S'mores Cupcakes

Sunday

Jun092019

Mila had a birthday party at some point, so of course that means I made a ridiculous cake. It's my thing, you know.

It was RIDICULOUS. And easy. It was a very basic White Almond layered cake with White Almond Buttercream Frosting and melted marshmallow for the spider web. As in, I microwaved some marshmallows and then messily pulled them into strings and wrapped them around the cake. My hands were a disaster, but the cake turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself.

Considering Mila asked for a Spider Gwen birthday cake and I was all, "Uuuuuh ... such a thing doesn't really exist" it all worked out in the end. So take that, Pinterest. Thanks but no thanks for failing me this time. I SHOWED YOU.

I can't stick to just one challenge, so of course I also made cupcakes. S'mores Cupcakes to be exact.

GOOD IDEA, ME.

S'mores Cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcake Batter
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
5 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup crushed graham crackers

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and throw cupcake liners in a pan.

2. Place the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Stir it all up with a whisk.

3. Add the water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla. Stir with a fork until the chunks are gone. It took me about two minutes.

4. Place the chocolate cupcake mix in your cupcake liners, filling each one about 2/3 of the way.

5. Carefully add a heaping spoonful of graham cracker crumbs on top of the chocolate cupcakes. Then top with a tablespoon or so of cake batter to seal the graham crackers in a bit.

6. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 22 minutes for mini cupcakes or 25 minutes for full-sized cupcakes. Set on a wire rack to cool before frosting.

Marshmallow Frosting

4 egg whites, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Fill a large pot with water and heat until it begins to boil. Reduce heat to a simmer.

2. In a large heat-proof bowl (I used a metal mixing bowl), whisk the eggs together with the sugar. Place on top of the pot of water so that the bowl doesn't actually touch the water, but does get warmed up. Continue whisking. Add the cream of tartar and salt and whisk some more. Keep whisking and heating until the mixture reaches 110 degrees.

3. Remove the bowl from the heat and turn on that mixer. Mix at high speed until peaks form, about 7-9 minutes. Add the vanilla and mix a little more. (If you're changing the color of the frosting, add gel food coloring with the vanilla and mix.)

4. Place the frosting in a piping bag and make swirlies or whatever on top of your cupcakes. To reduce the sticky of the frosting, place in the oven on high broil for 1-2 minutes or until the marshmallow juuuuuust starts to toast.