Sweet & Savory: S'more Cupcakes

All the best flavors of a S'more around the campfire, but a little more decadent and delicate. When I was in New York City a few weeks ago we went to a cupcake bakery called Magnolia, and there I saw the very first S'more Cupcake I'd ever seen. That thought had never occurred to me. So, of course we bought it and really enjoyed it. It was good, but I thought with a little tweaking it could be great. And so I talked it over with my mom and we both added a little love to this concept.

The cupcake at Magnolia Bakery had a graham cracker cake and it was good but a little dry and I am a chocolate cake kind of girl. Also, I feel that the best part of the graham cracker ingredient is the texture, that crunch. So, I had to do something about that. Magnolia Bakery had a marshmallow frosting that was good, but by far my favorite part of a s'more is the charred marshmallow, I even like mine a little burnt, so I definitely didn't want to put something out there with the name "s'more" without a charred marshmallow. That's all! So, this is the end result...and I have to say, out of this world, really! It is kind of on another level! They're so good, they're gonna make you cry!

So, we have a graham cracker crust on the bottom, a rich chocolate cake, a little graham sprinkled on top of the cake. Then a thin layer of chocolate ganache, and a Marshmallow Meringue Frosting, charred. And finally, either a Hershey's Chocolate piece or a chocolate dipped graham cracker. A lot of different components, but totally worth it.

GRAHAM CRACKER CRUST

~1 cup of Graham Cracker crumbs, (I just put about 10 crackers in a food processor)

~2 1/2 Tablespoons of melted Butter

~2 Tablespoons of Sugar

Combine in a bowl and then spoon in about one Tablespoon of the mixture into the bottom of each cupcake liner, and press down with the bottom of a cup. Then cook in the oven at 350 degrees for about 4 or 5 minutes.

*You will also use some of the mixture to sprinkle on the top of the unbaked batter right before you put them in the oven.

CHOCOLATE CUPCAKE BATTER INGREDIENTS

*You can use this recipe below which is a really rich and dark chocolatey chocolate or you can use the easier one from this other post, my chocolate truffle cupcakes. This one is still really delicious, but a lot fewer steps! Both are amazing!

1 3/4 cups flour

2 cups sugar

3/4 cups cocoa

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup oil

2 extra large eggs at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup hot water with a handful of chocolate chips melted into it.

Preheat oven to 350.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. With mixer still on low, add the hot water mixture just until combined and scrape with a rubber spatula. Put into cupcake liners. Sprinkle with graham cracker crumbs. Bake for about 20 minutes, until done.

CHOCOLATE GANACHE

4 oz. Chocolate chips

a little over 1/3 cup Heavy Cream

1/2 tsp. Vanilla

Melt the chocolate chip and then stir in the cream and when combined add the vanilla. Then put a thin layer on the baked cupcakes. Then add the frosting on top of that.

MARSHMALLOW MERINGUE FROSTING

(By the way, this stuff is amazing, it tastes just like roasted marshmallows by the time you are done!) My mom's Grandmother used to make this frosting all the time. My mom remembered it from the time she was a little girl.

~1 1/2 cups plus 2 Tablespoons sugar

~2/3 cup water

~2 Tablespoons light corn syrup

~6 large egg whites, room temperature

INSTRUCTIONS

Combine the water, corn syrup and 1 1/2 cups of sugar in a saucepan on medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally until the sugar dissolves. Then, keep boiling without stirring until the syrup reaches 230 degrees. (Clip a candy thermometer to the side of the pan and keep your eye on it.)

Meanwhile, whisk the egg white on medium speed in an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add the remaining 2 Tablespoons of sugar and combine.

Remove the syrup from the heat when it reaches 230 degrees. Put mixer on medium-low speed and pour the syrup down the side in a slow, steady stream. Raise the speed until stiff peaks form. (For about 7 minutes). Frost immediately.

With a kitchen blow torch, torch the frosting on each cupcake. Then add the garnish.

I decided to garnish them with chocolate covered graham crackers, which is great if you serve them right after, but if they sit for a few hours or overnight, the cracker gets soft and falls over- not so attractive. So, if you want to do them it is really simple- but much simpler would be to just stick a piece of Hershey's chocolate in them and that will last and still taste good.

Chocolate-Covered Graham Crackers

~24 small Graham crackers rectangles

~4 or 5 oz. good Chocolate, chopped up- (I mix dark and milk from the huge candy bars at trader joe's.)

~Less than 1 Tablespoon of crisco shortening

Microwave the chocolate and crisco for a few seconds and then mix until it is combined and completely melted. Then dip the crackers in.

(I love to do this for chocolate covered strawberries or macaroons. It is so easy!)