A rich vegan chocolate layer cake, with caramel frosting and toffee popcorn topping. An indulgent celebration cake, great for birthdays!
Recently I had the very exciting opportunity to work with The Vegan Society, creating a cake recipe to start on the front cover of their magazine!
As you may know, it’s World Vegan Month so to celebrate, they were looking for a drool-worthy cake made with ordinary ingredients you can find in a supermarket.
I couldn’t decide between chocolate and caramel so I combined the two with the addition of popcorn for decoration.
It was such an honour to have a recipe on their front cover and I’ve included a few extra recipes inside the magazine too.
So if you’re a member, you might have already received the magazine in the mail – let me know if you try any of my recipes featured!
But now onto the recipe.
Admittedly, there are a few components to this cake so it is a bit time-consuming. But SO worth it. I swear.
The vegan popcorn cake is a chocolate sponge made in four layers, sandwiched and frosted with caramel-infused buttercream.
Drizzled with extra caramel sauce and decorated with toffee popcorn.
Vegan Chocolate Toffee Popcorn Cake
An incredibly indulgent and delicious celebration cake, perfect for celebrations!
Ingredients
For the chocolate cake
- 375 g self-raising flour
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 350 g light brown sugar
- 100 g cocoa powder
- 120 ml vegetable oil , (sunflower or coconut oil work well)
- 680 ml dairy-free milk
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
For the caramel sauce
For the caramel buttercream frosting
- ⅓ batch of the caramel sauce
- 300 g good-tasting dairy-free butter
- 300 g icing sugar
For the caramel popcorn
- 1 small bag of popped salted popcorn, in a large bowl
- 100 ml water
- 200 g white sugar
- 1 tbsp dairy-free butter
Instructions
To make the toffee popcorn
- You need to work quickly making this so have a prepared large flat baking tray ready to set the popcorn and all the ingredients to hand.
- Add the sugar and water to a large pot on a medium-low heat. Don't stir but you can shake to stop it burning.
- Once the sugar turns a deep caramel colour, remove from the heat and add the tablespoon of dairy-free butter. It will bubble up, keep stirring until smooth.
- Then pour over the bowl of popped corn. Quickly transfer to the tray to set.
To make the chocolate cake
- Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F and grease and line two 8-inch cake tins.
- Mix the wet ingredients together in a jug or medium bowl. Mix all the dry ingredients into a large bowl, and the whisk together until well combined. The vinegar will react with the rising agents so don't let it sit too long.
- Pour the batter equally between the two cake tins and bake for approximately 35 minutes or until a toothpick poked into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Once baked, leave to cool completely before removing from the tins. Then freeze the two layers for a few hours, so it's easier to trim.
- Remove from the freezer and trim the tops to make them even. Now slice each layer in half, length-ways, to create four cake layers.
To make the caramel sauce
- Follow instructions from my "5 Minute Caramel Sauce" recipe. Allow it to cool before using, but note it will harden if chilled too much.
To make the caramel frosting
- Whisk the dairy-free butter in a large mixing bowl, adding the icing sugar a small bit at a time.
- Then whisk in the caramel sauce, working whilst the sauce is room temperature and at a pourable consistency to stop it from hardening.
- Let the buttercream chill in the fridge for at least a couple of hours before using.
To assemble the cake
- Add buttercream to the top of the first cake layer and sandwich together with the next layer, repeating and covering all layers with a generous dollop of the buttercream.
- Then frost the outside of the cake, starting with a thin crumb layer before adding a more generous coating.
- When the caramel sauce has cooled but is still a thick, pourable consistency, pour over the top of the cake, letting it run down the sides.
- Pile the popcorn on top and pour more caramel over to keep it in place.
- Leave in the fridge for a few hours to set and keep fresh, before serving.
Jo Austin says
I read all the comments and began to wonder if I should risk it for my husband’s birthday cake/retirement celebration. My ingredients will be quite different as I live in Norway and light brown sugar is elusive so won’t use that and margarines and flour are of course all different. I have decided to give it a shot after all, wether it turns out fabulous or a disaster or somewhere in between, I fancy the challenge!
Karen says
I’ve made this cake twice now. I don’t get a lot of rise but I’ve also modified it to be gluten free, so I just join the two cakes together. I wish I could add a photo as it was impressive! And tasty!
