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Sweet Potato Cupcakes with Marshmallow Frosting

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5 from 10 votes

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These Sweet Potato Cupcakes are moist, sweet, tender and downright delicious. And the Brown Sugar Marshmallow Frosting is amazing!!!

sweet Potato Cupcakes

Let’s talk about the story of these Sweet Potato Cupcakes.

Yesterday, my daughter informed me that it was her birthday…again. {Her real birthday is the beginning of February.} She also told me that she wanted to sing and eat cake. Oh and yesterday was also Christmas.

She has a vivid imagination.

So, in an effort to be a good parent and play along, I started making cupcakes.

EXCEPT…..problem 1: no butter. Usually I never run out and have my body weight in butter spread between my fridge and freezer. Somehow I happened to finish my last stick without realizing it. {–>What?? How would I not notice?}

Solution: Coconut Oil. Worked like a charm and gave a really yummy coconut undertone.

I continue baking when…

Problemo numero dos-o: almost no all purpose flour left. Can a girl just not catch a break? Again, how did I neglect to see this?

Never fear! White whole wheat pastry flour is here! I’ve never been more glad to have 17 different flours on hand! Just kidding. I have 5.

So, I get the cupcakes into the oven when……son of a mother–> no powdered sugar. Ohhhhh effffff. {That’s the third thing to go wrong, incase you’ve been counting along with me.} I start going through my mind about what I could make without powdered sugar when the figurative light goes on and I remember marshmallow frosting. Pure genius.

The universe really wanted us to have cupcakes, apparently. Or, I’m a little persistent.

So, my cupcakes get pulled out of the oven, my mind is blown by this frosting, and we enjoy our afternoon celebrating a fake birthday. These cupcakes were a pain in my side  moist, sweet, tender and downright delicious. And the frosting was amazing. A different texture than regular frosting but not quite like eating a marshmallow either. You basically just have to try it to be a believer. Pretty pretty please make these. They won’t disappoint. My happy little accident cupcakes 🙂 Here’s how you do it:

Sweet Potato Cupcakes

Mix some coconut oil, brown sugar and granulated sugar together in a bowl.

Sweet Potato Cupcakes

To that, we’re going to pour in some vanilla bean paste {or just regular vanilla extract} and an egg + an egg yolk

Sweet Potato Cupcakes

and the mashed sweet potato.

Sweet Potato Cupcakes

Whip this up until it looks light and fluffy.

Sweet Potato Cupcakes

Now in a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients–all purpose flour, white whole wheat pastry flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Sweet Potato Cupcakes

Find one of these cover things {which is a brilliant creation from KitchenAid–>perfect for baking with kids and messy adults}

Sweet Potato Cupcakes

and with the mixer on low, alternate adding in the dry ingredients

Sweet Potato Cupcakes

with some milk. Go back and forth starting and ending with the dry ingredients.

Sweet Potato Cupcakes

After all the ingredients are combined, remove the bowl from the mixer and give it a few stirs by hand.

Sweet Potato Cupcakes

Now we’ll scoop our batter into our prepared pan and bake. Set these aside.

Sweet Potato Cupcakes

Now for the frosting {the best part!!} Pour some water into a pot filled with brown sugar and sugar. Stir this around and place over medium high heat.

Sweet Potato Cupcakes

We have 1 egg white left over from making the cupcakes, so we’re going to whip it up with a little cream of tartar.

Sweet Potato Cupcakes

You want stiff peaks like so.

Sweet Potato Cupcakes

Back to that sugar, once it comes to a nice rolling boil, start timing 1 minute. If you think it’s going to boil over, just stir in a little.

Sweet Potato Cupcakes

After the minute, remove it from the heat and stir in a few marshmallows until melted and smooth.

Sweet Potato Cupcakes

Now, at this point, I ran out of hands so you’re just going to have to trust me that I slowly poured that hot sugar mixture into the bowl of egg whites at the same time I was whipping it with my hand mixer. Once all the sugar is incorporated, continue whipping until the mixture is thick like frosting. Stir in a little vanilla and use immediately. No dilly dallying! I got mine into a piping bag and went to town!

Sweet Potato Cupcakes

My daughter topped these with nuts and we had a lovely faux celebration! Try these out and let me know what you think! They truly are one of the best cupcakes I’ve ever had…and that’s saying a lot! Happy Monday! 🙂

5 from 10 votes
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Sweet Potato Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Marshmallow Frosting

These Sweet Potato Cupcakes are moist, sweet, tender and downright delicious. And the Brown Sugar Marshmallow Frosting was amazing!!!!

Servings 12 cupcakes
Calories 326 kcal

Ingredients

For the Cupcakes

For the Frosting

  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/3 cup cold water
  • 1/4 cup mini marshmallows
  • 1 egg white
  • 1 large pinch cream of tartar
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/4 cup chopped & toasted pecans optional
US Customary - Metric

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with 12 paper liners and set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, cream coconut oil with sugars. Stir in egg, egg yolk, vanilla bean paste and sweet potato. Scrape sides and whip until light and fluffy. In another large bowl stir flours, leavenings and spices together using a fork or whisk. With the mixer on low, alternate mixing in dry ingredients with milk, starting and ending with dry. Once ingredients are all incorporated, mix the batter together by hand to ensure everything is mixed evenly. Spoon into prepared tins and place into hot oven. Reduce temperature to 325 and bake 18-22 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean after being inserted. Set aside to cool.

