Cupcakes are such delicious treats, and many people love eating them fairly often. You might get them for yourself on the weekend as a treat or you might simply bake your own at home.
Having cupcakes will be a good way to celebrate a birthday or some other type of special occasion. This is especially true if you’re able to make the cupcakes special in some way by adding toppings to them.
Many people add interesting things to the top of cupcakes such as frosting and candy toppings. There are even people who are putting cotton candy on the top of them.
If you’re a big fan of cotton candy, then having some on your cupcakes might be very appealing to you. When you try to put cotton candy on cupcakes, you might find that the cotton candy melts too fast.
This is certainly problematic and it has the potential to ruin your fun. Is there a way that you can keep this from happening?
Keep reading to learn about how you can keep cotton candy from melting. Once you have a better idea of what needs to be done, it should be easier to get good results.
Understanding Why Cotton Candy Melts
Cotton candy is a very interesting treat that people like to enjoy when they go to the circus or the county fair. It’s become a sort of traditional snack that people enjoy when they’re out doing special things during the summer.
Have you ever walked around at the fair and taken a bit too long to eat the cotton candy? You might have noticed that it will melt over time if you don’t eat it fast enough.
Why does this happen to cotton candy, though? Is there something about the way that it is made that makes it melt really fast?
Simply put, cotton candy melts when it’s exposed to moisture. This is why it sort of melts in your mouth when it is exposed to your saliva.
The cotton candy might not be getting wet directly, but you have to consider that there is moisture in the air. The humidity level of the area will have an impact on how long the cotton candy will stick around.
If it’s really hot outside, then there’s a good chance that cotton candy will melt very fast. It will melt fast when it’s cool if you happen to be in an area with high humidity.
Even under normal circumstances, cotton candy is going to slowly melt. There just isn’t any way to get around this and you simply have to eat it while you can.
So What Can You Do About the Cupcakes?
If cotton candy melts so fast, then how are people enjoying cotton candy on top of their cupcakes? When the cotton candy is just going to melt, why would people bother to use it as a topping?
Well, you’re not looking at things from the right angle. If you put the cotton candy on the cupcakes right away and you don’t eat the cupcakes for several hours, it’s going to be disappointing to see that the cotton candy has melted by the time you’re ready to eat.
This is why you don’t top the cupcakes with cotton candy right away. Instead of putting the cotton candy on the cupcakes as soon as they’re ready, you’re going to wait until you actually want to eat a cupcake.
You need to top the cupcake with the normal frosting and then you’ll put the cotton candy on top of that. If you’re going to wait to eat, then you just put the frosting on and you keep the cotton candy in storage until you’re ready.
So long as you do things this way, it’s always going to be easy to enjoy the cupcake with the cotton candy on top. You simply can’t store cupcakes with cotton candy on top because the cotton candy will melt.
How to Store Cotton Candy
Storing cotton candy is something that you’ll need to focus on when you want to use it as a topping. It needs to stay safe and ready to use until you’re in the mood to eat some cupcakes, after all.
The best thing that you can do to get consistent results is to store the cotton candy in an airtight container. The airtight container is going to protect the cotton candy by keeping it away from moisture.
Moisture is the thing that causes the cotton candy to melt very fast. If moisture can’t get to the cotton candy, then it’s going to be fine until you need it.
Many people will use airtight plastic bags to store cotton candy. You can put the cotton candy in bags like this and then you can remove all of the excess air from the bag.
Cotton candy isn’t going to expire or go bad. The only real danger is that it will lose its fluffiness or melt eventually.
So you put it in an airtight bag and then you put that bag in an airtight container. It provides several layers of protection and you shouldn’t have to worry about it being exposed to the air or moisture.
You don’t want to put the cotton candy in your freezer or your refrigerator either. The best place for it will be on your counter somewhere.
Find a spot where the cotton candy won’t be knocked over or in the way. You should be able to keep it on the counter somewhere so long as you have a little bit of space.
Final Thoughts
You now know what needs to be done so that you can enjoy cotton candy as a cupcake topping. It isn’t really possible to keep it from melting once it has been placed on top of the cupcake.
This is why you need to wait to place it on the cupcake until you actually want to eat it. You can store the cotton candy safely in an airtight container until you’re ready to enjoy dessert.
Sarah is the founder of Baking Kneads, LLC, a blog sharing guides, tips, and recipes for those learning how to bake. Growing up as the daughter of a baker, she spent much of her childhood learning the basics in a local bakery.