Aimee says
I’m so glad you were able to work out the gluten-free version and that it looked good! If you’re on instagram or facebook you can tag me in a (public) photo there, using #WallflowerKitchen :-)
Karen Matthews says
This is a fantastic recipe. A few tips …. Mix the vinegar with the (soya) milk to create vegan buttermilk and make sure to test it before removing from the oven. Ensure the caramel is cooked to room temp before mixing with buttercream and work VERY quickly with the popcorn. It sets hard in no time!
nikki says
i have just baked this as well and am having the same issue with rise – i bake often and can say that i don’t usually have an issue, but am getting the same fudgey/brownie consistency as some of the other commenters. usually i would add the apple cider vinegar to the plant milk and allow it to curdle, as opposed to adding in at the very end – so i might try this next time as it always yields good results… maybe something for the other commenters to try as well :)
Alice Aivazian says
Can I use gluten free flour instead?
Alice Aivazian says
Could I use gluten free flour(Dove’s Farm) instead?
Chez says
I have to say I was very disappointed with this recipe enough to leave a comment… the cake came out like 2 rubber bricks and the caramel sauce was a disaster twice over! I’m not sure why Vitalite was recommended. It just left a layer of oil on top of the sauce, curdled the first buttercream batch and the second buttercream batch (sans caramel) was too runny and useless. The whole thing was way too sugary. The cake looks incredible on the picture but after wasting a lot of time money and energy to have to throw it in the bin, it’s definitely something I won’t be making again- sorry!
Jenny Forrest says
I’ve just started making this cake so have only baked the base yet- it smells lovely but as someone said- it seems I’ve made 2 large brownies. There is no way I’ll manage to cut them in half unfortunately. Only thing I can think which may have affected the result is that I melted coconut oil and added and hence it may have been too hot when I poured it in to the flour mix. I ensured the flour mix was sifted and with no lumps but the ready mix had some small lumps I couldn’t break up. I’m hoping I can still use them only in 2 layers and one buttercream filling- suggestions?
I have vitlite for the buttercream frosting and plan to add caramel sauce only once it’s fairly cooled.
ellie says
gorgeous cake – not light and fluffy as described but more dense and fudgey, would describe it more like a brownie. i made a sample of the icing and it was disgusting – i just don’t think vegan butter is right to make buttercream. ended up using a whipped coconut frosting. i tried making the caramel popcorn twice. first time it was a beautiful golden colour and when set was gross, bitter and sticky/chewy. i thought i overlooked it so took it off the stove as soon as it started to show colour. turned out the same. i had no more ingredients so abandoned it and started to make my caramel sauce. it split and tasted like liquid brown sugar. ended up with a brownie covered in whipped coconut cream and sliced strawberries. wouldn’t recommend this cake for a birthday cake. perhaps for a nice morning tea brownie without all the fuss on top.
Aimee says
Thanks for your feedback, Ellie. It shouldn’t be that dense, it’s definitely more cake-like than brownie-like so I’m wondering if the cake might have sunk a bit in the oven for you? Sorry you didn’t like the buttercream.
tatty says
I’d like to know what size cake pans to use for this? cant wait to make it
Aimee says
It’s 2 x 8 inch sandwich tins :)
Charlotte says
I’ve made this cake a few times and it’s always made huge compliments!
However the past two times I’ve made it the frosting has curdled and been impossible to work with and once I’d try to get the cake covered the frosting is separating
Any ideas why this would be? I followed the recipe ?
Aimee says
Hi Charlotte, oh no! I’m sorry that has been happening for you. My first thought would be to make sure the caramel has cooled before adding to the buttercream. Or making sure the caramel isn’t too runny/watery. I usually add in a small amount at a time too, which helps. Hope next time it works much better!
Yukti Arora says
Nice cake recipe………….keep posting such mouth watering cakes.
Biz says
I made this for a friend’s birthday. It came out beautifully and was a true stunner. The only modification I made was to make another half batch of the frosting so I could really fill my layers, crumb coat, and cover. This was likely because I only had 9 inch pans so it made the cake a bit wider instead of tall. I used Miyoko’s vegan butter and it worked beautifully. The vegan butter itself is a bit salty, so if you use this one don’t add extra salt, but the salt really helps cut through all that sweet and makes a wonderful finished product. I used full-fat coconut milk for all of the non-dairy milk parts. It has a richer taste than almond or soy, so helps give the right mouthfeel.
Really delicious, easy to make, and was GONE in about 20 minutes. Leftover hack: I’ve been putting a spoonful of leftover caramel in my coffee in the morning… soooooooo good. Also good on sliced apples.
Abby says
Hi, I want to make this cake for my husband’s birthday next week, but I can’t find the recipe for the caramel sauce. The 5 minute vegan caramel sauce under ingredients isn’t hyperlinked, and this cake is the only thing that comes up when I search for the recipe. Did you remove it? Thanks in advance.
