Pinterest & Popcorn Cake

Have you heard of the hottest new site on the web - Pinterest? If not you are either A - not into social media, B - living under a rock, or C -  a guy. :)   According to Mashable, Pinterest is driving more web traffic than Google+, YouTube, and LinkedIn combined! (More here.) The Huffington Post recently published an interesting article about why Pinterest is so popular. (Full article here.)

"Pinterest's recent success, which flies in the face of so much speculation about social media fatigue and information overload, holds an important lesson: It's not social media we're frustrated with. It's with one another."

"What sets Pinterest apart and makes it so appealing is its focus on who we want to be -- not on what we're doing, where we've gone, how important we are or how beloved. While much of the content shared on existing social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare screams, "Look at me," Pinterest posts urge, "Look at this." At least for now, the site offers a refreshing haven away from the boosterism and boasting that plague so many sites."

For those of you who don't know what Pinterest is (this is for you Dad!), Pinterest is a website where you can "pin" images that you find around the web on different "bulletin boards" that your friends can see. Think of it as visual bookmarking. Instead of managing long lists of bookmarks, you now have cute little graphic boards! You can also see what your friends are pinning, or can browse what strangers are pinning. (You can see my account here.)

I was introduced to Pinterest about a month ago and have been amazed by the variety of images I see on there. There are a lot of crafts, fashion, home improvement products, motivational images, cute pet pictures, etc being pinned. The ones of most interest to me have been the recipes and craft projects. Wow, when did I turn into an old lady? Anyways, although I wouldn't consider myself a cook or baker by any means, I am someone who loves appetizers. I LOVE appetizers! Whoever invented Tapas restaurants is genius!

I recently saw a recipe for a "Popcorn Cake" that came from a blog called Cookies & Cups. That sounded intriguing and disgusting at the same time. It was also pretty so I pinned it to my Food Board aka "Nom Nom Nom". My friend Todd's birthday was approaching and he is the world's biggest fan of popcorn (has a bowl each morning), so I decided that I would make the cake for his birthday. From looking at the recipe I saw that it was essentially a big rice crispy treat. I could do that!

I set out to buy the ingredients (Only the best for my cooking! Albertson's store brand) and put the "cake" together. The cake was easy to make and probably took about 10 minutes.

 

I brought the cake over for Todd's birthday/Super Bowl party (known as the Super Todd party) and I think it was a moderate hit. It was competing with a ton of yummy Mexican food that Todd and Christine had ordered, some other sweets, and an amazing bundt cake. It was still eaten though and hopefully the Newmans finished it off before it turned into a rainbow speckled brick. 

If you are interested in trying this culinary concoction out for yourself, you can find the recipe here.

Happy Pinning!