S’mores Cupcakes
These s’mores cupcakes are favorites around here! They are rich chocolate cupcakes topped with toasted marshmallow frosting. Don’t forget to add graham crackers, chocolate, mini marshmallows, and chocolate syrup for the perfect look and taste!
I love toasting s’mores around a campfire and this dessert makes me feel like I’m fireside! They are great for birthday parties and other gatherings.
Ingredients
To make these, you’ll need:
- Unfrosted chocolate cupcakes – I highly suggest my chocolate cupcake recipe, but even a box mix will do in a pinch. You can follow the instructions for making my recipe below.
- Egg whites – You’ll need these to make the fluffy marshmallow frosting. For best results, make sure there is no yolk mixed in.
- Sugar and vanilla – These sweeten and flavor the marshmallow frosting.
- Graham crackers, chocolate, and mini marshmallows – You’ll definitely want to decorate your cupcakes with these!
- Chocolate syrup – This is needed to drizzle over the cupcakes.
How It’s Made
Cupcakes
Tip: If you’ve never baked a cupcake from scratch before, I suggest you take a minute to read my post on how to make cupcakes. And, for the full description of these cupcakes and ingredient suggestions, make sure to read my chocolate cupcake post.
Start by whisking together the dry ingredients – all-purpose flour, baking soda, cocoa powder, and salt.
Tip: It’s really important to sift cocoa powder as it often clumps and won’t properly integrate with the other ingredients without sifting.
Mix butter and sugar. The mixture will end up looking like wet sand because there is only a little butter in the recipe.
Mix in melted chocolate. I melt chocolate in the microwave by breaking or chopping the chocolate into small pieces, putting in a microwave-safe bowl, then heating for 20 second bursts, stirring after each burst, until all of the chocolate is melted.
Mix in eggs and egg yolks, one at a time. The extra yolks give the recipe a little more moisture and fat content.
Mix in sour cream and oil. The sour cream’s tang enhances their flavor of these cupcakes and adds more dairy/fat to the recipe.
Mix in the dry ingredients in three additions. Mix only until just combined; over-mixing can cause the cupcakes to become gummy.
Mix in water or brewed coffee. Perfect cupcake batter should be runny, and adding more liquid gets it to the correct consistency.
Fill cupcake liners and bake; You won’t need a muffin tin or liners if you use baking cups like I did.
Tip: I find that using an ice cream scoop (disher) is the easiest way to fill cupcake liners.
You’ll know that the chocolate cupcakes are done when a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out dry and the tops bounce back when lightly touched. Put cupcakes on a cooling rack or on the counter and allow to cool while you make the marshmallow frosting.
Marshmallow Frosting
Start by making the frosting. Heat egg whites with sugar and vanilla over a double boiler (or a bowl set over a pot of boiling water).
After you’ve heated the mixture and the sugar has dissolved, whisk those ingredients using an electric mixer for nearly 20 minutes until you have stiff, glossy peaks. I don’t suggest trying to do this by hand.
Decorating
Now it’s time for the fun part – decorating. Spread a thin layer of the frosting over a cooled chocolate cupcake – just enough to serve as glue for the graham cracker crumbs.
Then, invert the cupcake onto a plate of crushed graham crackers. They will stick to the frosting.
Fill a piping bag fitted with a large round tip with marshmallow frosting and frost big, plump swirls of frosting onto each cupcake – leaving some graham cracker crumbs showing along the edge.
Grab your culinary torch and toast the frosting! Start off with the torch’s lowest heat setting so you don’t accidentally burn anything.
Top the cupcakes with a graham cracker square, chocolate, and mini marshmallows.
Tip: Depending on how sturdy and tall your frosting is, you may need to stick a toothpick or skewer behind the graham cracker and into the cupcake to help hold it up.
Drizzle with lots of chocolate syrup and serve!
Expert Tips and FAQs
Decorating
While you can use any cupcake liners for your cupcakes, I highly suggest trying baking cups. They look so cute! You can bake cups directly on a cookie sheet and you won’t need a muffin tin.
If you use my chocolate cupcake recipe, I suggest you stick a regular liner inside of the baking cup to guarantee that the cupcakes look their best after the bake.
FAQs
Once frosted and decorated, they are best when served within 24 hours.