Aimee says
Oops! I’m so sorry about that. Yes, the hyperlinked got removed – just replaced it. Hope you enjoy :)
Janet monks says
200g Brown suger light
4tbsp soy milk
8tbsp dairy free butter 1tsp vanilla ess
pinch of salt
Mix alltogether apart from vanilla bring to boil for 5 mins untill thickerd add vannilla use a once or store in fridge
Haidee James says
Hi Amiee, I made this sponge twice cause I was so disappointed with the first bake. I purchased fresh ingredients just to be certain and made sure it was in the oven as quickly as possible after the cider vinegar had been added. The second batch was slightly lighter but I am still disappointed with the result, it’s a very dense sponge. Any tips please? Thanks
Simon Urwin says
This cake tastes delicious! My son has a dairy and egg allergy and sometimes the cakes we make tast oily; this however tastes perfect
Thanks so much for sharing your recipe!
Simon x
Piper says
Loved this cake recipe, not a fan of the buttercream icing though.
My sister has a milk protein allergy so she loved being able to eat a birthday cake without makinh herself sick
Sarah says
Friend and I made it for our house Christmas meal yesterday and whoa did it taste good (looked a very artistic mess though, nothing like yours!). All of our housemates were very appreciative, and whilst it is fiddly, it’s less fiddly than I thought it would be? We also drizzled leftover melted chocolate over the top of the buttercream too. Thank you for writing it!
Aimee says
Yay! so happy you liked it :)
Sarah says
Can you clarify how much of the caramel goes into the frosting please? Is it one third of the double batch, or a third of a single batch? Sorry, so confused!
Lyga says
The recipe description and how everything actually went in reality left me very disappointed
* The 5 min caramel is more like 30 min caramel
* Vitalite butter that is recommended doesn’t work in the buttercream recipe
* The buttercream curdled (because that vegan spread doesn’t have high enough fat content)
* When you pour the caramel sauce into the buttercream (while it’s warm) it makes the buttercream runny and not possible to work with
* Then the buttercream doesn’t hold up inside the cake or around it
* Then you’re supposed pour over some cooled (still warm somewhat so it’s pourable) caramel sauce on top which further melts and slides off already runny buttercream hence no buttercream left on the sides
I feel like the recipe is lacking proper instructions and I don’t believe it was made using Vitalite butter that was recommended.
I would not be so cross if this was my experiment which didn’t work, but I followed a recipe to a T.
Maria says
Apologies! I sent pretty much same question twice! I thought my first comment wasn’t added and I have only seen it and your response now… Thank you. Will post a pic of the cake once finished. I was just a bit worrued as it us quite fudgy but I believe ut is a chocolate cake so they usually meant ti be fudgy…
Maria says
Hi,
Is this cake quite heavy and fudgy once baked or should it be light and fluffy???
Maria says
Hi there, thank you for this great cake.
I’ve got a question: is this cake meant to be quite dense, a bit rubbery and quite heavy rsther than light and fluffy???
Aimee says
Hi Maria
I would say somewhere in between. Not too dense or heavy but not really light either. The frosting and caramel does make it quite rich though. Hope that helps!
Izabela says
Hi,
I’ve made your chocolate sponge and it does taste nice however I’m planning to bake a vanilla sponge cake for my daughter’s second birthday. As she’s allergic to almost everything this cake is perfect. Can i just ask how to replace the cocoa powder? Do i just add 110g extra gf flour?
Thank you
Izabela
dafmatok says
Amazing idea!
Alex says
This is the most incredible cake! I’m going to try making this for my little cousins 1st birthday and I have a question – do you need a double batch + 1/3 of the caramel sauce or do tou mean 1/3 of the double batch?
Thank you for this recipe it will be a hit!
Danny says
I wondered this too, shame she’s not replied
Cat Storey says
Wow! What an incredible vegan cake! PErfect for special occasions.
Evi @ greenevi says
Wow, this cake looks seriously stunning, Aimee! And your photos are simply gorgeous.
Congrats on the magazine cover, it’s such a big deal :)
Kate - gluten free alchemist says
Gorgeous bake Amie. And well done for making The Vegan front cover! So well deserved xx
Jennifer Bliss says
Hi there! First visit and comment to your blog. LOVE your site here! Mind if I link you on my sidebar!? Swing by my place and let me know – it would make my day! Cheers!
Tiina @myberryforest says
Looks soooo delicious Aimee. And so gorgeous on the cover, congratulations! I would’ve been super surprised if this dream cake would’ve been a “healthy cake” haha. Sometimes we all just need the real stuff :) Have a lovely day!
Aimee says
Thank you, Tina! And yes – exactly. Sometimes when you want a proper slice of indulgent cake, only the sugar-laden kind will suffice :-)