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.
📖 Recipe
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.
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!