When I decided to make this cotton candy cake, I had no idea what a challenge (and excitement) it would be to get the real cotton candy flavor. I could have easily ordered it online, but the shipping cost was the same as the cost of the product and I was very offended by that, so I was determined to find it in-store. I’m not kidding when I tell you that I probably checked out 10 stores in Canada AND the US and came back empty-handed.

The cotton candy I bought came in four different colors – pink, blue, purple and yellow – so I decided to marble the cake with all of those colors. This would be easy: I divided the dough into four bowls, colored three and left one plain. But just as I was about to divide the dough into pieces, I realized I had forgotten to use the cotton candy extract! Serious!! There was no way I could leave this out given the trouble I had getting it and I had no plans to make the dough again (laziness). So I added it at the very end, instead of with the eggs, and mixed the dough thoroughly again.

MINI INSTRUCTIONS FOR COTTON CANDY CAKE

1. Divide the batter into two medium bowls with your favorite vanilla cake mix. I love Rosie’s amazing cake and buttercream recipe at Sweetapolita.

2. Use a little pink gel color for cotton candy pink and a little sky blue for cotton candy blue. Gently mix the dough until it takes on color.

3. Pour the batter into four greased cake tins lined with baking paper – I used round cake tins with a diameter of 19 cm.

4. Bake according to the recipe’s instructions.

5. Let cool and spread with your favorite vanilla buttercream. I used basket weave lace to create the delicate ribbon look. Finally, add a single fresh raspberry. Very cute!

Tips for Making this Cotton Candy Cake:

• Try not to over-mix the cake batter as it will affect the texture of the cake.
• When coloring the dough and icing, I recommend using a toothpick to check the amount of color added.
• Do not let your cake cool before using the watercolor technique so that the colors blend more easily.
• Cotton candy doesn’t last long and doesn’t keep well in the fridge at all. Be sure to check out my Swiss Meringue Buttercream post for tips on how to lighten up your buttercream.
• To make sure your cake layers bake nice and flat, check out my post on Flat Top Cakes.

What Happens if You Overmix the Cake Cutter?

There are some signs that the cake is overmixed. The degree of difficulty varies depending on how overmixed the dough is. Ideally, you want to mix until the flour is incorporated.

Overmixing often results in denser cakes because too much gluten has built up. When cutting, you often see holes or tunnels. Overmixing the cake batter compromises the overall structure of the cake so much that the layers sometimes become so brittle that they break when they come out of the pans.

After the cookies had cooled in the pans for 10 minutes, I could tell there was a problem. They were still a little stuck on the sides and very crumbly around the edges. I ran a knife around the sides to loosen them as much as possible and turned them out. The sides were very crumbly. Honestly, most of the time the pages just fell off or stayed on the pan.

I was worried that people would notice when the cake was done and if it would look terrible, but I did it anyway. Did I mention I’m lazy?? You could never really tell in the picture, could you?

But I can tell you that the little bits that stuck to the pans were so delicious. It probably would have been good if I hadn’t colored the dough as well. Both together were just a recipe for disaster.

Cotton Candy Cake: INSTRUCTIONS

• Preheat oven to 350F. Grease, flour and line three 6-inch cake rounds with parchment paper.
• Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Add cotton candy flavoring and mix well.
• Alternately add flour mixture and milk, beginning and ending with flour (3 additions of flour and 2 additions of milk). Completely absorbed after each addition.
• Divide the dough evenly between four bowls (I use a kitchen scale). Color 3 of the dough shells with fuchsia, sky blue and purple gel. Place batter randomly in each of the three molds, turning once or twice with a bamboo skewer until marbled.
• Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack.

Assembly:

• Put one layer of cake on a serving plate. Spread with about 2/3 dl of buttercream. Repeat with the remaining layers and crumble the cake. Leave to cool for 20 minutes.
• Grease the top and sides of the cake and smooth it with a spatula.
• Divide the remaining frosting into quarters. Leave one batch white and dye the remaining three fuchsia, sky blue and violet.
• Make one color at a time: Scrape some colored frosting onto the back of a small spatula and spread it over the cake in a random pattern. Repeat with the other colors until they are evenly but roughly distributed.
• Run your table scraper over the sides of the cake again to smooth out the newly added colored frosting. Repeat if necessary, add more color or touch up with white.
• Using a small round piping, form a bead border at the top and bottom with the remaining white buttercream.
• Place cotton candy on top if desired.

Notes:

*Make sure there is NO trace of yolk in your egg whites and that your mixing bowl and whisk are completely free of grease or your meringue will not set.** The buttercream may look like it has set at some point. Continue mixing until completely smooth.*** Cotton candy does not last long and does not keep well in the fridge at all. I recommend adding this right before serving. more detail