acting, but on the other, I’m so easily spooked that I spend the entire time watching the film from behind a cushion eating popcorn.
Put it this way I had to watch Scream (a classic, but possibly the worst scary film on all levels) about 50 times before I was able to watch it properly. Eventually, I stopped watching the foreground of the film and instead played a game searching for Scream in background of all the scenes; if you haven’t played that game, it’s fun as you see him peeping around corners in more scenes than you realise.
However, putting my scary movie fears to one side, Halloween is the one time of year I like to watch them. I’d never do it alone, but as long as I have friends or my husband to cosy up to I can laugh the fear off nervously.
As with any movie, hot drinks and snacks are essential, and popcorn is a must, so when the lovely team at Whittard sent me their limited edition Halloween inspired Toffee Popcorn flavoured White Hot Chocolate (phew that was a mouthful), I knew immediately I had to test it out with some cupcakes that live up to their name.
These miniature tubs of Popcorn include a soft sponge and silky buttercream flavoured using the Whittard Toffee Popcorn Hot Chocolate Powder, and are decorated with freshly popped popcorn.
5 GREAT REASONS TO BAKE WITH WHITTARD HOT CHOCOLATE POWDER
- With their vast array of amazing flavour options today, you can add such fun and interesting flavours to your bakes naturally through hot chocolate power. Try my Banoffee Banana Cake, made using the Whittard Banoffee White Hot Chocolate for a fun twist on the classic Banoffee Pie.
- The powder is dispersed throughout the batter really easily and evenly as it’s mixed into the flour.
- The flavours really pack a punch and with as little a 2 tbsp you get a really intense flavour.
Horror Movie Popcorn Muffins
Equipment
- Popcorn Tub Muffin Cases
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes
- 200 g unsalted butter softened
- 200 g soft brown sugar
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 200 g self-raising flour
- 2 tbsp Whittard Toffee Popcorn Hot Chocolate Powder
- 100 g white chocolate chips
- 2 tsp milk optional
For the Buttercream
- 200 g unsalted butter softened
- 400 g icing sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 tbsp Whittard Toffee Popcorn Hot Chocolate Powder
- 100 g freshly popped popcorn
- 2 tbsp milk
Instructions
For the Cupcakes
- Prepare a muffin tin with the cupcake liners and preheat the oven to 180°C
- In a large mixing bowl or standing mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy
- Add the eggs, one by one, mixing after each addition until fully incorporated
- Add the vanilla extract
- In another bowl mix the self-raising flour and hot chocolate powder together, then spoon this into the wet ingredients and fold through until fully incorporated.
- Finally fold through the white chocolate chips
- Add the milk at this point if your mixture needs loosening a little
For the Buttercream
- In a large bowl or standing mixer add the softened butter and beat until light and creamy.
- Slowly add the icing sugar, a few spoons at a time and mix well, then add the hot chocolate powder and milk so you have a buttercream with a drop consistency (aka it falls off the spoon)
To Decorate
- For the popcorn decoration, freshly pop some popcorn then pour it into a bowl and leave to one side.
- Fit a piping bag with any nozzle and fill it with the buttercream, then pipe a swirl on top of each muffin. You don't need to be fancy here as next we're dipping them into popcorn.
- Gently dip each buttercream topped muffin into the bowl of popcorn to coat, then add additional pieces one by one until your muffins resemble a tub of popcorn.
- Repeat with all remaining muffins, then serve with some spooky decorations.
Can you please convert this to US measurements