Sweet Potato Cupcakes with Meringue Ghosts

These cupcakes are absolutely perfect for a Halloween get together of any sort. Bring your crockpot meal and meringue ghost cupcakes and call yourself a hit. That’s costume enough.

Ingredients:

• 1 15-ounce box gluten-free yellow cake mix
• 3 eggs 
• ⅔ cup water 
• ½ cup  butter (1 stick) 
• 2 teaspoons gluten-free vanilla 
• 2 medium sized sweet potatoes 
• ½ cup brown sugar 

 For the maple frosting:

• ½ cup  butter 
• ½ cup vegetable shortening 
• 2 cups powdered sugar 
• ¼ cup maple syrup 
• Sprinkles (for topping) 

For the meringue ghosts:

• 4 egg whites 
• 1 cup sugar 
• pinch of cream of tartar
•  black icing gel 
• toothpick

Instructions:

 Cupcakes:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. 
• Wrap the sweet potatoes in tin foil and bake for 2 hours, or until sweet potatoes are soft to the touch. I do this the night before and then just refrigerate them. 
• Lower oven heat to 350 degrees F. 
• In a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, mix together the cake mix, water, butter, vanilla and eggs on low speed for 30 seconds and then medium speed for 2 minutes. 
• While the batter is mixing, peel and mash the sweet potatoes and measure out 1½ cups. Place in with the batter, add the brown sugar, and mix until smooth. 
• Pour the sweet potato batter into cupcake liners, filling each paper about ¾ of the way full. 
• Place in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes, and then turn off the oven and let the cupcakes sit for 5 more minutes. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and let cool completely.;

Maple Frosting:

•  In the stand mixer, whisk together the butter and shortening. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time and whisk together. Pour in the maple syrup in slowly while the mixer is on low and whisk until smooth. Set aside. 

Meringue Ghosts: 

• In a double boiler, or a saucepan with a glass bowl, pour 3 inches of water into the saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn heat down to medium and place the glass bowl on top. Pour the egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar into the glass bowl and whisk together until the sugar completely dissolves, about 5-7 minutes. You can tell when you rub your fingers together with the mixture. If there's no graininess, then the sugar is dissolved. 
• Remove from the heat and pour the mixture into the stand mixer. Whisk on high for 7-10 minutes until stiff peaks form and your mixture turns into meringue. 

Put It All Together: 

• Using a piping bag with a large round tip, pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes. In a small bowl with sprinkles, flip the cupcakes over and press the frosting into the sprinkles so the sprinkles completely coat the frosting. 
• Next, using a piping bag with a large round tip as well, pipe the meringue onto the cupcakes on top of the frosting by pressing down and making a large round circle, then releasing the pressure a little and then press down again to make another ghost layer, then release, and press down the last time while lifting to make the top of the ghost. Stick a toothpick into the black icing gel and press the toothpick end into the meringue lightly to create the eyes and mouth. 
• Serve at any Halloween get together for a spooky good time! 

Source: http://vivianandme.com/