a simple recipe :: funfetti cake batter popcorn (Spider-Man style)

My little man turned 4 this week. He is my charmer, my snuggly bug, my little cheerleader (in a very masculine way, of course). Not a day goes by that he doesn’t say to me, “Mom, you’re beautiful!” or “Mom, you are AWESOME!” Most of the time he has no clue how much his words mean to me or how they shape my outlook for the day. I hope some day I can tell him. I also hope that turning four doesn’t change how verbal he is about his love for me. What I do hope is that being four might change his eating habits a bit. His favorite foods change daily; his love for pizza quickly changed into a very strong dislike for pizza. Now he won’t touch it because he “doesn’t like sauce” and will only eat breadsticks. This wreaks havoc on our pizza order every time.

And so our birthday menu had to take into account his current set of likes and dislikes. He doesn’t like cake or cupcakes (it’s like he came from another planet, I know) and he doesn’t really even like ice cream. What he does love is popcorn. So my mom (in all of her infinite wisdom) found a recipe that combines popcorn, cake batter and sprinkles. And the glue that holds it all together? Melted white chocolate. Brilliant!! The original recipe calls for rainbow sprinkles but my son LOVES Spider-Man so my mom found red and blue sprinkles to go with our Spider-Man theme. This recipe, which my mom found on Erica’s Sweet Tooth, is super easy and fun to make. The most time consuming part is making sure the popcorn kernels don’t make it into the mix but the results are well worth it. It is like a teeny slice of heaven. My son’s birthday party is tomorrow and there is a chance we may need to make another batch before then because the first one is already diminishing (guilty!). So, without further ado, here is the recipe (thank you, Erica, and your sweet tooth too!!).

ingredients ::

2 bags microwavable kettle corn or white popcorn
1-1/2 cups white chocolate chips or vanilla candy melts
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1-1/2 cups white or yellow cake mix
2/3 cup rainbow sprinkles (or red, white & blue for Spider-Man style!)

directions ::

– Pop the popcorn in the microwave, following packaging instructions. Transfer popcorn to a large bowl, being careful to pick out all of the unpopped kernels.
– Melt the white chocolate chips or candy melts in the microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring between each 30 seconds until it is fully melted.
– Stir in the vegetable oil to the melted chocolate until smooth. Then add the cake mix to the chocolate. The mixture will be thick, but mix until well-incorporated.
– Drizzle the chocolate/cake batter mixture over the popcorn and add half of the sprinkles. Use your (clean) fingers to toss everything together until evenly coated.
– Spread the popcorn onto wax paper-lined cookie sheets to allow the chocolate to harden and sprinkle the remaining sprinkles on top.
– Let popcorn harden for about 20 minutes on the counter, or 5 minutes in the fridge, and enjoy!