Sweet Potato Cupcakes

Sweet potato cupcakes are perfect for a special occasion. Whether you’re on the lookout for Thanksgiving or Christmas treats or you simply want to try your hand at something new and unusual, you need to take a closer look at this recipe.

Sweet potatoes pair up with vanilla and warm, aromatic spices in the fluffy cupcake batter, while the creamy frosting is based on marshmallows and finished off with a kiss of vanilla. Is your mouth watering yet?

If you’re typically the first in line for sweet potato casserole at Thanksgiving, I’m pretty sure you’ll love the decadent, sweet flavors in this cupcake. And even if you aren’t, these are still so good!

Lemon cranberry bars and this easy apple crisp are a couple of other fall favorites of mine. I just love to snack on the warm and earthy flavors as the weather gets cooler. It makes this time of year so much more enjoyable.

Main Ingredients

Although this isn’t one of those cupcake recipes with a mere handful of ingredients, it’s still well worth making because the flavor is sure to impress. Here are the main ingredients used to make them:

• Sweet potatoes: The main flavor. You need to cook and mash the potatoes before proceeding with the recipe, so if you have some leftover (plain, not salted, or flavored!) this is a nice recipe for using them up. If not, you can make some. Pumpkin would work too in this recipe.
• Vanilla extract: Complements the sweet potato taste. A hint of vanilla goes really well in the cupcake batter and it’s also good in the frosting. Vanilla is one of those versatile flavors that suits so many dessert recipes.
• Ground spices: Always good with sweet potato. I like to use cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves, but if you want to mix and match (or omit whichever you aren’t keen on) that’s perfectly fine too. A pinch of allspice would also work in this recipe or maybe a (very small!) pinch of ground mace.
• Marshmallow crème: For the frosting. The kids might love their fluffernutter sandwiches (that’s marshmallow crème with peanut butter) but there’s another reason this marshmallow fluff is in your kitchen cupboard, and that’s to make a sweet, delicious frosting for sweet potato cupcakes. It might be labeled as marshmallow fluff or marshmallow crème. Don’t worry - it’s the same thing.
• Baking powder: To make the cupcakes rise. Teamed with baking soda, the baking powder adds air into the batter helping your sweet potato cupcakes to rise. The potato has a certain heaviness to it, so adding baking powder to the mix gets the finished texture just right.

Instructions Overview

Whether you’re a diehard sweet potato fan, a marshmallow lover, or just a home baker looking for a brand new, easy cupcake recipe, you’ve found a great one to try! The first thing to do is beat butter with brown sugar before adding the eggs, one at a time.

Next, you will mix in the vanilla and mashed sweet potatoes. Mix the flour with the baking powder and soda, salt, and spices in a second bowl, then add half of this to the sweet potato batter. Add the rest of the flour mixture and the milk too.

Divide the batter between cupcake liners in a muffin tin and bake for 20 minutes. Once cool, you can frost the cupcakes. Make the frosting by beating the sugar, egg whites, water, cream of tartar, and salt.

Once you get stiff peaks, mix in the marshmallow crème as well as some vanilla and beat the mixture again. Add the frosting to the sweet potato cupcakes and (optionally) broil them for a minute or use a kitchen blowtorch to char the marshmallow frosting.

Common Questions

Chopnotch Tips

• Take the time to add each egg one at a time to ensure the best mixture, beating after each one is added.
• The frosting is simpler to make than you might imagine. Just keep beating it until you have stiff peaks and then it’s ready.
• Don’t add the frosting until the cupcakes are completely cool. Otherwise, the frosting will start to run and look messy.
• Not everyone is a marshmallow fan. If that applies to you, a vanilla cream cheese frosting would also be really good here as well.

Sweet potato cupcakes are perfect for Thanksgiving or Christmas. They are sweet, light, and fluffy and topped with a wonderful marshmallow frosting.

Related Recipes

Recipe

How to Make

Sweet Potato Cupcakes

Light and moist, these cupcakes are flavored with earthy, warm spices, then finished off with an easy toasted marshmallow frosting.

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Prep Time: 25 minutes mins

Cook Time: 20 minutes mins

Total Time: 45 minutes mins

Servings: 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

• ▢ 1 cup sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed
• ▢ 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ▢ 2 eggs, at room temperature
• ▢ ½ cup unsalted 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 the frosting:

• ▢ ½ cup marshmallow creme
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
• ▢ ⅓ cup granulated sugar
• ▢ 2 egg whites
• ▢ 3 tablespoons cold water
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ ⅛ teaspoon salt

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Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare a muffin tin and line the cavities 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 muffin tin and bake for 20 minutes. Let cool.
• In a pan, beat the 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, then beat well to combine.
• Top the cooled cupcakes with frosting and enjoy!

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Notes

• Take the time to add each egg one at a time to ensure the best mixture, beating after each one is added.
• The frosting is simpler to make than you might imagine. Just keep beating it until you have stiff peaks and then it’s ready.
• Don’t add the frosting until the cupcakes are completely cool. Otherwise, the frosting will start to run and look messy.
• Not everyone is a marshmallow fan. If that applies to you, a vanilla cream cheese frosting would also be really good here.

Nutrition Facts

Calories: 319kcal (16%), Carbohydrates: 56g (19%), Protein: 4g (8%), Fat: 9g (14%), Saturated Fat: 5g (31%), Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 2g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 49mg (16%), Sodium: 273mg (12%), Potassium: 213mg (6%), Fiber: 1g (4%), Sugar: 37g (41%), Vitamin A: 1866IU (37%), Vitamin C: 1mg (1%), Calcium: 79mg (8%), Iron: 1mg (6%)

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course:

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cuisine:

American

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