S'mores cupcakes, Four Ways!

Is there anything more quintessentially American than sitting around a fire pit with some good friends, and making some delicious s'mores? Who would have thought that three things as simple as graham crackers, marshmallows, and Hershey bars, could combine to make something so amazing as a s'more?

And combining a s'more with a cupcake? Genius. Really. Right up there with Einstein, and his theory of relativity. Now, there are several schools of thought on how to best turn a s'more into a cupcake. Chocolate cake, with marshmallow frosting, and crumbled graham crackers, graham cracker cake with chocolate frosting, and marshmallow filling, graham cracker cake with marshmallow frosting, and chocolate filling...The list goes on, and I decided to try them all!



Now, originally, I was planning on posting all of the recipes for the cupcakes here, in detail, but then I served the cupcakes to The Family, at Sunday dinner, and one version was such a far and away winner that it seemed almost silly (and LONG) to share the others. Want to know the funniest thing about it? The winner was the cupcake that I didn't make from scratch! The chocolate cupcake with marshmallow frosting, and crumbled graham crackers. At the end of the post, I'll provide a link to the from-scratch graham cracker cupcakes, and a few general tips, but mostly, I'll cover the winning version. I tried this version two ways, one with graham cracker crusts pressed into the bottom of each cupcake liner, and one without. The one with the graham cracker crust was definitely better!

Hallelujahs: Amazing, Easy (a boxed mix, could it get any easier than that?), ADORABLE!
Hellfires: Very sweet. The frosting is more sugar, and less marshmallow that I had expected, but regardless, it is DELICIOUS. However, you can definitely only eat one at a time. Unfortunately, it also requires a graham cracker crust. See Cheesecake post for my thoughts on those.

When something involves these ingredients, how can it NOT be good?


-Note: Okay, yes, I cheated, and used a boxed mix. But, when something tastes this good, who cares?! Also, give me a break, I was making 4 different kinds of cupcakes. I needed a little helping hand, and Betty is my right hand woman. She's always there when I need her. Betty Crocker, that is.

S'More Cupcakes

Graham Cracker Crust
1 package of graham crackers, crushed (3 packages per box, only use one package)
1 stick of butter, melted
1/2 cup of sugar

-Combine the crushed graham crackers, sugar, and melted butter.

-Press about 1 tbs of the mixture into each cupcake liner

-Place in oven at 350* for about 5 minutes, to pre-bake the crusts, and prevent them from getting soggy.
-And if you hate making graham cracker crusts as much as I do, be smart about this. Put your two favorite men to work, and make them do it for you! (Aren't I a lucky woman?)


Cupcakes
1 box of Chocolate Cake Mix, prepared as directed
-I used a Betty Crocker Triple Chocolate Fudge Mix, which called for some oil, water, and 3 eggs.
-Mix up your cupcake batter, and pour into pre-baked liners.
-This is where we'll highlight another must-have tool we've talked about before. Remember way back in the peanut butter cookie post? We introduced the pampered chef scoop? Well, there are two sizes of that scoop. The larger size is PERFECT for cupcakes. 1 full scoop perfectly fills the cupcake tins 2/3 full. Seriously, I LOVE these things!

-Once your cupcake liners are full, place in the oven, and bake, following the directions on your cake mix.
-Tip: I always set the timer for my cupcakes at least 5 minutes earlier than the box tells me to. There's nothing more frustrating than dry, burnt cupcakes.
-Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.

Marshmallow Creme Frosting
2 sticks of butter
2 cups of powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
14 oz of marshmallow cream
-Mix all ingredients in your stand mixer
-Place into Ziploc bag, cut off the tip, and pipe onto cupcakes. Or, if that's not your style, grab a knife, and ice them the old fashioned way.

Decoration
-Once your cupcakes are frosted, dust with crushed graham crackers, and 1 rectangle of your Hershey Bars


Recipe for Marshmallow Creme frosting can be found here: http://sewdarncute.typepad.com/sew_darn_cute/2007/04/smores_cupcakes.html

Okay, if you decide you MUST try the other variations with the graham cracker cupcakes, instead of chocolate cupcakes, here are a few tips.
1) I found the recipe for the graham cracker cupcakes from here: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1255031
2) A note about from-scratch cake batters in general. They are MUCH thicker than boxed mix recipes. Don't be alarmed, it makes for a much denser, more delicious, cake. See how it sticks to the mixer paddle, here? MUCH thicker, and that's okay!

3) For variations, I tried these 2 ways. For the first 12, I inserted a square of a Hershey's bar into the center of each before baking:

They were iced with the Marshmallow creme frosting listed in the winning recipe, and then drizzled with chocolate ganache for artistic effect (you'll see why I'm a pre-med major, and not an art major).

-For the second option, I baked them with nothing in the center, and then when they were cooled, I cut out a section in the middle of each cupcake, and filled with plain, marshmallow creme (NOT the frosting). Then, I frosted them with chocolate ganache.


-And one more quick note about the ganache. Normally, I make my ganaches with semi-sweet chocolate because I love that deep, slightly bitter flavor to them. However, in this case, it just did not work with this recipe. I think next time I make this recipe, in order to stay true to the inspiration (the s'more) I will use Hershey's milk chocolate in order to make the ganache.

Good Luck with your s'more cupcakes! I hope they turn out beautifully!

Plain Text Recipe

S'More Cupcakes

Graham Cracker Crust
1 package of graham crackers, crushed (3 packages per box, only use one package)
1 stick of butter, melted
1/2 cup of sugar


-Combine the crushed graham crackers, sugar, and melted butter.
-Press about 1 tbs of the mixture into each cupcake liner
-Place in oven at 350* for about 5 minutes, to pre-bake the crusts, and prevent them from getting soggy.

Cupcakes
1 box of Chocolate Cake Mix, prepared as directed

-I used a Betty Crocker Triple Chocolate Fudge Mix, which called for some oil, water, and 3 eggs.
-Mix up your cupcake batter, and pour into pre-baked liners.
-Once your cupcake liners are full, place in the oven, and bake, following the directions on your cake mix.
-Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.

Marshmallow Creme Frosting
2 sticks of butter
2 cups of powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
14 oz of marshmallow cream

-Mix all ingredients in your stand mixer
-Place into Ziploc bag, cut off the tip, and pipe onto cupcakes. Or, if that's not your style, grab a knife, and ice them the old fashioned way.

Decoration
-Once your cupcakes are frosted, dust with crushed graham crackers, and 1 rectangle of your Hershey Bars