Cotton Candy Cake is so much more fun that your average birthday cake! Layers of sweet cotton candy cake are stacked and held together by gorgeous cotton candy frosting. While it may be pretty picturesque, fear not – this oh-so-sweet cake is very easy to make from scratch.
What’s in Cotton Candy Layer Cake
If you’re an avid baker, you just might already have everything you need to make this easy cake recipe in your kitchen now!
- Cake Flour: If you don’t have cake flour, you can make your own by measuring 1 cup of all-purpose flour, removing 2 tablespoons from the cup, and adding 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. Whisk together and sift well before using.
- Baking Powder: Measure with care for the best consistency for your cake.
- Salt: You’ll need a little bit of salt for the cake batter and frosting.
- Baking Soda: Just like with the baking powder, you’ll need to be very careful when measuring this ingredient.
- Unsalted Butter: You’ll need room temperature butter for both the cake batter and frosting.
- White Granulated Sugar: This is what gives the cake that signature sweet flavor, of course!
- Eggs: They need to be room temperature before mixing into the batter.
- Milk: This will also need to be room temperature. I recommend using whole milk.
- Cotton Candy Flavoring: You should be able to find some online pretty easily! Also, make sure you have enough for both the cake batter and frosting.
- Food Coloring: It’s optional of course, but I couldn’t imagine serving a cotton candy cake without some pink and blue colors!
- Powdered Sugar: For the frosting, you won’t want to swap this sugar with any other kind.
PRO TIP: Make sure the cake is fully cooled before frosting it. I like to bake the cake the day before and decorate it the next day so I know it’s fully cooled.
Where can I find cotton candy flavoring?
Cotton candy flavoring is usually sold in the baking aisle of grocery or craft stores. If you can’t find it locally, I recommend ordering some from LorAnn.
If your cakes are a bit flat, that’s most likely because you didn’t add enough baking powder. Also, be sure to check the expiration date on your baking powder! If it’s expired, it just won’t do the trick.
A dry cake can be caused by two things. You may have measured the ingredients incorrectly, or you might have over-mixed the batter. It’s important to scoop and level your ingredients if you’re not using a scale, and it’s important to have a light hand when mixing the batter.
If your buttercream frosting is too thin, chill it for 10-20 minutes, then whip again. If it is still too thin, add powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it reaches the desired consistency. If your buttercream is too thick, add milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it reaches the desired consistency.
How to Store
Store cotton candy cake in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Serving Suggestions
This pretty layered cake is perfect for birthday parties, bridal showers, baby showers and so much more! There’s nothing quite like celebrating with the sweet flavors of cotton candy.
More Layered Cake Recipes We Love
- Naked Cake (Vanilla Cake)
- Chocolate Fudge Cake
- Airplane Cake
- Milk & Cookies Cake
- Brownie Cake
- Strawberry Layer Cake
Cotton Candy Cake Recipe
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 4 cups cake flour 480 grams, see note
- 1 tablespoon baking powder 12 grams
- 1¼ teaspoons kosher salt 4 grams
- 1 teaspoon baking soda 6 grams
- 1 cup unsalted butter 226 grams, room temperature (2 sticks)
- 3 cups granulated sugar 600 grams
- 5 large eggs 250 grams, room temperature
- 1¾ cups milk 398 grams, room temperature
- 1½ teaspoons cotton candy flavoring 8 grams (2 drams LorAnn)
- Blue and pink food coloring optional
For the Buttercream
- 2 cups unsalted butter 452 grams, room temperature (4 sticks)
- 7 cups powdered sugar 791 grams
- ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ teaspoon cotton candy flavoring 4 grams (1 dram LorAnn)
- Pink and blue food coloring optional
Equipment
- Kitchen Scale (optional)
- Piping Tip Set (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 3 8-inch cake pans with parchment paper and spray them with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.4 cups cake flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1¼ teaspoons kosher salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on medium-high for about 1 minute. Add in the eggs, milk, and cotton candy flavoring. Beat on high for another 1 minute. Add in the flour mixture and stir just until the flour has been incorporated. Divide evenly into 2 smaller bowls and color with blue and pink food coloring if desired.1 cup unsalted butter, 3 cups granulated sugar, 5 large eggs, 1¾ cups milk, 1½ teaspoons cotton candy flavoring, Blue and pink food coloring
- Alternately spoon blue and pink batter into the cake pans and gently swirl them together. Don’t swirl too much as the batter will turn purple and bake into a brown color. Place into the oven to bake for 20-23 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean or with moist crumbs. Once baked, remove from the oven, place onto a cooling rack, and let cool to room temperature.