I like to use mine to make homemade fruit curds (like my orange curd) and frozen custard. You can also freeze egg yolks to use in future recipes.
I make cookies with leftover buttercream frosting. With leftover marshmallow frosting, you can make meringue cookies! Just pipe any extra onto a cookie sheet, sprinkle with any spices that you like, and bake at 200 F for 45 minutes. Turn the oven off and let them cool in the oven for at least 30 minutes.
Related Recipes
- Sweet potato cupcakes
- Tiramisu cupcakes
- German chocolate cupcakes
- Homemade graham crackers
- Marshmallow frosting
S’mores Cupcakes
Equipment
- Candy thermometer
- Stand mixer
Ingredients
Cupcake Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder natural or Dutched will both work with this recipe
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 ounces chocolate Choose your favorite. You can use any chocolate that you like except white chocolate or candy melts. The chocolate doesn’t have to be one typically earmarked for baking – any chocolate bar that doesn’t contain mix-ins like nuts, Rice Krispies, nougat, etc. will work.
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 2 large egg yolks room temperature
- 9 tablespoons vegetable oil this is the same as 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon – measure in a liquid measuring cup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup full-fat sour cream
- 1/2 cup water room temperature, measured in a liquid measuring cup
Frosting Ingredients
- 14 large egg whites
- 4 cups sugar
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 6 graham cracker squares crushed
- 18 graham cracker squares
- 5 chocolate bars
- 90 mini marshmallows
- chocolate syrup to taste
Instructions
Cupcake Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, and cocoa powder into a separate medium-sized bowl. Use a fork or a whisk to ensure that the ingredients are mixed well after sifting. Set aside.
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, mix butter and sugar until fully combined. The end result should look like wet sand.
- Melt the chocolate in the microwave or in a double boiler.
- Once the melted chocolate is cool enough to touch, add it to the butter/sugar mixture and mix until just combined.
- Mix in eggs and egg yolks one at a time until just combined.
- Mix in oil, vanilla, and sour cream until just combined.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients in three additions, mixing until just combined after each addition.
- Mix in water until just combined.
- Fill cupcake liners or baking cups 2/3 full and put in the oven.
- Check for doneness at 18 minutes – a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake should come out clean. If they are not done, check again every three minutes until they are done.
- Immediately remove cupcakes from the cupcake tin or baking sheet (if using baking cups) and place on a cooling rack or on the counter to cool to room temperature.
Frosting Instructions
- Combine egg whites, sugar, and vanilla extract in the metal mixing bowl of your stand mixer and set over a pot filled with boiling water on a range, creating a double boiler.
- Whisk by hand for a few minutes until the mixture reaches 110 F on a candy thermometer.
- Place the bowl on a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk on medium speed for 10 minutes.
- Increase to high speed and whisk until stiff glossy peaks form, about 5 to 10 minutes more.
Decorating Instructions
- Spread a thin layer of marshmallow frosting over each cupcake.
- Dip each cupcake into crushed graham crackers.
- Use a piping bag fitted with a large round tip to pipe a generous swirl of frosting on each cupcake, leaving a small edge of graham cracker crumbs showing.
- Using a culinary torch, toast the marshmallow frosting.
- Top each cupcake with a graham cracker square, a piece of chocolate, mini marshmallows, and chocolate syrup.
- Serve within 24 hours (otherwise the graham cracker will get soggy).
Video
Notes
- If you would like to add coffee to the recipe, either add 1 teaspoon espresso powder or instant coffee granules along with the sifted dry ingredients, or replace the water with room temperature brewed coffee.
- Using different cocoa powders will alter the taste of the cupcakes, but you really can’t go wrong. All varieties of cocoa powder work well.
- The chocolate in these cupcakes doesn’t have to be one typically earmarked for baking – any chocolate, bar, chips, or discs that don’t contain mix-ins (like nuts, Rice Krispies, nougat, etc.) will work. This way, you can choose whatever type of chocolate you prefer to eat: milk, dark, or even flavored chocolate bars.
- Yogurt will work well as a substitute for sour cream if you don’t have any on hand.
- For making these cupcakes, use any mild vegetable oil – generic, canola, and safflower are all good choices.
- Make sure the inside of the bowl is totally dry before beginning.
- Make sure there are no egg yolks mixed in with the egg whites.
- Keep on whisking – don’t stop early.
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