Cotton Candy is literally the best thing ever for kids! Cotton Candy Cupcakes are the perfect treat to give your guests at a party! The cotton candy is fluffy, sweet, and tastes like pure sugar. You get that same feeling of satisfaction when you bite into it as you do when you eat cotton candy at the fair!
Cotton Candy flavored cupcakes are easy to make and can be customized in many ways for different occasions: for example, by using different flavors of frosting or adding toppings such as sprinkles or chocolate chips.
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❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Simple recipe -The recipe is simple and easy to follow. No one wants to follow a hard to make recipe!
- So good – If I’m going to make cupcakes, then I want them to be good. The cupcakes are fluffy and taste delicious.
- Customizable -They can be customized for different occasions! I love this because sometimes I like to use the same recipe for different occasions!
🛒Ingredients
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- white cake mix
- water
- vegetable oil
- egg whites
- LorAnn Cotton Candy Flavoring
- Nestle® Toll House® Funfetti Baking Morsels, divided
- Cupcake liners
Frosting Ingredients
- salted butter, softened
- shortening
- vanilla extract
- powdered sugar
- half and half
- LorAnn Cotton Candy Flavor
- Blue and pink gel food coloring
- Cotton candy (optional)
See the recipe card below for quantities.
🔪 How to Make Cotton Candy Cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray or line a standard muffin tin.
Add cake mix to a large mixing bowl. Using a hand or stand mixer, mix in your water, oil, and egg whites on medium until well incorporated.
Fold in 1 cup of the Funfetti Morsels.
Add batter into the muffin tin until each is about 2/3 full. Top with a few of the remaining Funfetti Morsels.
Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Allow to cool completely before adding candy filling and frosting.
Directions for Frosting:
In a large mixing bowl, using a hand or stand mixer, cream the butter and shortening for 2 minutes, until light and fluffy.
Mix in the vanilla extract, salt, and cotton candy flavoring (start with 1-2 drops as this flavoring is very strong!).
Slowly mix in the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, while alternating 1 tablespoon of the half and half. Continue to mix until creamy and stiff peaks form.
Divide the frosting into 3 containers. Add the blue food coloring to one container and the pink to the other, 1 drop at a time and mix until desired color is achieved. Leave the other container without color.
Add each color to its own small piping bag until you have 3 bags of frosting and then insert your 3 smaller piping bags into the large, prepared piping bag.
Before frosting your cupcakes, squeeze out a bit onto a plate until you see all the colors come out. Frost your cupcakes and garnish with cotton candy of desired and enjoy!
📝Variations
Do you want to change up this recipe and make it your own? Here are some ways that you can do that!
- Use different colors of frosting – You can use different colors of frosting to match the theme of your party or occasion. For example, blue frosting for a baby shower or pink frosting for a girl’s birthday party.
- Use different flavors of frosting – You can use different flavors of frosting to change the taste of your cupcakes. Try using chocolate frosting, strawberry frosting, or vanilla frosting.
- Add toppings – You can add fun toppings to your cupcakes. Some examples are sprinkles, chocolate chips, or even candy balls.
These Rainbow Cupcakes are also equally amazing!
🥄 Equipment
- 3 small piping bags
- 1 large piping bag
- 1 large star frosting tip
- Cupcake Pan
- Cupcake liners
- Mixing bowls
- Measuring cups
- Measuring spoons
- Electric Mixer
🥫 Storage
The best way to store Cotton Candy Cupcakes is to place them in an airtight container. This will help keep them fresh and prevent them from drying out.
They can be stored at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the fridge for up to 5 days.
💭 Tips
- Mix the ingredients together in the right order! It’s important to mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients first because it prevents lumps from forming when you mix the wet and dry ingredients together.
- Don’t overload your cupcake liners! If you do, then it will be hard to get the cupcakes out of the tin.
- Be careful not to over-bake your cotton candy cupcakes! You don’t want them to get dry or burnt.
- Do not overmix your cupcakes, mix the batter until just combined.
- It’s very important to that your butter is at room temperature so that your frosting is smooth.
- Milk can be used instead of half and half.
- If you can’t find Funfetti Chips, you can use white chocolate chips instead or leave them out altogether.
⁉️ FAQ
Do you have questions about this recipe? Here are the answers to the most commonly asked questions.
No. Due to the type of cupcakes they are, it would be hard to freeze them!
They can be stored at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Most stores sell cotton candy of some sort! You can buy cotton candy that’s in a package. Also, if you can get your hands on fresh cotton candy, go for it!
🍽 More Cupcake Recipes
Do you enjoy cupcakes, try these delicious recipes:
🧾Cotton Candy Cupcakes
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Cotton Candy Cupcakes
Equipment
- 3 small piping bags
- 1 large piping bag
- 1 large star frosting tip
- Cupcake Pan
- Cupcake Liners
- mixing bowls
- Measuring cups
- Measuring spoons
- Electric Mixer
Ingredients
- 1 15.25- ounce white cake mix
- 1 ¼ cups water
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- 4 egg whites
- 1 teaspoon LorAnn Cotton Candy Flavoring Amazon
- 1 ¼ cups Nestle® Toll House® Funfetti Baking Morsels
Frosting Ingredients
- ¾ cups salted butter softened or 1 1/2 sticks
- 1 cup shortening
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3-4 cups powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons half and half
- ½ teaspoon LorAnn Cotton Candy Flavor up to one teaspoon for a stronger flavor.
- Blue and pink gel food coloring
- Cotton candy optional
Instructions
Directions for Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray or line a standard muffin tin.
- Add cake mix to a large mixing bowl. Using a hand or stand mixer, mix in your water, oil, and egg whites on medium until well incorporated.
- Fold in 1 cup of the Funfetti Morsels.
- Add batter into the muffin tin until each is about 2/3 full. Top with a few of the remaining Funfetti Morsels.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before adding candy filling and frosting.
Directions for Frosting
- In a large mixing bowl, using a hand or stand mixer, cream the butter and shortening for 2 minutes, until light and fluffy. Mix in the vanilla extract, salt, and cotton candy flavoring (start with 1-2 drops as this flavoring is very strong!).
- Slowly mix in the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, while alternating 1 tablespoon of the half and half. Continue to mix until creamy and stiff peaks form.
- Divide the frosting into 3 containers. Add the blue food coloring to one container and the pink to the other, 1 drop at a time and mix until desired color is achieved. Leave the other container without color.
- Add each color to its own small piping bag until you have 3 bags of frosting and then insert your 3 smaller piping bags into the large, prepared piping bag.
- Before frosting your cupcakes, squeeze out a bit onto a plate until you see all the colors come out. Frost your cupcakes and garnish with cotton candy of desired and enjoy!
Nutrition
Do you add cotton candy extract to the cake batter also? How much do you usually add? Thanks!
Yes! I add one teaspoon of the cotton candy extract to the cake batter. And, add 1/2 teaspoon or up to a full teaspoon to the frosting depending on how strong you want the flavor.