When you return home from vacation, do you ever feel like you need a vacation from your vacation? Back when I was a student and living with my parents, I had the luxury of having just that whenever I returned home from travelling. Without major bills to pay, it wasn’t essential for me to jump back to work and I usually enjoyed a few sleepy days letting the jet lag wear off.
Well, now I’m living in the real world and am an “adult”, so taking time off work to recover from vacation is not an option. Because, bills.
My body did not like that one bit, and a powerful flu reminiscent of my childhood ailments hit me like a brick. Having the flu is tough for anyone, but for those of us who cannot sit still and like to work work work till the candle burns low, it’s also a challenge mentally. There were recipes to be made and posts to write! Well, I just told my brain to sit down and relax, and now thanks to Netflix I can now tell you what happened in every single episode of the first season of 90210. Priorities.
Here’s a sweet treat I made a little while ago before The Major Virus of 2015. These cotton candy cupcakes are fun, bright and colourful and they’ll put a smile on the face of any bedridden soul. Surprisingly, there are not many recipes on the internet for cotton candy cupcakes that actually use cotton candy in the batter — but never fear, this one does!
These cotton candy cupcakes are sugary sweet and a little swish of cotton candy atop the frosting gives a real carnival feel. Cotton candy does begin to melt at the touch of something moist, so wait until you’re ready to serve the cupcakes before placing the cotton candy on the frosting. Enjoy 
Some notes (also included in the recipe):
- It’s hard to measure cotton candy, so I didn’t really include measurements. I got a large bag that had four bundles in it and I used two for the recipe
- The cupcake batter will change colour depending on colour of your cotton candy, so for a deeper colour you can use food colouring like I did and get creative with the colours
- 1½ cups flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup canola oil (or other vegetable oil)
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup milk
- 2 tsp vanilla
- optional: food colouring
- roughly 1 oz cotton candy (or one bundle)
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 4 cups icing sugar
- ¼ cup milk
- 2 tsp vanilla
- optional: food colouring
- cotton candy
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a muffin pan with paper liners.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Add the canola oil, eggs, milk, and vanilla and whisk to combine. Add the optional food colouring (anywhere from 15-30 drops for a strong colour) and stir. Break up the cotton candy and fold it in the batter.
- Pour the batter into the paper liners and fill ⅔ full. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until the tops spring back to touch.
- To make the frosting, combine the butter, icing sugar, milk, vanilla, and optional food colouring and mix until light and fluffy. When the cupcakes have cooled completely, frost them and top each cupcake with a piece of cotton candy.
The cupcake batter will change colour depending on colour of your cotton candy, so for a deeper colour you can use food colouring like I did and get creative with the colours