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