Instructions

1. ) Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare two 2 mini cupcake pans (40 to 48 cupcakes) by lining with mini cupcake liners.
2. ) Mix all of the dry ingredients on slow speed to blend. Add the soft butter and mix until evenly crumbly, like fine damp sand. It may form a paste, depending on the temperature of the butter, how much it's mixed, and granulation of the sugar used.
3. ) Add the egg whites one at a time, then the whole egg, beating well after each addition to begin building the structure of the cake. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl after each addition.
4. ) In a small bowl, whisk the yogurt (or milk) with the vanilla and almond extracts. Add this mixture, 1/3 at a time, to the batter. Beat 1 to 2 minutes after each addition, until fluffy. Be sure to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
5. ) Pour the batter into the liners. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes. A toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center will come out clean when done.
6. For the frosting:
7. In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. You want it to be very thick, thicker than cake mix, more like a brownie mix is. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. (If I’m in a hurry, I place the saucepan over ice in the sink for about 10 minutes or so until the mixture cools.) It must be completely cool before you use it in the next step. Stir in vanilla.
8. While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. You don’t want any sugar graininess left. Then add the completely cooled milk/flour/vanilla mixture and beat the living daylights out of it. If it looks separated, you haven’t beaten it enough! Beat it until it all combines and resembles whipped cream.
9. To decorate:
10. Frost completely cooled cupcakes with the frosting. Add a thin layer of cotton candy. To do this just rip off small strips of the cotton candy and gently press onto the cupcakes. Once all of the cupcakes have frosting and cotton candy just insert one straw piece to each cupcake right in the center and going all the way to the bottom, but do not push through the liner. You may want to cut a little of of each straw at this point if they are too high. Add a little frosting at the top of each straw and then place a sixlet right on top of that for each cupcake. Enjoy!