Candy Corn Croquenbouche

Ben was being difficult choosing a birthday cake. He didn't want one. We finally compromised on a caramel popcorn tower or croquenbouche.
The croquenbouche from recent Masterchef fame were made of profriteroles or macaroons. The name actually comes from the French words croque en bouche meaning 'crunch in the mouth'. I think this fits the name quite nicely.

I used this basic recipe from Taste for caramel popcorn minus the pecans

• Caramel

• 125g butter, chopped
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 tablespoons honey 

Becci and I made 5 batches of caramel and countless batches of popcorn to make enough for the croquenbouche. I'm not sure how many balls of popcorn we made, but there were a lot!

We started on an extra large glass platter and built from there.

 And eventually reached a peak about 70cm high

 We tried spinning some caramel around the outside with mixed success. I think toffee would work better.

 One candle planted on top to blow out.

One second and one karate chop later while I turned to put the camera down...

Lucky there is a lot of family to munch through it all and I think the kids will be taking some for recess tomorrow.