MSC: Candied Sweet Potato Cupcakes

[If you stopped by to see my post for this week's SMS I hope to have it up later this afternoon so please check back then! Not that I'd ever wait until Sunday morning to start baking the selection...]

This month's selection for the MS Cupcakes Club was chosen by Karen of Karen's Cookies, Cakes & More: candied sweet potato cupcakes! I am a huge sweet potato fan and love the idea of baking with them, especially as a way to take a break from all the pumpkin treats we enjoy at this time of year. I made these cupcakes and brought them to dinner at our friends' home tonight. We just got back, it's almost 1 am and I'm still fighting a nasty cold so this post will be fairly short!



I quartered the recipe this week, which yielded 6 cupcakes that were on the smaller side. The batter came together easily and the cupcakes baked up nicely. The only tricky part was forming mounds with the mini marshmallows and figuring out how to brown them. I started out using my kitchen torch, but it wasn't melting the marshmallows enough for them to form a cohesive unit. I fared much better with my broiler though if you do it this way you really want to keep an eye on the marshmallows. I didn't even close the door to my oven - the browning process only took about 30 seconds! The recipe called for candied pecans to top the cupcakes too but since I was making such a small quantity, I didn't bother. I merely toasted them (at 350 F for about 8 minutes) and pressed them into the marshmallows.

The cupcakes were enjoyed by those who tried them at dinner tonight! I didn't think they had much sweet potato flavor - instead the sweet potato just seemed to keep them really moist. I loved the marshmallows on top but next time I'd try to add a few more to each cupcake. I think these cupcakes would also be delicious with cream cheese frosting if you're not a marshmallow fan.



Big thanks to Karen for hosting this week's recipe! I really enjoy Karen's site and she's celebrating her first blogiversary so stop by and say hello! To see how the other bakers fared with these cupcakes, you can stop by the MS Cupcakes Club blog. I also have to thank Beth of You Know What You Oughta Do for the cute cupcake liners you see in my post. I won a giveaway on her site recently and she sent me these liners, along with many other fun surprises!