S’mores Cupcakes: My Former Flame

The cold harshing your mellow? Same. Well maybe the mallow on these cupcakes can restore your mellow.

In one bite, the s’mores flavor will launch you to a bonfire—it’ll warm up your body and mood instantly! No open fires necessary.

These babies have a crunchy graham-cracker bottom (no soggy bottoms here, Mary Berry), a chocolate base and a gooey marshmallow frosting. Drooling yet?

What to Expect:

I thought this Food Network recipe was pretty straightforward and delivered what I expected! The cupcake is broken up into parts—top, middle, bottom—which is a cool concept. The graham cracker crust serves as a base for the chocolate, so it’s like a mini pie crust.

The marshmallow frosting is very sticky and gooey—signature s’mores style.

In case you miss the classic smore’s texture, stick fractions of graham cracker and a Hershey bar in the frosting, scoop the marshmallow gooiness onto them and ba-da-bing ba-da-boom, problem solved. And it looks adorable.

This recipe is definitely a time commitment but well worth the wait!

What I recommend:

The butter in the crust seeped through the paper liners a bit, but the cupcake bottom itself wasn’t too buttery. Next time I think I’ll add slightly less butter just for my fingers’ sake!

Whipping up egg whites always takes longer than I expect. Plus, the visual of “stiff peaks” confuses me... For an alternative visual (thank you, Great British Bake Off), move your whisk/mixer in the shape of a figure eight in the marshmallow mixture. Literally whip it into shape! If you can clearly see the shape after a few seconds, your frosting is well-whipped.

Also, I didn’t “roast” the marshmallow frosting this time because I didn’t have a pastry torch. But if you want to go pro, it looks (and tastes) like the real deal dessert!

Enjoy! I hope one cupcake leaves you craving s’more 🙂

Original Recipe:

Graham Cracker Crust:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, melted

1/4 cup sugar

Cupcakes:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature

1 cup warm water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Marshmallow Frosting:

8 large egg whites, at room temperature

2 cups sugar

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Decoration:

3 graham cracker sheets, broken into 24 pieces

One 4-ounce bar semisweet chocolate, broken into 24 shards

Directions:

1. For the graham cracker crust: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two standard 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners.
2. In a small bowl, stir together the graham cracker crumbs, butter and sugar until well combined. Press a heaping tablespoon of the crust mixture into the bottom of each muffin cup and bake until golden and just set, 5 to 7 minutes. Set aside to cool.
3. For the cupcakes: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the buttermilk, water and oil and whisk to combine. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and whisk until smooth. Divide the batter among the muffin cups, filling them about two-thirds full. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few crumbs attached, 12 to 15 minutes.
4. Let cool in the tins on a wire rack for about 5 minutes, then remove the cupcakes from the tins and allow to cool completely.
5. For the marshmallow frosting: Combine the egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar in a heatproof mixing bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Whisk constantly until the sugar has dissolved and the egg whites are warm and smooth to the touch, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat on low speed, gradually increasing to medium and then finally up to high. Beat until stiff, glossy peaks form, 7 to 10 minutes. Turn the mixer to low and whisk in the vanilla.
6. Spread the frosting on the cupcakes. With a handheld pastry torch, lightly brown the frosting. Decorate each cupcake with a graham cracker piece and a shard of chocolate.