C14N() returns an empty string if the node is not included in the document tree:
<?php
$d = new DOMDocument('1.0');
$d->loadXML('<foo></foo>');
$n = $d->createElement('bar');
var_dump($n->C14N());
$d->documentElement->appendChild($n);
var_dump($n->C14N());
?>
output:
string(0) ""
string(11) "<bar></bar>"