Saturday, November 14, 2009

Candied Sweet Potato Cupcakes with Mascarpone Frosting


This is my third month as a member of the Martha Stewart Cupcake Club and I absolutely love it! What could be better than a club that bakes nothing but cupcakes?? =) Every month on the 15th, every member bakes the same exact recipe and then blogs about it. It's been super fun to see all the different creative variations and interpretations of the same recipe.


This Month: Candied Sweet Potato Cupcakes with Mascarpone Frosting


Ok, I have to admit that I totally had my reservations about this recipe when I first read through it. Sweet potato? In a cupcake? I never would've thought to use sweet potato as an ingredient. And even though I've baked a ton of recipes from Martha's Cupcake book already, I have to admit that if it wasn't for this club, I probably would never give this one a second glance, let alone attempt it. But since my enthusiasm for cupcake baking has brought me to this club, I felt compelled to give it a chance. Besides, I wouldn't want to get kicked out for not participating. =)


(1) The Candied Sweet Potato Cupcakes



The first step is to poke a sweet potato with a fork and bake it in the oven for about an hour until it's super soft and mushy. It pained me greatly to post this incredibly ugly photo on my blog. hehe. You guys all know how I feel about ugly photos. (See here to find out why.) Sweet potatoes are not the least bit photogenic!


Peel it, mash it up, and set it aside.


As with all cakes/cupcakes, mix the dry ingredients.



Cream together both sugars and butter until fluffy.


Add in the other liquid ingredients like eggs and vanilla.


Next, mix in the sweet potato.


Lastly, mix in the dry ingredients.


Bake & Cool! It was a really simple recipe. =)



(2) The Mascarpone Frosting


The recommended frosting was marshmallow. Yes, that's right. Marshmallow. Like.. pile a bunch on top and then fire up your blow torch. The only time I eat marshmallow is on a s'more or in rice crispy treats. I wanted something better for these. So I chose mascarpone. You really can't go wrong with it.

I haven't featured it very much on my blog, but it's one of my favorite frostings! It's incredibly creamy, light, and fluffy- not super overpoweringly sweet. Right up my alley. And if these cupcakes turn out to be nasty, I knew I could count on the mascarpone to salvage it. It was my plan B.


First, whip up a big batch of whipped cream. You know it's going to be fantastic when you have fresh whipped cream involved. =)



While you've got the whipped cream going, in a seperate bowl, combine mascarpone and powdered sugar. Wisk together until well blended.



Once the whipped cream is done, fold it into the mascarpone mixture until well blended.


The finished product doesn't look a whole lot different than the powdered sugar and mascarpone mixture, but it makes a huge difference in taste. Mmm...whipped cream and mascarpone. You really can't beat that combination!

Now you're ready to frost!

But wait! How about some fancy cupcake wrappers, first? It's officially autumn and we must celebrate the season. =)


(3) Make some fancy cupcake wrappers!



I found these super cute leaf-shaped brackets in bronze, gold, and silver at Impress. I knew instantly that they would be perfect for these wrappers.


First, I used my cupcake pattern to cut out the wrapper shape in two different colors: brown and orange. Please see the main cupcake wrapper post on more "how-to" details.



Next, I took a ball point pen and drew branches & leaves onto the wrappers. Then I pushed the brackets into the wrappers, to imitate leaves on the branches.


Lastly, I fitted them onto my cupcakes. Now, I'm ready to frost!



*sigh* I just love to frost cupcakes.


OMG. So....these were THE. BEST. CUPCAKES. EVER. No kidding. My friends, who have tried a lot of my different cupcake varieties, unanimously agreed that this is by far the best. The flavor was SO unique. And the mascarpone frosting just took it to the next level- it was subtly sweet and soo creamy-smooth. And the cupcake itself was super flavorful, moist, and delicious! It was perfect. Just perfect.

This reminded me of the September post where I was super weirded out by using zucchini in a cupcake, but then it turned out to be super delicious, too. I will never unfairly judge another Martha recipe ever again. I have mentally made a pledge to attempt every single cupcake recipe in that book, no matter how long it takes me! =)



For the recipes shown in this entry, click HERE.

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Here's a recap if you've missed the other MSCC entires:


September: Zucchini Spice Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting


October: Pumpkin Cupcakes with Pumpkin Swiss Meringue Buttercream


27 comments:

  1. Hey Judy, once again you have done yours really well. They look amazing even my 10 yr old loved how they looked. Love yr cups too and yr creativity is awesome. Cant wait to see yr next bake.

