cupcake hero: marshmallow

Sweet Potato Pie Cupcakes
Originally uploaded by clevercupcakes

marshmallow was the theme for march's cupcake hero competition. marshmallow was a hard ingredient for me. i figured there would be alot of s'mores, coconut, and whoopie pie cupcakes, so I decided to try something different. for some reason marshmallows make me think of sweet potatoes, even though I have never eaten them together, i believe alot of sweet potato recipes call for marshmallows. for this reason my marshmallow cupcake hero entry was sweet potato pie cupcakes.

recipe:

sweet potato cupcakes (adapted from martha stewart's "baby sweet potato cakes")

yield: 16 cupcakes

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup buttermilk
3 cooked sweet potatoes (approximately 1.5 cups cooled and mashed)

1. preheat over to 350.
2. mix butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
3. add eggs one at a time and mix until well encorporated.
4. in a seperate bowl combine flour and baking soda.
5. In another bowl mash sweet potatoes with buttermilk, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and vanilla.
6. add flour mixture to butter mixture and mix until just combine.
7. add sweet potato mixture and mix until smooth.
8. spoon batter into cupcake liners and bake until toothpick comes out clean (approximately 20 minutes).

homemade marshmallows (recipe from cooking for engineers website)

1.5 tbsp gelatin
1/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup corn syrup
2 tbsp water
1/8 tsp sale
1/2 tbsp vanilla

for detailed instructions see: http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/106/Marshmallows .

follow instructions until marshmallows are done mixing, then put marshmallow mixture into a piping bag, poke the the piping tip into the top of a cooled cupcake, squeeze until cupcake seems full, pull tip out and repeat until all the cupcakes are filled.

graham cream cheese frosting

4oz cream cheese
1/4 cup butter
1/2 tablespoon milk
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs

beat cream cheese, butter, and milk until smooth. slowly mix in powdered sugar then mix on high speed until mixture has lightened up. add graham cracker crumbs and mix until well encorporated. frost cupcakes

mini marshmallows

open bag. place on top of icing.

enjoy!

NOTE: i am normally a bit leary of encorporating vegetables into desserts, but o have to say these were delicious, possibly the most moist cupcakes I have ever tasted. also, while i thought i was being original there ended up being at least 3 other sweet potato cupcakes in march's competition.