The Best Cotton Candy Cupcakes

Calling all cotton candy lovers! The fluffy stuff is now in a moist & tender cupcake! These Cotton Candy Cupcakes taste just like the real deal and are a cinch to make.
Since I was a young little girl, I have always been obsessed with cotton candy and bubblegum flavored anything.

As a tween and teen, I’d beg my grandma to allow me and my best friend, Katrina, to walk up to the local yogurt shop with $5 so we could each get a sky-high snowcone with bubblegum and cotton candy syrup drenching every last ice crystal. We would slurp up the extra syrup until our teeth and tongues were blue and walk home giggling at our gross teeth.

And anytime I went to the California State Fair, I’d always have to get a gigantic bag of cotton candy. Who doesn’t love the stuff? It’s pure sugar! Perfect for anyone with a sweet tooth and a penchant for hand-spun desserts.

A couple months ago, I was visiting Utah for a work-related thing and my friend took me to this shop called Orson Gygi. It’s basically a food and baking warehouse with everything. You can buy cake stands, party supplies, and 20lb bags of chocolate chips under one roof. It was basically my version of heaven, and I had only 20 minutes to shop before we were due at a dinner.

I raced down the chocolate and candy-making aisle first and instantly spied some Cotton Candy Flavoring. This stuff isn’t like your average vanilla extract – it is four times more potent than a traditional extract and is used for really powerfully flavored candies and things. But since extracts can get drowned out in a big batch of cupcake batter, I knew it’d be perfect for these Cotton Candy Cupcakes!

Cotton Candy Cupcakes
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes

Ingredients

•     3/4 cup (107g) all-purpose flour
•     1/4 tsp salt
•     1 1/2 tsp baking powder
•     3/4 cup (100g) cake flour
•     3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp (194g) granulated sugar
•     1/2 cup (4 oz) unsalted butter, softened
•     1 large egg
•     1/4 cup + 3 Tbsp milk (105 ml) (anything but skim)
•     1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
•     2 large egg whites
•     Cotton candy

Cotton Candy Buttercream

•     3/4 cup (6 oz) unsalted butter, softened
•     1 1/2 Tbsp cream or half and half , then more as needed
•     2 1/2 cups (322g) powdered sugar
•     1/2 tsp cotton candy flavor , or to taste (1 tsp vanilla can be substituted)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift all-purpose flour and cake flour into a mixing bowl. Add baking powder and salt and whisk dry mixture, 20 seconds, set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment (I recommend using a beater blade, which constantly scrapes the bowl, if you don't have one, occasionally stop mixer and scrape down sides and bottom of bowl throughout entire mixing process), whip together butter and granulated sugar until pale and fluffy. Mix in egg, then mix in egg whites one at a time, blending until combined after each addition and adding in vanilla with last egg white. Working in three separate batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture, add 1/3 of the flour mixture (to the butter/egg mixture), alternating with 1/2 of the milk and mixing just until combined after each addition.
3. Divide batter among 12 paper lined muffin cups, filling about 2/3 full (about 1/4 cup batter in each). Bake in preheated oven until toothpick inserted into center of cupcake comes out clean, about 18 - 21 minutes. Cool in baking pan several minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
4. To make the mini cotton candy decoration, take pieces of cotton candy and shape into desired size (compacting as little as possible to keep it nice and fluffy), then take a lollipop stick, rinse top of stick under water (this just helps the cotton candy stick) then insert stick into bottom of cotton candy. Repeat to make 12. Once cupcakes are cool frost with cotton candy frosting and insert a mini cotton candy stick into each (note that the cotton candy will begin to shrink after about 30 - 60 minutes depending on how humid or hot it may be so wait to make and add decoration until nearly ready to serve).

    For the frosting:

1.  In an the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip butter until pale and fluffy. Mix in cream, cotton candy flavor and powdered sugar (adding additional cream 1 tsp at a time as needed). Whip until light and fluffy, tint with pink or blue food coloring if desired.

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