Sweet Potato Cupcakes with Marshmallow Frosting

Hello, all! Happy winter break! Now that Christmas is two weeks away, I can finally get caught up on my Thanksgiving posts... Aye. No matter how hard I try, I just can't seem to keep up. Oh well. Though we usually have Thanksgiving at our house, we went to our friend, Marty's, brand new house for dinner instead. Dinner was to die for and after 21 years of complete and utter distaste for Brussel Sprouts, I have finally succumbed to their deliciousness. Granted, I will still only eat them if they are fried with maple syrup and butter but hey, baby steps.  Sorry it took me so long to like them, Marty. Anyhoo. Cupcakes! These cupcakes were SO relevant to Thanksgiving. I wanted to do a little play off a Thanksgiving food, but obviously green bean casserole or turkey cupcakes were not the way to go. Instead, I decided sweet potato cupcakes would have the same fall-y taste as the Pumpkin Ginger Cupcakes I made for friendsgiving. And of course, you can't have sweet potatoes without marshmallows and/or walnut crumbly things on top, so that's exactly what I did.

Grace, Marty, and Sarah at Thanksgiving. Sorry about the picture quality. Dinner mood lighting didn't do me any favors

SWEET POTATO CUPCAKES:

1 stick butter (room temp)

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

Splash of vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1 t baking powder

1/4 t salt

A few shakes of cinnamon

1 can of sweet potatoes, drained (the big can)

1/2 cup milk

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, and then mix in the vanilla. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, vanilla, salt, and cinnamon. In yet another separate bowl, mash the sweet potatoes with a fork until they are mushy. Note: this part is kind of gross. These look absolutely disgusting but in the end they make some wicked good cupcakes. Just be patient! Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture slowly, alternating with additions of milk and sweet potatoes. Mix until combined, but don't over blend. These cupcakes have the ability to become extra dense with the sweet potatoes. Divide the batter among lined cupcake tins and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. 

MARSHMALLOW FROSTING:

1 stick butter (room temperature)

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 7oz can of marshmallow fluff 

Beat the butter and powdered sugar together until almost combined. Add the marshmallow fluff slowly until frosting is thick and combined. I frosted my cupcakes while they were the tiniest bit warm still so the marshmallow would melt a bit on the cupcake. 

Pre-Melt

Post-Melt. Slurp.

CANDIED WALNUTS

(Note: I didn't measure any of these ingredients. These are just guesses as to what quatities I actually used)

2 Cups Walnuts

1 Cup Sugar

A few shakes of sea salt

In a pan, over medium heat, begin heating the sugar and salt, stirring constantly. After a few minutes, add the walnuts, still stirring constantly. Keep stirring until the sugar begins to liquefy. Once the walnuts are completely coated in the caramelized sugar, place them on wax paper to cool. THESE ARE GOING TO BE SO HOT. DON'T TOUCH THEM FOR AT LEAST 5 MINUTES. YOU WILL REGRET IT OTHERWISE. After letting them cool for a long time, I topped my cupcakes with them. I had about half of the batch left over but they are great in salads or for snacking. 

I was really happy with how these cupcakes turned out. The marshmallow frosting was really sweet but it balanced out the savory-ish cake nicely. I had big plans to toast the marshmallow frosting with a torch but my cupcake liners were too big and boisterous and would have caught on fire had I taken a torch to them. Plus, it's not like anyone in their right mind should let me use a blow torch inside the house. 

Happy Holidays!

xoxo,

KG