Cotton Candy Cupcakes

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While I love to make everything from scratch, I realized an opportunity I’ve been missing with box cake mixes.  I created a challenge for myself the other day.  How many wonderfully tasty and funky cupcake flavors can I come up when using a white box cake mix?  Today is the first day of the challenge.

Cotton candy flavored cupcakes are something I had brewing in the back of my mind for awhile.  I was wanting to create something using real cotton candy, cotton candy flavored Pop Rocks, as well as incorporating cotton candy flavoring into both the cupcakes and the frosting.

It all started when I was grocery shopping.  As a cupcake enthusiast, I can never skip the baking aisle. I was walking down the baking aisle in Kroger when I saw they had box cake mixes 10 for $10 on sale, so I picked up a few white cake mixes to keep handy in the pantry.

You never know when you might be in need of a cupcake.  Cupcakes are great birthday gifts or just because gifts — you can give 1 or you can give a dozen.  It’s a great way to surprise your colleagues when you’ve all been working so hard.  It’s also a quick an easy holiday gift to whip up for the boss and help desk at the office. I like to send them to Nate’s work as a little token of my appreciation for his wonderful job with really wonderful health benefits.

They had a definite cotton candy flavor. Taste-test kid approved!  I liked them. The kids LOVED them.  And, my brother and his family loved them too!

 
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Cotton Candy Cupcakes

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Ingredients

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• 1 box white cake mix
• 1 1/4 cups water
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 3 egg whites
• 1 package of Duncan Hine’s Frosting Flavor Creations – cotton candy flavor
• 1/2 quart-sized tub of real cotton candy

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350. Place 24 cupcake liners into cupcake tins.
2. Add all ingredients to mixer and mix on low to combine for 1 minute. Then, mix on medium for 2 minutes until well blended.
3. Divide the batter among the cupcake lines, filling each about 2/3 full.
4. Bake for approximately 15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
5. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

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Cotton Candy Buttercream Frosting

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Ingredients

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• 1/2 cup salted butter, at room temperature
• 3–4 cups powdered sugar
• 3–5 tbs milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 package of Duncan Hine’s Frosting Flavor Creations – cotton candy flavor
• 1/2 quart-sized tub of real cotton candy
• Topping: Cotton Candy Pop Rocks

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Instructions

1. With your electric mixer using the whisk attachment whip the butter on high speed until it’s very pale and very fluffy. This takes about 5-7 minutes. Make sure you frequently scrape down the sides of the bowl.
2. Add in powdered sugar, milk, vanilla extract, flavoring powder, cotton candy and mix on low speed until blended. Check the consistency to see if you need to add more milk or powdered sugar.
3. Once it’s not too heavy or runny, then increase your mixer speed to medium and beat until very light and fluffy. I usually leave the mixer on about 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl frequently.
4. Using a large star tip, swirl the frosting high.
5. Just before serving, top off with Cotton Candy flavored Pop Rocks. If you do this too early, the Pop Rocks will melt.

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Enjoy!

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