Alternate Title: My Cupcakes Look Like Second Graders Frosted them with Toothpaste

Hey there friends,

You know, I don’t ask for much. Well okay I ask for a lot – but mostly it’s food and/or food-related.

And cute food. I love cute food.

All I wanted was to have some cute cupcakes to share with you today. I wanted pink and fluffy, dainty and delicate…

and then I realized I am none of those things just mentioned and therefore creating a cupcake with any of those attributes is impossible.

No, I’m more of the incredibly nerdy, loud, uncoordinated, falls-down-on-the-sidewalk-with-no-prompting type of person.

So naturally my cupcakes are the loudest shade of blue I think I could’ve managed. The wispy idea of cotton candy turned into cupcakes that were so scared of what I was doing to them that their frosting stood straight up.

Why can’t I have cute things?

Or things that taste (see Banana Fudge two days ago) the way they are meant to?

Who wants to eat a bright blue, almost toothpaste-reminiscent-covered cupcake?

WHO IS GOING TO ANSWER THESE IMPORTANT LIFE QUESTIONS FOR ME???

Ahem. If I squint for the silver lining I can at least tell you that these cupcakes taste pretty good. Unfortunately the cotton candy is sort of lost in the batter, but they end up like pretty good vanilla cupcakes. Not what I was aiming for, but at this point I’ll take it.

With Spring on its way (I think?) I am super duper excited to post as many brightly colored, warm-weather inspired recipes as possible. I guess every once in a while we get an overly bright casualty; but all’s fair in love and cupcakes right?

Right.

Whenever I mention a recipe didn’t work out or this and that, my friends always mention “oh but you can still post about it – it’s a learning experience!”

The banana fudge was a learning experience…and I had another “learning experience” earlier in the week that no one needs to know about; and now these toothpaste cupcakes?!?

I think I’ve had enough learning experiences for the entire month of March.

Last week I managed to kick some ass with a few super-cool posts. Did you know the Samoa Donuts are even up on Foodista?! However, this week I think real life got its sweet revenge by depriving me of any cute sweet treats.

If you need me, I’ll be enjoying the weekend early by eating all of my crazy blue cupcakes! I’ll be back to my normal(ish) self on Monday.

Happy Baking!

Cotton Candy Cupcakes

Recipe Source: Bakingdom

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick) at room temp
• 1/2 cup sour cream, at room temp
• 1 egg + 2 egg yolks, at room temp
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup cotton candy, firmly packed

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line one 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.
2. In a large bowl whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
3. Add butter, sour cream, egg, yolks, and vanilla and beat until smooth. Stir in cotton candy until evenly distributed.
4. Fill cupcake-lined cavities with a scant 1/4 cup of batter (about 3 tbsp) and bake at 350 for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean
5. Let cool in pan for a few minutes before carefully removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Cotton Candy Buttercream:

• 1 1/2 to 3 tsp heavy cream
• 1 oz cotton candy
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 8 oz powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Add cotton candy to small bowl and pour 1 1/2 tsp heavy cream over to melt. Set aside.
2. Beat butter and powdered sugar with electric mixture until well combined and fluffy.
3. Add vanilla and melted cotton candy and stir until well incorporated. Beat for 45-60 seconds until fluffy, adding more heavy cream if frosting is too thick.

All Photos And Writing Copyright © 2013 Jessica Gonzalez | On Sugar Mountain