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With all the hustle and bustle of the holidays, it’s hard to find down time to spend a quiet evening with the family. That’s why, beginning when the kids were toddlers, I started the family movie night tradition. One night each December we take a break from the holiday madness, make a treat and watch a movie. We try to choose a fun, light-hearted movie. The eleven year old is into planes right now, so I decided Planes the movie was just what we needed. While browsing at Walmart for some snacks to munch on during the movie, I saw they had Planes characters on roll back. I snatched one up and brought it home to go with our Cotton Candy Cupcakes. These cupcakes, inspired by the Planes movie. have fun cotton candy clouds on top, making them soar to new heights. Sorry, couldn’t resist the pun.
Here’s what you need to make them:
I cheated and used cotton candy powder I found in the cake mix section of Walmart, but feel free to substitute five drops of cotton candy flavoring and five drops of blue food coloring instead. I also used sour cream to give my cupcakes an extra moist taste, but blueberry or vanilla yogurt could be substituted.
For the frosting I used a canned mix and the cotton candy powder, but in the future I will make homemade butter cream frosting and add a few drops of cotton candy flavoring and some blue food coloring. This will give the frosting a thicker texture and more flavor.
After frosting the cupcakes, I pulled cotton candy into small “cloud” shapes and placed it on top of the cupcake. I added small cutouts from the Planes movie in front of the candy clouds. The cotton candy evaporates and leaves behind a sugary residue so wait until immediately before serving to add the candy clouds.
Looking for a gift for the Disney Planes fanatic in your family? These products are on rollback at Walmart right now:
- Disney Planes Flight to the Finish Speedway Rollback to $24.97
- Disney Planes Fire & Rescue Die-Cast Vehicles, 3-Pack Rollback to $14.97
- Disney Planes Fire & Rescue Deluxe Talking Vehicle Assortment Rollback to $19.97
- Planes Character Assortment die-cast set & the Disney Planes: Fire
- and Rescue Character Assortment die-cast set are both on rollback at $4.97
Because saving money is always is style!
- 1 box vanilla gluten free cake mix
- 1 cup sour cream OR blueberry yogurt
- 3 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/4 cup oil
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 package cotton candy flavor powder OR 5 drops cotton candy flavor oil
- For frosting:
- 1 container (8 ounce) white frosting
- 1 package cotton candy flavor powder or 5 drop cotton candy flavor oil
- (if using flavor oil, also use 5 drops blue food coloring
- Cotton candy & Planes picks for decoration
- Mix cake mix, butter, almond extract, sour cream, milk and oil together until combined. Add cotton candy powder. Stir until blended. Place batter into muffin tins and bake 20 minutes at 350. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.
- Mix frosting and cotton candy powder together until combined. Spread over cooled cupcakes. Top with cotton candy and planes picks.
What are some of your favorite holiday traditions? Do you have any tips on how to keep the holidays calm and stress free?
These would be great for a kids birthday party! I have tweeted and pinned your entry to our Gluten Free Fridays board on Pinterest! 🙂 I can’t wait to see what you share next time!
-Cindy
YAY Gluten free cupcake recipe! My youngest son has Celiac Disease so we (obviously) eat gluten free. Thanks for the great G-free recipe! #client
My son saw the Planes movie recently and fell in love with it. I’ll bet he would love these cupcakes.
Cute cupcakes! Christmas is never stress free lol I wish though! As I’m typing, I haven’t even wrapped any of my gifts yet lol
Mouthwatering gluten free cupcakes – yum! I love the cotton candy twist. Perfect for the snow of the holidays!
My son is a huge Planes nut! I love that these cupcakes are cute and gluten free, yum!
I love these cupcakes and the plane cupcake topper! We just wanted that movie the other day and it was too cute!
Yum! What a fun idea. I know my boys would love these.
Great minds think alike! I did cloud cupcakes too! I love the cotton candy! What a nice touch.
These cupcakes look delicious. I love that they are gluten free for people on modified diets.
Oh I really love the cotton candy clouds! These are super cute!
Your cupcakes are really cute and I love how you made the clouds. What a creative idea. I am not sure Christmas can ever be stress free. But we need to probably let a lot of things go and just enjoy it more.
My kids don’t know it but they are getting Disney Planes for Christmas. Those cupcakes look yummy. I didn’t know you could add cotton candy like you did.
Those look so yummy and cute. I love the cotton candy idea for the clouds. Plus being gluten free gives so many people the chance to have some great treats.
I’ve never seen adding cotton candy to cupcakes before, but I love it. There is so much you could do with that idea.
I got a friend who can’t have gluten so this is a really awesome recipe!
Clouds. That is something. I love this.
These look so cute and delicious. These would be great for my friends sons birthday party that is coming up.
Cotton candy cup cakes sound delicious! I will most certainly have to try this recipe out!
Oh my gosh! These are so adorable. My kids would love these cupcakes. Thanks for sharing.
Ermagoodness, your cotton candy clouds are the best! I love that they are gluten free cupcakes, too!
Fire & Rescue was such a great movie. Cupcakes look yummy. We try to do family movie night every weekend.
Those are some cute cupcakes! I love the touch of cotton candy
These cupcakes look and sound awesome. I need to keep them in mind for my son’s next birthday party.
And…..now I want a cupcake 😉 These look absolutely delicious.
This is a really cute idea. They look really yummy and I love the cloud.
What an adorable idea for cupcakes! Too cute and delicious looking! I wish I had a secret or two to share for a stress-free holiday season, but I do not! I say this AS I sit here STRESSING lol.
the idea for clouds is genius. I think I would eat all my clouds before the kids do!
fun times with Planes!
Cotton candy cupcakes! Those look so yummy, it’s amazing that they’re gluten-free.
Adorable what a great idea! I know my boys would all love these, and so would I! We love planes!
These are cute. I know that you’re talking about Christmas but I could see totally using these for one of my son’s birthday parties. They’re really a great idea of how to keep the theme going.
Cute and delicious? These sound perfect! They would be super cute at little boy birthday party.
Oh they are such cute cupcakes! I haven’t seen Planes yet, perhaps I’ll have to make it one of my Christmas movies.
Wow. Way to make gluten-free extra delicious! These look so tasty, and I love the cotton candy flavor. Yum!
Those are SO cute! I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a cotton candy mix!
I do have a big Planes fan in the house, and I’m sure this would be a hit! Those cupcakes are just as cute as they can be too.
I love these and I love the beautiful blue of the icing. Good job.
I really like the color, too. That is a pretty blue.
These look so cool! These would be great for a Disney party!
I would love to hear it if someone has figured out the secret to keeping Christmas stress free 😉
Those cupcakes are pretty awesome 🙂
Me too! I would love a calm and stress free holiday! 🙂