Cotton Candy Cake

Difficulty:
1/5

Ease of preparation: Complex

Yield: 1 cake

 

Ingredients:

Orange chiffon cake

7 eggs, separated

½ cup (120 ml) vegetable oil

1/3 cup (80 ml) water

½ cup (120 ml) orange juice

1 tablespoon (15 ml) orange zest

1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla

3 cups (720 ml) cake flour

1 2/3 cups (400 ml) sugar, divided

3 teaspoons (15 ml) baking powder

½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) salt

1 teaspoon (5 ml) cream of tartar

 

Orange meringue buttercream

4 cups (960 ml) butter, room temperature

8 cups (1.9 l) icing sugar

½ cup (120 ml) pasteurized egg whites

½ cup (120 ml) whipping cream

2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla

2 tablespoons (30 ml) orange zest

¼ teaspoon (1 ml) salt

 

Cotton candy

2/3 cup (160 ml) water

3 cups (720 ml) sugar

¾ cup (180 ml) corn syrup

¼ teaspoon (1 ml) salt

1 teaspoon (5 ml) cherry extract

Red liquid food colouring

 

Special equipment

2 wooden spoons

Floor covering

Wire whisk with the metal loops clipped and straightened

Piping bag

 

Assorted candies, for filling cake

 

Method:

Let’s get baking!

 

To make the chiffon cake, preheat oven to 350 F (175 C).

 

Whisk together egg yolks and vegetable oil. Add water, orange juice, orange zest, and vanilla and whisk to incorporate.

 

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, 2/3 cup (160 ml) of sugar, baking powder, and salt. Gradually sift flour mixture into egg yolk mixture, stirring to combine.

 

Add egg whites and cream of tartar to a bowl. Beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form.

 

Carefully fold egg white mixture into flour mixture.

 

Pour into 2 cake tins lined with parchment paper. Bake for 30-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

 

Invert cakes to cool.

 

Run a knife around the cake tins to dislodge cakes. Level cakes but cutting off tops, then slice each in half horizontally.

 

To make the meringue buttercream, whip butter and icing sugar together until smooth. Pour in pasteurized egg whites in a thin stream and continue whipping. Add whipping cream and continue whipping. Add vanilla, orange zest, and salt and mix just until incorporated.

 

To make the cotton candy, suspend 2 wooden spoons 1 foot apart on the countertop by placing the end of the wooden spoons under something heavy to hold them in place.

 

Put floor covering on floor underneath spoons.

 

Pour water in a saucepan and add sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Heat over medium, stirring until sugar has melted. Once the temperature has reached 320 F (160 C), pour the mixture into a shallow glass bowl.

 

Add cherry extract and a small amount of food colouring and stir to mix in.

 

Working quickly but carefully, dip the tines of the clipped whisk into the mixture. Wave the whisk back and forth above the suspended wooden spoons – the candy should fall in thin strands onto the spoon handles. (If the mixture hardens before you are finished, reheat it in the microwave for a few minutes.)

 

Collect the strands and form them into a ball. Repeat until sugar has been used up.

Set cotton candy balls aside.

 

To finish, using a round cookie cutter, cut the centre out of 3 layers of the cake, leaving 1 layer untouched. Spread frosting onto each layer of cake with the centre removed and stack them. Fill hollow centre with candy.

 

Place the last level of cake on top (the one without a hole in the middle).

 

Crumb coat cake. Pipe a vertical ruffle pattern on cake. Place lollipops and cotton candy balls on top.