Sweet Potato!

I took a baking hiatus for a while because I got a part-time job at JoAnn Fabrics (YAY!) Now that I got the schedule down and the holidays are so close it's like they're IN YOUR FACE, it was time to get back in the kitchen! When I found some cute cupcake papers on clearance, it was decided: I'm making cupcakes for Thanksgiving!

Sweet Potato Cupcakes from Better Homes and Gardens BHG.com

First of all, I halved this recipe to test it out on my family this weekend, before taking it on the road to the in-laws. Only I didn't notice at first that it calls for 3 eggs -- how do you split 3 eggs?! I went with 1 whole egg PLUS 1 yolk. The texture of the cupcakes turned out fine, so it worked out.
Secondly, this recipe calls for canned sweet potato, but something possessed me to make my own. Why do you learn how to multiply fractions in 5th grade? So that you can bake! I had to figure out the volume to weight equivalent for the sweet potatoes. I ended up just using 1 cup in the halved recipe.
The other problem with the sweet potatoes was that I peeled, cubed, boiled, drained and mashed them, which I think wasted a lot of the flavor in the discarded water. Next time, I'm going to peel and cube the potatoes, then bake them and mash them. I think that will enhance the flavor. This batch was a just little weak.
Can I just say that mashed sweet potatoes are the most delightful orange color? They're just great.
I made the cream cheese icing per the instructions, but instead of the orange peel I just put in some orange extract. While I think the flavors go well together, I put in too much and since the sweet potato flavor was too weak, it was a bit overwhelming.
I'm glad I did the test batch, though. Bringing underwhelming baked goods to the in-law's Thanksgiving is a party foul in my book. I will be making these again on Wednesday!

Here's the million dollar question: Why is it so hard for me to take an in-focus picture?!

Update:
When I remade these to take to the in-laws, I baked the potatoes instead of boiling them. This is definitely the way to go. The flavor of these were so much better. Also, I nixed the orange flavor in the frosting, and only used a little bit (meaning not the the mountain of frosting common on cupcakes). This offered just the right balance between creamy and sweet potato. People liked them, but not many got eaten since there was so much food!!!