Valentine's Day Popcorn Cake

Have your thoughts turned to Valentine's Day yet? I have a really fun recipe for you today to get you into the spirit.

My family has been making popcorn cake at Christmastime for as long as I can remember. A mixture of popcorn, marshmallows, jujubes, and peanuts is always a crowd-pleaser. For Valentine's Day, I left out the rainbow colours and brought in reds, pinks, and whites. In a sea of chocolate, this lighter snack is a welcome change.

You'll need:
10 cups of plain popped popcorn
1 pkg (250g) of marshmallows
1/2 cup of butter or margarine
3/4 cup of shelled peanuts
1 cup of red jujubes, cut into smaller pieces
white and pink candy melts (or white melts/chocolate and pink food colouring)

Pop your popcorn and remove any unpopped kernels. Melt the butter and marshmallows in a small pan over low heat. Pour the mixture over the popcorn and stir until all of the popcorn is coated. Add in the peanuts and the jujubes and stir again.

Press the mixture firmly into a greased or parchment lined pan - this recipe fits a 9x12 pan, but you could also use a bundt pan. Let cool.

Melt your candy melts or chocolate over low heat. If you would like it a little thinner you can add a bit of vegetable oil to the mixture. If using food colouring, split your melted chocolate into two bowls and stir a drop of pink food colouring into one bowl.

Invert the cake pan onto a platter or board. Cover the area around the cake with parchment or paper towels to protect it from splatters. Using a teaspoon, flick pink and white chocolate over the cake to get a splatter pattern. Use as much or as little as you'd like. Refrigerate to let the chocolate set.

One last tip: When cutting the cake, butter your knife to keep it from sticking.