Cupcake 15 - Peep with Brown sugar Marshmallow frosting

Another double cupcake week!. First out was an Easter tribute to the mighty marshmallow Peep. I'm not usually one to jump on the trendy bandwagon, but the Peep PR machine was working overtime this holiday season. Peeps were calling my name in Target weeks before Easter. I loved all the vibrant colors. My co-worker Kevin helped with the inspiration for this batch. I was thinking of a catchy "chicken or egg" theme and decided to fill the cupcake with a cream filling to resemble an egg yolk. I didn't want a custard filling but something more creamy, yes yolk-like, so I turned to a knock off of a Hostess cupcake filling and added some yellow food coloring. I topped off the standard cupcake with a brown sugar marshmallow frosting. Not only a tribute to the Peep, but a solid tribute to good old fashion sugar!

Learnings In hindsight the cupcakes could have used a bit more filling and little more yellow food coloring for effect. Never having filled a cupcake, I piped lightly, concerned about the cupcake getting soggy and/or busting open. And next time the filling needs to be slightly thicker, it was a challenge just to keep it in the pastry bag. The brown sugar marshmallow frosting was not as white as I'd hoped, yes the main ingredient was brown sugar, but for some reason I thought it would be a brighter white. It was fluffy and sticky in a marshmallow kinda way.

Cupcake Filling

1/2 c sugar
1/3 c milk
2/3 c crisco (Scant)
1/4 t salt
1 t. vanilla
1 T water
1/2 c powdered sugar

Beat all ingredients except powdered sugar for a full 7 minutes. Don't stop early! Add powdered sugar and beat for a full 5 minutes. Again, don't stop early.

Marshmallow Brown Sugar Frosting

2 c brown sugar, firmly packed
1 c white sugar
3/4 c water
1/2 t vanilla
5 full size marshmallows, cut into quarters
2 egg whites

Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form, set aside. Cook sugar and water over low heat until it spins a thread. Add vanilla extract and marshmallows. Beat until marshmallows melt and fully incorporate. Gradually cooled sugar into stiff egg whites, beat for 5 minutes.