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This sweet and salty Birthday Cake Popcorn has a delicious cake batter flavor that is SO addicting! You can’t go wrong with white cake mix, vanilla, marshmallows, butter, and popcorn!!
Popcorn is must-have treat at parties and functions, so take it up a notch by making it cake flavored! This recipe is gooey and as addicting as our gooey caramel popcorn. We know you’ll love it!
Cake Batter Popcorn Gooey-ness
We have movie night every Friday as a family, and we love to have some yummy treat to go with it.
This past week, we made Birthday Cake Popcorn, and it was delicious!! It is gooey and had sprinkles and was a hit with all of the kids in the family.
It was also very simple to make, so you better believe we will be making this again.
Tips + Tricks
For making birthday cake popcorn:
- I add dry cake mix to the mixture, not prepared.
- This popcorn is sticky and can be a little messy (but so worth it) just keep this in mind when serving it.
- Use a lightly salted, plain or a lightly buttered popcorn for this recipe. I would avoid using a really buttered popcorn.
To make into popcorn balls: After the popcorn is completely coated, lightly grease your hands or get them wet and pack the popcorn into ball shapes. You will want to re-wet or re-grease (lightly) between each popcorn ball. This will help the popcorn from sticking.
Popcorn FAQ
Can this be made in advance? This popcorn is definitely best eaten soon after it is made. If you want to make it in advance I would suggest making it as close to when it will be eaten as possible but no more than 2 days ahead of time. After it is made, store it in an airtight container until ready to serve. You can also make them into individual servings and store in ziplock bags, just try to squeeze as much air out as you can.
How to store? Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.
How to make for a crowd? If you are wanting to make this popcorn for a crowd and you’re worried about the sticky mess, just divide the popcorn into individual servings or have the guests scoop the popcorn out with a large serving spoon or measuring cup.
For more popcorn recipes, check out:
- Homemade Kettle Corn
- White Chocolate M&M Popcorn
- Caramel Marshmallow Popcorn
- Popcorn Balls
- Caramel Popcorn
Birthday Cake Popcorn Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp butter
- 6 cups popcorn popped
- 3 cups marshmallows
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp milk
- 1 cup white cake mix
- sprinkles
Instructions
- Take kernels out from popcorn and pour into a bowl.
- In a medium pot, melt marshmallows and butter on medium heat, stirring constantly.
- Once marshmallows are completely melted, remove from heat and add vanilla, milk and cake mix. Stir until well combined and pour over popcorn.
- Stir until the popcorn is evenly coated and top with sprinkles. Let set. ENJOY!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe adapted from The Endless Meal.
Raw cake batter?? Box cake mixes need to be cooked unless you find the one that specifically says its edible raw. People have gotten sick with E Coli and or bacteria that can be found in uncooked flour and box cake mixes. It needs to be baked for about 7 minutes or when it reaches 160 F to kill off any bacteria. Go look up food safety at the CDC for “raw” cake mixes. Since you’re given out recipes and one that specifically includes a raw box cake mix, you should be warning people ahead of time and let them know it’s at their own risk.
https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2021/o121-07-21/index.html
Rather be safe than sorry, especially when recipes like this are most likely to be served to children.
Thanks for the information and the feedback.
When you say you added the cake mix mixture does that mean you didn’t mix it with the butter marshmallows and vanilla, just sprinkled it to the popcorn? I assume after you coated the popcorn with the sticky stuff? Have you tried molding these into muffin pans for individual serving sizes rather than a popcorn ball?
So you will melt the butter and marshmallows in a saucepan first. Then once they are melted, you’ll remove from the heat and add the vanilla, milk and dry cake mix. Mix that all together and then pour over the popped popcorn. Hopefully that makes sense! So, no to sprinkling the mix dry over the popcorn. Yes to adding it to the marshmallow mixture (once the mallows are melted). I haven’t tried molding them for individual serving sizes, but I imagine you totally could. It is a more sticky popcorn when eating so it should stick together. If you try that, you’ll have to let us know how it turns out.
My friend asked me last minute if I could make these for her child’s birthday party. Your recipe definitely looks like the tastiest (and prettiest) one I’ve seen but the only problem is I only have funfetti cake mix on hand. Do you think that will work ok?
Oh how fun!! Yes, it should work just fine! I haven’t tried it with the funfetti before, but it should be really similar to the white cake mix. Good luck with the birthday party!!
Please read this before making more treats with RAW box cake mixes. It needs to be cooked or baked first to 160 F to kill off any bacteria that might be in the flour.
https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2021/o121-07-21/index.html
Thanks for the info.