MS Cupcakes Club: Candied Sweet Potato Cupcakes

This month's Martha Stewart Cupcakes Club selection, Candied Sweet Potato Cupcakes chosen by Karen at Karen's Cookies, Cakes & More, offered many firsts for me. It was my first time baking sweet potatoes (we usually buy them in a can), my first time baking a dessert with sweet potatoes as an ingredient and my first time broiling marshmallows to get them toasty brown.

I loved every step involved in the recipe. I took a nibble of the sweet potato as it came out of the oven, and I was amazed at how naturally sweet it was, without the marshmallows or brown sugar. I definitely need to get in the habit of baking sweet potatoes more often when they are in season.

This cupcakes turned out fantastic, almost more like a muffin than a cupcake. The combination of spices -- including freshly ground nutmeg (yum!) and cinnamon -- were divine. In fact, the cupcakes tasted so good, I almost didn't want to add the marshmallows. Almost.

But gleefully I did. It was tricky to stack the tiny, round marshmallows without them falling over when they hit the oven. And it was even trickier trying to transfer the half-melted marshmallows to the cupcakes, but by some miracle, I managed.

I didn't manage, however, to make the candied pecans for the topping. I gave it a good try, but the sugar syrup crystallized instead of caramelized, and the combination of "rock candy" and pecans wasn't that great to look at or to eat. So I left the pecans off.

But the cupcakes still looked so cute...

And I discovered that you have to eat the cupcakes while the marshmallows are still warm and gooey. I loved these cupcakes, and I'd love to bake them again sometime.