Baking Adventure 6: Cotton Candy Cupcakes

So, I finally got around to using the LorAnn cotton candy flavoring I wrote about earlier. I decided to do some cotton candy cupcakes, rather than cotton candy cookies.

For the cotton candy cupcakes I decided to make a white and moist cake batter from scratch with vanilla bean paste and a hint of soft pink food color gel (I use Americolor). I wanted to give the white cake mix batter a very subtle pink hue. Very light and very delicate, like white fluffy clouds that were kissed and slightly made to blush.

For the icing, I used a larger drop of pink food color gel so that I got the perfect cotton candy pink to top each cupcake. I used sparkly, irridescent, pink sanding sugar and a small bit of lavender sanding sugar to top each generous swirl of icing on the cupcakes. I added the cotton candy flavoring to both the white cake batter and the icing (a bit more for the icing so that it developed a true cotton candy flavor). I also used vanilla bean paste to enhance both the look and flavor of the icing.

I formerly wrote in a preview, that the smell of the LorAnn cotton candy flavoring oil reminded me of many diferent scents other than cotton candy and that concerned me, but I have to say, once I incorporated it into the cake batter and icing mixture, the true cotton candy fragrance, that we all recognize from carnival grounds and fairs, and the cotton candy taste, came out beautifully and right on target. The smell of a flavoring product is often very concentrated in the bottle, so it is most likely going to smell different than it does when used in a recipe. Keep this in mind from now on when seeking out flavorings and oils for recipes.

I wholeheartedly recommend the LorAnn flavoring oils for any recipes that require a cotton candy flavoring.

These were absolutely delicious.

Here are the results:

 

Preview: LorAnn's Cotton Candy Flavoring

So, I thought I'd do a preview, rather than a review, on a new product I just received in the mail.

The product is a flavoring that Surfas just discontinued (Surfas is an awesome restaurant supply shop, with cafe, in Culver City, California). It's cotton candy flavoring from a company called LorAnn Oils. This company makes all sorts of flavorings, essential oils, and flavor oils. Some are specifically made for chocolates, other are made for cold treats such as ice creams, gelatos, and sorbettos, and others are ideal for cakes, cookies, frostings and hard candy recipes.

The cotton candy flavoring that I received is a super strength flavoring, so the means that a little bit of it goes a long way in a recipe. I've used flavorings from other companies before, but not this one.

I ordered the 24-pack from Amazon. The pack contains small 3.7 ml vials (or 1 fl. dram/0.125 fl. oz.) in a container that also looks like a display case. The top of the case contains a flap that can be pulled up and opened to reveal the tiny glass vials and within he flap, is an insert that can be pulled up to make the box present as a display so that anyone can get a "window's view" of the box's contents.