For the Frosting

  1. Place brown sugar, granulated sugar and water into a small pot. Stir to moisten sugar and place over medium high heat. In a large bowl, whip egg white and cream of tartar until stiff peaks form. Once the sugar dissolves in water and starts to bubble {not too violently} time 1 minute. After this, remove from heat and stir in marshmallows. Once those have melted, slowly pour the hot sugar mixture into the egg whites while whipping with a hand mixer on medium to high speed. Continue whipping for 3-5 minutes or until frosting becomes very thick and holds its shape. Stir in vanilla bean paste. Immediately scoop this frosting into a piping bag and frost all cupcakes. Top with chopped and toasted pecans, if desired.

  2. *I cooked my fresh sweet potatoes by peeling, chopping and microwaving them in some water. After they were fork tender, I drained the water and mashed. Feel free to try the canned sweet potato for this recipe.
Nutrition Facts
Sweet Potato Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Marshmallow Frosting
Amount Per Serving
Calories 326 Calories from Fat 99
% Daily Value*
Fat 11g17%
Saturated Fat 8g50%
Cholesterol 14mg5%
Sodium 100mg4%
Potassium 132mg4%
Carbohydrates 55g18%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 44g49%
Protein 2g4%
Vitamin A 30IU1%
Vitamin C 0.2mg0%
Calcium 46mg5%
Iron 0.9mg5%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Other cupcake recipes you might like:

Double Vanilla Sour Cream Cupcakes

Carrot Cupcakes

Oreo Bottomed Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Oreo Frosting

Peppermint Hot Chocolate Cupcakes

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Erin says

    March 5, 2012 at 3:04 pm

    Haha I love how your baking adventures are as problematic as mine. I play it off as being creative by using different ingredients, but sometimes it is out of necessity because I failed at making sure I had all the ingredients beforehand. But look at the amazing results you got! Yum yum yum.

    Reply

  3. [email protected] says

    March 5, 2012 at 3:28 pm

    These look fantastic 🙂 it’s great how you were able to immediately change to using coconut butter instead ~ very smart and yummy too 😀 These look so wonderful to me! I love sweet potato but have never had it in a cupcake hehe

    Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

  5. Megan Pence says

    March 5, 2012 at 3:37 pm

    I’m so in heart. And if the baby wants to celebrate her birthday a month late or multiple times – it means more cupcakes. And more cupcakes, is Never unfortunate. 🙂

    Reply

  14. Kathryn says

    March 5, 2012 at 2:58 pm

    This is such a cute post, I love how you went along with your daughter and made cupcakes for her. I’m pretty sure you are the number one mom in the world right now!

    Also, I’m thinking about replacing my pillow with brown sugar marshmallow frosting. It will be sticky but worth it.

    Reply

  18. Averie @ Love Veggies and Yoga says

    March 5, 2012 at 4:31 pm

    The cupcakes sound so good and then that frosting. No words. Crazy good sounding!!!!

    Reply

  24. akb says

    March 6, 2012 at 3:51 pm

    Can you make this without the whole wheat pastry flour? I have all the other ingredients on hand and would love to skip a trip to the store…

    Reply

  28. muffinka says

    March 7, 2012 at 9:35 am

    Hi!
    I’m ravishing your frosting recipe. My question is how much is cup?
    It’s like 125ml or 250ml?
    It’s very important for me, because I want to do this frosting, but i don’t have brown sugar, can I use another?

    Cheers!

    Reply

  30. Jaclyn says

    March 7, 2012 at 4:32 am


    love these, lady! i am a HUGE fan of baking with sweet potato, or any root vegetable for that matter! also way into whole wheat pastry flour–well, any flours, really. i have an obscene amount of flours in my kitchen, i think it might be an obsession.

    these look absolutely scrumptious, and i think you are such a darling mom! that sweet kid of yours certainly learned well from her mama 😉

    Reply

  32. Erika says

    March 7, 2012 at 3:20 pm


    My 2 year old and I made these yesterday, and they are awesome!!! Thanks for the great recipe. I am not normally a fan of frosting, but I definitely licked the bowl clean after making these! 🙂

    Reply

  39. Mel says

    September 19, 2012 at 5:50 am

    If I make these a day in advance, is the icing going to break down and be a soggy mess? I’ve had that experiance before when I made other icing with egg whites.

    Reply

  40. LeAnnJ says

    October 5, 2012 at 6:57 am


    Wow – these cupcakes are amazing!!! thank you for the recipe. I couldn’t quite get the frosting to turn out right (probably didn’t beat it long enough) but the flavors can’t be beat. I shared the results with some friends and they also were very impressed!

    Reply

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