Ugly Cupcakes

I am shocked to report that I have had a Martha recipe failure. In an attempt to make cupcakes for Gracie's daycare birthday party tomorrow, I elected to try a Martha trick and use marshmallows instead of icing...not just because it seemed simple, but because Grace is off milk at the moment and it seemed like a grand idea. The photo (picture #1) seemed convincing.
I believe that the cake is actually good because my family inhaled several of the ugly cupcakes (picture #2) before and after dinner...I wouldn't know because they are full of gluten. The recipe states to place a marshmallow on the cupcake 2 minutes before the cooking time is up, which I did, and then gently press it down after cooking to complete the picture. My gut said, "this is a bad idea" but Martha suggested it so who am I to argue.
However, I must report that melting marshmellows do not sit nicely atop a cupcake...they slide down the cupcake, onto the next cupcake, and down the pan into the bottom of the oven where they light small fires. If the recipe had called for extra baking soda to put out the fires, I might have skipped to the next page.
Once out of the oven, I tried to coax the marshmallows that were reasonably intact back onto the cakes, but at this point the molecular structure of my icing resembled crazy glue and the marshmallows stuck permanently to anything they were in contact with. I can pretty these up I thought, so I took out Grace's bag of gummy bears that she insisted we would put on her birthday cupcakes and placed one on the top of each cupcake. The gummies immediately dissolved into a pool of green and red slime, so I had no choice but to add sprinkles, which apparently are the only substances that don't stick to melting marshmallows.
I whisper the "f" word. The 8 year old who NEVER hears what I tell her the first time pipes up and says: "I know that word..f____....Alice taught it to me. What does it mean Mom?"
"I've been waiting for this day" comments lovely man
"I hardly swear anymore...Alice taught her the word" I defend my honour. "The word is an ugly description of something that should be beautiful" I explain to Lil.
"Like your cupcakes?" she inquires
"Ok, you can take the ugly cupcakes to mad science camp tomorrow and tell them it was Mom's failed experiment but don't call them F___ing cupcakes ok?"
A new batch is in the oven with cream cheese icing and new gummy bears awaiting. Thanks Martha.