Chocolate Filled Sweet Potato Cupcakes

I have to confess to not being a fan of sweet potatoes.  I do love the regular kind of potatoes but just never came to love sweet potatoes, not sure why.  But the recipe from Mele Cotte (which was adapted from Better Homes and Gardens) sounded intriguing with pumpkin pie spice, Hershey kisses and a milk chocolate buttercream like frosting.  Chocolate and potatoes are food groups, right?

Chocolate-Filled Sweet Potato Cupcakes

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 ½ tsp.baking powder
½ tsp.baking soda
¼ tsp.salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 lb. sweet potatoes, roasted*, peeled, and mashed
¼ cup milk
1 tsp.vanilla
24 milk chocolate or dark chocolate kisses, unwrapped

Frosting

12 oz. milk chocolate, chopped
1 ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 °F. Line twenty-four 2 ½-inch muffin cups with folded 5×4-inch rectangles of parchment paper or paper bake cups; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter with electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add granulated sugar; beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
4. With mixer on low, beat in eggs one at a time, stopping to scrape down sides of bowl between additions. Add the sweet potato, milk, and vanilla; beat on low speed until combined.
5. Add the flour mixture to the sugar-egg mixture; beat on low just until combined.
6. Fill each muffin cup about two-thirds full with batter. Bake for 5 minutes. Carefully remove pan from oven.
7. Gently press kisses, tips up, about halfway into each cup. Bake for 14 minutes more, until tops of cupcakes spring back when touched and chocolate is not visible.
8. Cool cupcakes in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely on a wire rack.

Frosting: 

1. In a medium saucepan over low heat, bring 1 inch of water to simmering.
2. Place chocolate in a medium mixing bowl. Place the bowl over the saucepan of water. Stir chocolate with a rubber spatula until melted.
3. Remove from heat; cool chocolate for 15 minutes.
4. With electric mixer on low speed, beat chocolate for 30 seconds.
5. Beat in butter, 1 to 2 tablespoons at a time. Beat in powdered sugar until smooth.
6. Spread frosting on cupcake tops. Yield: 24 cupcakes

From the BHG Test Kitchen:

• To roast sweet potatoes, preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Prick unpeeled potatoes all over with a fork. Roast potatoes in a shallow baking pan for 50 minutes or until tender. Cool.
• Make Ahead Tip Sweet potatoes can be roasted, peeled, mashed, then covered and refrigerated up to 3 days.
• Make Ahead Tip Frosting can be made, then covered and refrigerated in the mixing bowl up to 3 days. To reheat, place the bowl of frosting in a large bowl filled with a small amount of hot water. Let frosting stand 8 to 10 minutes, until softened to room temperature.