crunchie Archives - Cakeophilia

I have a difficult relationship with hokey pokey (also known as honeycomb in some parts of the world). Well, actually, it’s not difficult at all – there is hokey pokey – and I want it. So its fitting that in the first week of Cupcake a Day May, I make some Hokey Pokey Cupcakes.

Hokey Pokey Cupcakes

It all started in New Zealand – the home of hokey pokey ice cream, a vanilla ice cream full of golden crunchy bubbled toffee pieces. Then there was the Crunchie Bar, where you eat all the chocolate off the outside in flakes, and have the hokey pokey naked. Then, I went to Australia and there was Violet Crumble, another similar chocolate bar, with a finer, paler hokey pokey.

And these days, I like to make my own mini hokey pokey bars, dipped in Whittaker’s 33% Madagascar Milk Chocolate. I wrap them in tiny squares of cling wrap and take them skiing – they are awesome. Making hokey pokey is fraught with peril though, because there is so many possibilities for failure – getting that baking soda to puff up the caramel and stay puffed is a very tricky business… so I’m not going to make you make your own! A store bought Crunchie bar will do. Cadbury has also kindly come up with little nuggets of crunchie, all coated in chocolate, which are perfect for decorating cupcakes. I bought a box a few weeks back, because: sprinkles. You could also decorate the cupcakes with crunched up Crunchie, but hokey pokey is moisture sensitive, so it will start to melt after a while – no bad thing but not really what you’re after.

The cupcake recipe is loosely based on the Edmond’s cookbook recipe for hokey pokey biscuits (a classic NZ treat), and is slightly golden syrupy and has that classic hokey pokey taste that comes from using baking soda. There is also some smashed up Crunchie bar in there (though I confess I used some of my own home made stuff because it was lying around the house looking lonely).

Hokey Pokey Cupcakes

A dollop of milk chocolate ganache and the sprinkles and you are good to nom!

Hokey Pokey Cupcakes

Makes 12. These cupcakes are best eaten on the day they are made.

Hokey Pokey cupcakes

ingredients

125g salted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup milk
2 tablespoons golden syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda
2 eggs
50g Crunchie or other honeycomb bar, smashed into 1cm pieces.

mixing

Line a 12 hole muffin tin with cupcake cases and spray with non-stick spray.

Combine the butter, sugar, milk, Golden syrup and vanilla in a small saucepan. Heat over a medium heat, stirring constantly until the butter has melted and the mixture starts to bubble. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. When the butter mixture is cool, add to a large bowl along with the eggs, flour and baking soda. Stir in the smashed Crunchie Bar.

Hokey Pokey Cupcakes ready for baking!

Spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases, making sure that they are only half full. Bake the cupcakes at 160°C for 25 minutes or until the cupcakes are golden and well risen. Let the cupcakes cool. When they are cold, top with a dollop of milk chocolate ganache and sprinkle with broken Crunchie or honeycomb bar or little Crunchie nuggets.

milk chocolate ganache

150g cream
225g milk chocolate (Whittakers Madagascar Milk is my favourite)
A second smashed Crunchie Bar or crunchie nuggets, for decoration.

Heat the cream until nearly boiling. Stir in the chopped chocolate, and keep stirring gently until the chocolate has all dissolved and the mixture is nice and smooth. Chill until very cold.

Hokey Pokey Cupcakes

Enjoy!xxx

crunchie

Hokey Pokey Cupcakes – A Cupcake a Day in May