Sweet Potato Cupcakes with Toasted Marshmallows and Candied Pecans

These sweet potato cupcakes are quite possibly my favorite cupcakes! The toasted marshmallows and candied pecans give a great contrast to the slightly denser cupcake base. This recipe came from the book Martha Stewart's Cupcakes and isn't on her website so I'll reproduce the recipe below.

After I filled up the 24 cupcake liners with batter I had a little left over so decided to make a few mini cupcakes! The minis turned out great and were a perfect bite sized treat. I think next time I make these cupcakes I will make more of the minis.

Ingredients:
-2 pounds sweet potatoes
-2 cups all purpose flour
-2 teaspoons baking powder
-1 teaspoon coarse salt
-1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
-1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
-1 cup granulated sugar
-1 cup dark brown sugar
-4 large eggs
-2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
-2 cups miniature marshmallows
-Candied pecan pieces (recipe to follow)

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Pierce sweet potatoes with a fork and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for about an hour, until they are fork tender. When cool enough to handle, slice lengthwise and scrape the inside away from the skin. Discard skin. Mash potatoes with a fork until smooth.
2. Reduce oven to 325°F. Whisk together flour, baking powder,salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. With an electric mixer cream together the butter and both sugars on medium high speed. Add eggs one at a time, thoroughly incorporating each. Beat in the mashed sweet potatoes and vanilla. Reduce speed to low and add the flour mixture in three batches, beating to incorporate after each batch.
3. Fill lined cups three-quarters full. Bake, rotating half way through, about 28 minutes. (About 12-14 for the minis!) Cool on wire racks.
4. To make the marshmallow topping, simply place 24 mounds of marshmallows on a non-stick baking mat (ie. Silpat) on a baking sheet and heat under the broiler (you could also use a kitchen torch but I found the broiler to be easier) CAUTION: Watch the marshmallows very closely! They only take about a minute or two to toast and they will burn and catch on fire if you leave them in too long! Trust me on this one.
5. Transfer the mounds onto the cupcakes and top with the candied pecan pieces. It is best to toast the marshmallows the day you will be serving the cupcakes because the marshmallows tend to wilt a little after a day or so.

Candied Pecan Pieces
-1/2 cup sugar
-1/4 cup water
- 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans

Line a rimmed baking sheet with a nonstick baking mat. Heat sugar and water to a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved. Stop stirring and cook until syrup comes to a boil. Boil, gently swirling pan occasionally, until mixture is a light amber. Remove from heat and stir in pecans with a wooden spoon to coat them. Immediately remove pecans from caramel and spread in a single layer on baking mat. Let cool and then break into small pieces.