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  2. Good morning Judy - what a view for me to wake up to! Wow, you've really outdone yourself on these cupcakes. The mascarpone frosting is delish, I'm sure! But those adorable cupcake wrappers are the best!! You're not only a great food artist, but you're a great sketch artist too! I'm in awe!!!

    :)
    ButterYum

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  3. I am going to check out your post on how to make cupcake wrappers - that is such a great idea!

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  4. I love your cupcake wrappers! So beautiful. I noticed you used the white flesh sweet potatoes. I wish the recipe had specified which you were supposed to use - white or the orangish ones. Yours turned out so nicely.

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  5. Gorgeous wrappers and lovely looking cupcakes! I have this book and really need to get crackin on using it. FYI, I finally made your SMBC recipe with minor changes. Turned out great (though I do have one question about the method)! Thanks for advice.

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  6. Thanks for baking with me this month! That is one amazing post! LOVE LOVE LOVE all your photos and i love love love this cupcake too!

    I was a sucker and bought those cupcake wrappers before -- not anymore! I cant wait to make my own -- thanks for the great "how-to" post on that!

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  7. Hey Judy, these look horrible! :) Holy cow!!! You really need to go into the cupcake decorating business, seriously. These are amazing works of art. Especially the wrappers - I'm copying your mascarpone recipe - it looks phenomenal. A+ for this month... very inspiring!

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  8. **sigh** one day, I WILL have the extra time to make my own cupcake wrappers. ;) Actually, I think I just need to incorporate them into "craft-time" with my kiddies! ;) And the cupcakes look great as per usual! At first, I thought making my own marshmallow and it worked out great. But this cake needs a great flavour topping with it, your choice for marscapone is great.

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  9. Love love love your wrappers! Great job. Nice touch with the frosting too. I wil have to try this. :)

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  10. Goodness I'm almost speechless...you made your own cupcake wrappers! Your cupcakes are beautiful!!!

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  11. Your cupcakes look amazing! The wrappers are so cute! I need to take a look at your post on how to make them!

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  12. Fantastic! You took some great photos..so fun to see the process like that. I just love your wrappers! You are so creative with those! Love them!

    I am going to have to give her marscopone frosting another go at it. I made it about a year ago and it was not good at all..even mealy. Yuck. Yours looks perfect!

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  13. Wow, you really are inspiring with these posts! Love the idea of the mascarpone frosting - I will definitely have to try that. I am so impressed with the cupcake wrappers. They look professional :) I think you might need to go into business with those!

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  14. Love your frosting!! I went with a browned butter icing and I will agree these were delicious.

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  15. Your action shots are awesome and your cupcakes look absolutely amazing! Great idea on the mascarpone frosting. I made cream cheese frosting and it was great.

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  16. Wow, your cupcakes look amazing! Mascarpone frosting was an awesome idea. And your cupcake wrappers? Wow. You are one crafty baker!! Kudos!

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  17. How creative! Love those wrappers and love the frosting!

    I just noticed that we both have the same camera. So rad.

    Thanks for baking along with us this month!

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  18. Oh, and LOL about the non-photogenic sweet potato!

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  19. Judy--I adore your cupcake wrappers! They are amazing! And love the mascarpone frosting as well.

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  20. Wow, those cupcakes look amazing! The mascarpone frosting looks just wonderful. I love the cupcake wrapper idea, so cute and easy. I can't wait to try it.

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  21. Beqautiful cupcakes! And you used Martha's own mascarpone icing. Well done!

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  22. Beautiful cupcakes! They look so delicious and easy! I am already making a savory sweet potato side dish for Thanksgiving, might as well make some cupcakes while I am at it.

    Arts/Crafts and I don't go together and those cupcake wrappers are somewhat intimidating. But I think I can do it!

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  23. Your cupcake wrappers always come out great!

    These cupcakes were so amazing! I totally agree with you... if it wasn't for this club I wouldn't have even tried it. Definitely try it with the roasted marshmallows, that to me was the best part of the cupcake :)

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  24. The cupcake liners are so cute! The frosting sounds delicious too!

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  25. I am looking for a good mascarpone frosting recipe. I think I've found one. Thanks ;) Lovely blog as well.

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  26. Beautiful, fantastic ... I do not have to say how much we like, and how nice everything is explained and shown :)))

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