- While the cakes are cooling, make the buttercream. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, powdered sugar, salt, and cotton candy flavoring together. Beat first on low for about 2 minutes, or until the powdered sugar is almost completely incorporated, to avoid it from flying out of the bowl. Increase speed to high and let it whip for 4 minutes to create a smooth buttercream.2 cups unsalted butter, 7 cups powdered sugar, ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt, ¾ teaspoon cotton candy flavoring
- Separate the frosting evenly into 3 bowls. Color 1 bowl pink, 1 bowl blue, and leave the last bowl white.Pink and blue food coloring
- Once the cakes are cooled, place 1 layer onto a cake stand or plate. Top with about ¼ cup of buttercream and spread to the edges. Place a second layer of cake on top and frost. Place the last layer of cake on top. Frost the top and sides of the cake with buttercream. Alternate between white, blue, and pink frosting for a cotton candy, rainbow effect.
- For neat multi-colored frosting swirls, alternately spread some pink and blue buttercream onto the sides of a piping bag fitted with your choice of tip. Once you are happy with the mix of colors, fill the remainder of the bag with white buttercream. Pipe in a clock formating, piping 1 swirl each at 12:00, 6:00, 3:00, and 9:00. Continue in that fashion around the perimeter of the cake.
- If desired, top with clouds or pieces of cotton candy.
- Once the cake is frosted, slice and serve!
Notes
- Cake Flour: If you don’t have cake flour, you can make your own by measuring 1 cup of all-purpose flour, removing 2 tablespoons from the cup, and adding 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. Whisk together and sift well before using.
- Your butter should be softened before mixing it. It will combine much easier and you will have an even texture throughout.
- Make sure the cake is fully cooled before frosting it. I like to bake the cake the day before and decorate it the next day so I know it’s fully cooled.
- This cake is perfect for bridal and baby showers too!
I really enjoyed your article. Congrats on the content.
Thanks so much, Emanuel!
I am a baker, use to work professionally baking cakes. This recipe didn’t seem right to me but I went ahead & made it. After all you have a website & pictures of the cake.
The blue turned out green because of the yellow from the eggs. No way did it cook in the 30 minutes the recipe said. It took more like 35 minutes. When I put the eggs & milk in the butter immediately got cold & chunky. Overall it’s not a good cake recipe. Would not recommend it.
The batter was good with the taste of cotton candy from the oil you recommended.
Hi Debbi, I’m sorry this recipe didn’t work out for you! I’d love to help you troubleshoot.
I’m surprised that the blue came out green! I haven’t had that happen before. Did you use gel or liquid? The gel is usually much stronger in color!
As for the bake time, all ovens are different, so the bake time can vary! I recommend getting an oven thermometer to be sure that your oven is at the right temperature.
Were your eggs and milk also at room temperature? Cold milk and eggs can cause the butter to clump, so make sure that all of your eggs and dairy products are at room temperature!
Unfortunately, this one flopped. I put it in 8″ pans and it overflowed on one of them, Not as high on the sides. Upon removal, I thought 2 layers would work, but the cake flattened. 🙁 Did not work or cook according to directions either. Timing is off.
I’m sorry this recipe didn’t quite work out for you, Lori! Make sure to fill your cake pans only about halfway to avoid them overflowing in the future! Also, if the cake flattened when it came out of the oven, it probably needed a few minutes longer to bake. Make sure to test the cake with a toothpick to see if it is ready. It should come out clean or with a few moist crumbs!
I am not sure if you tried making this according to your recipe multiple times?just wondering if you had any issues. I unfortunately didn’t read the comments before making this. I like to use metric since it’s more accurate for Baking and the sugar seemed off so I put into a cup and it was off by about 60 grams too much in your metric conversion. I’m just a home baker so not a professional but once I added the milk it also felt like something was off. My batter curdled like I had added vinegar. I’m still trying to trust the process but I am about to start making a different cake recipe because I used spring cake pans and it’s leaking out the bottoms while baking. So I need a back up because it’s a birthday cake due in a few hrs .I’m following your recipe exactly but I do not have faith it will come out correctly so far. Seems like it will taste good but not really be a cake. Fingers crossed.
Hi Athena, this recipe has been tested many times! It sounds like your eggs or milk may have been added cold straight from the refrigerator. I recommend using room temperature ingredients, as they can solidify and curdle in the batter if they’re too cold. This can also cause the cake to bake more slowly due to the cold start. I use the standard calculation of 200 grams of sugar per cup, so I’m not sure where the discrepancy there is coming from.
You can cover the cakes with foil if they start to brown too quickly, but it may be the pans used, as I don’t recommend springform pans for this recipe. They are designed for thicker batters like cheesecake. If the batter was leaking out of the bottom of the pans, that could be the cause of the burning smell. This is a thinner batter that benefits from a traditional cake pan.
I’m sorry this recipe didn’t work out for you!
Ok got it out of the oven. Takes at least 45 min baking and filled pan halfway and it’s still raw in the middle. So the outside is really dark, can’t continue to cook because it already smells like it’s burning. Not sure whats happening but I can’t recommend this recipe. Wondering if it’s the milk added. The texture seemed more like cake without the milk, also for how much sugar is in it, it’s not very sweet which was shocking because I was worried it would be too sweet. Sadly wasted my ingredients and eggs are expensive these days and hard to find, so pretty disappointed
I can’t believe the comments here- I followed the exact directions and my cake came out perfectly! I used gel food coloring.
I’m so happy to hear you had success, Dana!