Sweet Potato Cider Cupcake With Marshmallow Frosting Food

SWEET POTATO CUPCAKES WITH TOASTED MARSHMALLOW FROSTING

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 12 muffin cups with cupcake liners.
• Beat butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add room-temperature eggs one at a time, allowing each egg to blend into the butter mixture before adding the next. Blend in vanilla extract and sweet potatoes.
• Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves in a bowl. Add half the flour to the sweet potato mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Blend in the milk and the remaining flour mixture.
• Scoop batter into prepared cupcake pan and bake in preheated oven until tops spring back when touched lightly with a finger and a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 18 to 22 minutes. Cool on rack.
• To make frosting, combine white sugar, cream of tartar, a pinch of salt, egg whites, and cold water in a heatproof mixing bowl. Set the mixing bowl over a pan of simmering water and beat with an electric mixer until the mixture is very hot to the touch and stiff peaks have formed, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove the bowl from the heat and beat 1 minute more. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and marshmallow creme and beat until combined.
• To frost the cupcakes, fill a pastry bag fitted with a large plain tip with frosting; pipe mini marshmallow-shaped dots all over the cupcakes. Alternatively, use a knife and frost them generously with lots of swoops and swirls.
• Set oven rack about 6 inches from the heat source and preheat the oven's broiler.
• Arrange 3 or 4 cupcakes on a baking sheet and place them in the oven under the broiler. Toast until the frosting has started to brown, about 90 seconds (check every 20 seconds and rearrange the baking sheet, if necessary). Repeat with the remaining cupcakes until all are toasted.

SWEET POTATO-MARSHMALLOW MINI CUPCAKES

Steps:

• Make the sweet potato puree: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Roast the sweet potatoes until very tender, about 1 hour. Let cool, peel, then puree in a food processor until smooth. Set aside 1 cup of the puree for the cupcakes and reserve the remaining puree for another use.
• Make the cupcakes: Position an oven rack in the center of the oven, and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line mini muffin tins with paper liners, and coat the liners and the top of the tin with cooking spray. Halve each marshmallow on the diagonal with kitchen shears; set aside.
• Whisk the flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cayenne together in a large bowl. Beat the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar in another large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and creamy. Add the 1 cup of reserved sweet potato puree, and beat until incorporated (it's OK if the batter curdles). Beat the eggs in 1 at a time. Beat in the vanilla. Adjust the mixer speed to medium-low, and beat in the flour mixture in 3 additions, scraping down the side of the bowl as needed, until just incorporated.
• Divide the batter evenly among the cups of the prepared muffin tins. Bake until the tops spring back when pressed, 18 to 20 minutes, rotating the tins halfway through. Let the muffins cool in the tins for a few minutes, then transfer them to a rack. While the cupcakes are still warm, top each with a marshmallow half, cut-side down. Let the cupcakes cool completely. (They can be cooked and cooled a day ahead and stored at room temperature in an airtight container.)
• Preheat the broiler. Transfer half the cupcakes to an unlined baking sheet, and broil, rotating the sheet as needed, until the marshmallows are toasted and golden. Repeat with the remaining cupcakes. This can be done up to 2 hours before serving.

PUMPKIN CUPCAKES WITH BURNT MARSHMALLOW FROSTING

Steps:

• Make the cupcakes: Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven; preheat to 350 degrees F. Line two 12-cup muffin pans with liners. Whisk the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cloves in a medium bowl. Combine the brown sugar, eggs, melted butter, pumpkin puree and vanilla in a large bowl and whisk until smooth. Add the flour mixture and whisk until just combined.
• Divide the batter among the prepared muffin cups, filling each about two-thirds of the way. Bake, switching the pans halfway through, until the tops of the cupcakes spring back when gently pressed, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
• Meanwhile, make the frosting: Combine the granulated sugar, cream of tartar, egg whites and salt in a large heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water (do not let the bowl touch the water). Whisk until the mixture is warm and the sugar dissolves, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the bowl from the pan, add the vanilla and beat with a mixer on medium-high speed until the frosting is cool and stiff glossy peaks form, 4 to 6 minutes.
• Transfer the frosting to a piping bag fitted with a large round tip; pipe onto the cupcakes. Brown the frosting with a kitchen torch.

CHOCOLATE SWEET POTATO CUPCAKES

Steps:

• For the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two 12-cup cupcake pans with 14 cupcake liners.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the water, oil, vinegar, vanilla, and sweet potato until smooth. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and mix until just combined. Do not overmix.
• Fill the cupcake liners about two-thirds full with the batter. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean with a few crumbs clinging to it. Cool the cupcakes completely before frosting.
• For the coconut whipped cream: Chill the bowl and whisk of a stand mixer in the freezer for about 10 minutes. If they are not very cold, the cream will not whip properly. Skim the solidified coconut cream from the chilled can of coconut milk and transfer the solids to the bowl of the stand mixer. Do not include any of the coconut water, even if you have to leave behind a little margin of coconut cream (even a little bit of coconut water can harm your results).
• Add the powdered sugar and whip for a few minutes until the mixture begins to stiffen and turn into whipped cream. Chill the whipped cream in a covered container in the refrigerator. It should firm up even more as it sits in the refrigerator for the next few hours or overnight.
• To serve: Top each cupcake with whipped cream. Garnish each cupcake with chocolate shavings or a dash of ground cinnamon.