Start a new tradition for the holidays, one that’s easy to serve and even easier to love. Sweet potato cupcakes with frosting are moist and sweet with a heavenly marshmallow frosting on top that turns candied sweet potatoes into the dessert it deserves to be.
What Goes Into Sweet Potato Cupcakes with Frosting?
The star of these cupcakes is of course the sweet potato. It’s so naturally moist and dense so you’ll wind up with cupcakes that are tender and wonderful instead of dry and crumbly. The usual suspects (butter, sugar, milk, flour, and the like) are all there too along with the warming and aromatic fall spices of nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves.
For the frosting, it’s based with egg whites and marshmallow crème for a divine taste that makes it the absolute best cupcake to bring to the table this Thanksgiving!
Common Questions
Because this recipe uses egg whites in the frosting, any leftovers must be refrigerated. You can make the cupcakes ahead of time and then prepare the frosting just before serving to make things easier though.
You “can” (see what we did there?) but your best results will come from fresh sweet potatoes that you cook and mash yourself.
Yes, you can freeze sweet potato cupcakes for a later time. Leave them unfrosted and wrap them individually to keep them separated, then tuck into an airtight container. They’ll be good for a month. When you’re ready to enjoy them, you will need to defrost them in the fridge first. You’ll also need to bring them to room temperature before you add the frosting.
Chopnotch Tips
- Take the time to add each egg one at a time to ensure the best mixture, beating after each one is added.
- Don’t make the frosting until you’re about ready to serve those cupcakes. The egg whites in the recipe mean they require refrigeration.
- The frosting needs to be beat until stiff peaks form. Then it’s ready!
- For a wonderful finish that elicits lots of excitement, try broiling these sweet potato cupcakes after frosting them to give it a toasted marshmallow flavor!
Grab one before they’re gone!
Sweet Potato Cupcakes
Ingredients
For Cupcakes:
- 1 cup sweet potatoes, cooked, mashed
- 2 cups flour
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- ½ cup butter, at room temperature
- ½ cup milk, at room temperature
- 1 ½ cups brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
For Frosting:
- ½ cup marshmallow creme
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 2 egg whites
- 3 tablespoons cold water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- A pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Prepare a muffin pan and line the cups with liners.
- In a large bowl, beat brown sugar and butter. Add eggs one at a time and beat well to combine. Add sweet potatoes and vanilla extract.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, baking powder and soda, and salt. Add half of this mixture to the batter and stir well to combine. Add milk and remaining flour, and stir well to combine.
- Add batter to the cupcake cups and bake for 20 minutes. Let cool.
- In a pan, beat cream of tartar, sugar, egg whites, cold water, and salt and place over boiling water, beat until stiff peaks form. Add marshmallow crème and vanilla extract, beat well to combine.
- Top cupcakes with frosting and enjoy! (You can also broil the cupcakes with frosting for 60-90 seconds).
Love the idea of these cupcakes! All my favorite flavors and spices in one lovely bite!
I love sweet potato cupcakes – yours look delicious – remind me of the sweet potato cake I enjoyed at Brik Street cafe in SC!
Glad this recipe brings back those memories, Shashi!
Oh I am so trying these cupcakes and definitely with the marshmallow frosting! What a great combination!
I want to dive right into the marshmallow frosting. My mother used to make that and I hardly see it on cakes.
WOW! These cupcakes look amazing and sound like a healthy option. As a sweet potato lover, I would really appreciate one or two. Making it very soon!
Love the idea of sweetpotato cupcakes. These look awesome infact. Thanks for sharing this.
You had me at sweet potato! These are so fun, easy, and I can think of them as a healthier dessert option. Thanks!
Yummy! This looks so delicious and tasty! I can’t wait to give this recipe a try!
I have leftover sweet potatoes from Thanksgiving. So glad I found this recipe!
I am so intrigued by this recipe. I love sweet potatoes but would never have thought of making them into cupcakes with frosting. Wow, what a wonderful combination. I look forward to trying it soon.
I never tried potato cupcakes, but this looks gorgeous. Definitely going to try one.
I love sweet potatoes but I’ve never thought about using them in cupcakes!
First time making sweet potato cupcakes, and boy were these delicious! So soft and fluffy too.
I love the idea of roasting sweet potato and then adding it to this recipe, yum!! These cupcakes look like they would fly right off the table. Well done!
This is an interesting idea for sweet potato’s. These sound very tasty, going to try these soon.
I love adding vegetables to baked goods, it’s a great way for kids to get their fruit and veg intake in.