I think that Christina Tosi's cake truffles might be the ideal party food. They are a perfect single-serving size, and no utensils are required to serve or eat them. Making the truffles is a laborious process, but you can do everything in advance. That's why I decided to make Tosi's "Popcorn Cake Truffles" from All About Cake for a colleague's retirement party.
These truffles have popcorn cake crumbs moistened with popcorn milk, coated in white chocolate, and rolled in popcorn sand. Making the truffles turned out to be a comically messy process. The cake recipe calls for freshly popped microwave popcorn, pulverized in the blender. We don't own a microwave but we do enjoy popcorn as a snack from time to time. My husband insists on popping his popcorn in oil in a pan on the stove, but I prefer the ease of an air popper. So I made some popcorn in the air popper and then put it in my Vitamix.
I'm not sure what would have happened if I had used microwave popcorn, or even popcorn popped in oil on the stove, but when I put my completely dry air-popped popcorn in the blender, it produced a cloud of tiny, static-y popcorn particles that flew everywhere and stuck to everything. If you've ever sifted powdered sugar, you know how that can create a mess. These popcorn crumbs created the same effect, times ten. There were popcorn bits stuck to the sides and lid of the blender, all over the kitchen counter, and coating my arms, face, and apron, and every exposed surface. It looked like I had sprayed fake snow everywhere. And even after I had corralled the ground popcorn from the blender, I had to sift it, sending much of it airborne again. Honestly, the popcorn was a nightmare.
But once I had my popcorn prepared, making the cake followed the typical Christina Tosi method. I creamed together softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy; added eggs and beat the mixture on high; slowly drizzed in a mixture of buttermilk and oil and beat the batter until pale in increased in volume; and added the dry ingredients (the ground popcorn, cake flour, freeze-dried corn powder, baking powder, and salt). I put the mixture into a parchment-linted 9-inch by 13-inch pan to bake.
To make the popcorn milk used to moisten and adhere the cake crumbs, you steep popcorn (popped but not ground) in whole milk, blend the mixture, and then strain it. The popcorn sand used to coat the truffles is made from milk sand (a mixture of flour, milk powder, sugar, cornstarch, salt, and melted butter that is briefly baked in the oven) mixed with freeze-dried corn powder, salt, and sugar.
To assemble the truffles, I broke down the cooled popcorn cake into crumbs; moistened the crumbs with the popcorn milk until the crumbs held together; used a #60 scoop to form truffle centers; coated the centers in Cacao Barry Zephyr white chocolate; and rolled the truffles in the popcorn sand.
I loved these truffles. I was surprised that they didn't taste more like corn, given that they contain ground popcorn and freeze-dried corn powder (I was expecting a flavor profile more along the line of Tosi's corn cookies; the recipe headnote says that they taste like Corn Pops or Cap'n Crunch). But the flavor was quite difficult to pin down. However, the truffles had a distinct salty-sweet flavor that was incredibly satisfying. And I love the chewy texture of a cake truffle straight from the freezer, especially contrasted with the slight crunch of the crumbs.
The truffles were a big hit at the party and they were so delicious that I would love to make them for more parties in the future. But, there's no way I'm ever grinding air-popped popcorn in my blender again.
Recipe: "Popcorn Cake Truffles" from All About Cake by Christina Tosi.
Previous Posts:
These truffles have popcorn cake crumbs moistened with popcorn milk, coated in white chocolate, and rolled in popcorn sand. Making the truffles turned out to be a comically messy process. The cake recipe calls for freshly popped microwave popcorn, pulverized in the blender. We don't own a microwave but we do enjoy popcorn as a snack from time to time. My husband insists on popping his popcorn in oil in a pan on the stove, but I prefer the ease of an air popper. So I made some popcorn in the air popper and then put it in my Vitamix.
I'm not sure what would have happened if I had used microwave popcorn, or even popcorn popped in oil on the stove, but when I put my completely dry air-popped popcorn in the blender, it produced a cloud of tiny, static-y popcorn particles that flew everywhere and stuck to everything. If you've ever sifted powdered sugar, you know how that can create a mess. These popcorn crumbs created the same effect, times ten. There were popcorn bits stuck to the sides and lid of the blender, all over the kitchen counter, and coating my arms, face, and apron, and every exposed surface. It looked like I had sprayed fake snow everywhere. And even after I had corralled the ground popcorn from the blender, I had to sift it, sending much of it airborne again. Honestly, the popcorn was a nightmare.
But once I had my popcorn prepared, making the cake followed the typical Christina Tosi method. I creamed together softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy; added eggs and beat the mixture on high; slowly drizzed in a mixture of buttermilk and oil and beat the batter until pale in increased in volume; and added the dry ingredients (the ground popcorn, cake flour, freeze-dried corn powder, baking powder, and salt). I put the mixture into a parchment-linted 9-inch by 13-inch pan to bake.
To assemble the truffles, I broke down the cooled popcorn cake into crumbs; moistened the crumbs with the popcorn milk until the crumbs held together; used a #60 scoop to form truffle centers; coated the centers in Cacao Barry Zephyr white chocolate; and rolled the truffles in the popcorn sand.
I loved these truffles. I was surprised that they didn't taste more like corn, given that they contain ground popcorn and freeze-dried corn powder (I was expecting a flavor profile more along the line of Tosi's corn cookies; the recipe headnote says that they taste like Corn Pops or Cap'n Crunch). But the flavor was quite difficult to pin down. However, the truffles had a distinct salty-sweet flavor that was incredibly satisfying. And I love the chewy texture of a cake truffle straight from the freezer, especially contrasted with the slight crunch of the crumbs.
The truffles were a big hit at the party and they were so delicious that I would love to make them for more parties in the future. But, there's no way I'm ever grinding air-popped popcorn in my blender again.
Recipe: "Popcorn Cake Truffles" from All About Cake by Christina Tosi.
Previous Posts:
- "Holiday Party Recap: A Cookbook Redemption and a Crew of Junior Party Assistants," February 23, 2019.
- "I Really Want to Like This Cookbook: Pretzel Cake Truffles," November 20, 2018.
- "Like a Bite-Size Tall Glass of Cool Lemonade: Strawberry Lemon Cake Truffles," June 23, 2018.
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