Sweet Marshmallow-Topped Cupcakes

This is another The Kitchn-inspired post - and also sweet, though this one is far more likely to appeal to kids. The inspiring idea is that instead of fussing about making buttercream or ganache for your cupcakes, you just pop a marshmallow on top and pop them back in the oven for a few minutes and that's your decorating done.

I wanted to jazz it up a bit - I thought something a bit liquidier than marshmallow would help round out the texture, so I thought I'd do a jam filling. There are lots of options though - you could do some of that tinned caramel (beat it up a bit first to smooth it out), or anything else gooey or sticky you think you could pipe or spoon into the centre of a cupcake.

I always love the combination of rasberry and chocolate, and marshmallow isn't a bad addition to the combo. I used Anathoth jam, which is lovely and fruity and also quite runny - good for piping in. Just fill up the piping bag and fit it with a smallish round tip, then stick the tip into the cupcake and gently squeeze until the mixture starts overflowing from the hole. Then I topped each one with a marshmallow (these were mini cupcakes, regular sized marshmallows - for regular sized cupcakes go with jumbo marshmallows - though as they are quite sweet mini is a good option for these).

If you don't have piping gear you can fill your cupcakes this way: use a sharp serrated knife to carve a small cone out of the top of each cupcake. Remove the lid, spoon in some jam (or filling of your choice) then pop the lid back on. Once the cupcakes are "iced" no-one will ever know.

When they're all marshmallowed up, pop them back in the oven (I turned mine off when I took the cupcakes out, so it was just warm when I put them back in - if working with a cold oven just heat it to 80 C or so), then check every couple of minutes until they start to goo - these took four minutes. Just after taking them out you can very gently press on them to make them a bit more rounded, and to get them covering the cake more fully. 

Experiment number two was inspired by a supermarket special - I thought I'd try the same with mallowpuffs. Sadly, cool as this idea sounded to my sugar-starved brain at the time of shopping, these are just not as good as the simpler ones above.

They do have a more rounded, regular look to them, but they are more expensive, a little bit wasteful (I cut the biscuit bottoms off the mallowpuffs - not that they were, ahem, wasted, if you catch my drift) and not any better tasting. They weren't bad - the other way just seemed better. 

Though there is a certain appeal in something so orb-like...

Back to the marshmallow topped minis, because I can never leave well enough alone, and because I love playing with fire despite (or perhaps because of?) the slightly exhilarating risk of causing an alarm to go off in the building (never fear, I had the extractor fan on - that's enough, right?) I got my brulee torch out.

This is perhaps not the child-friendly version, as both the cupcake papers and the marshmallow itself have a tendency to catch alight (though I did manage to avoid setting off any alarms), but it does add another dimension to these very sugary treats.

So, more of an idea to play with than a recipe - use any cupcakes you like (though my chocolate cake recipe is a great and almost failproof option, and works wonderfully as cupcakes), and any filling you like, and the world is your oyster!

What sort of things did you like baking when you were a kid, or what do your kids like to make?