Weekend Recipe: S’more Cupcakes

The following is a recipe from

It is freezing in Tucson. My body is absolutely rebelling. Not only am I sick, but I do not want to move… at all. I gave very serious thought to relocating to the Bahamas. If the desert is not a guarantee for heat, than the tropics certainly are. If only I could figure a way around my fear of hurricanes and tsunamis…

So, I’ve decided to take a day off today (Thursday). I’m going to clean my apartment from top to bottom (or, east to west, which is probably more accurate). They say that cleanliness is next to Godliness and I could sure use some heavenly atmosphere at the moment! When my home is clean, I just feel better. So that’s what I’m going to do today. However, I am planning to take a minute to go to the grocery store and get the ingredients for the S’more Cupcake recipe below. Because, while cleanliness is next to Godliness – say, on the right side – yumminess is next to Godliness, too.

Enjoy!

S’more Cupcakes

Ingredients

CAKE:

• 3 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/3 cup Hershey’s Cocoa powder
• 1 cup Crisco Oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup Buttermilk
• 1 cup Hot tap water
• 2 teaspoons Soda
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla
• 1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs (from about 20 squares)
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped, or you can also use Milk chocolate

MARSHMALLOW FROSTING:

• 2 egg whites
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup sugar
• ¾ cup light Karo Syrup
• 1 ½ teaspoons Vanilla

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 standard muffin tins with cupcake liners; set aside.
2. To make a sheet cake instead, simply grease and flour a large deep cookie sheet.
3. The amazing thing about this cake recipe, is that you put all the ingredients in your bowl at the same time. Using a hand mixer, blend the ingredients until well mixed. Don’t over blend, a few small lumps are fine.
4. Place graham cracker crumbs, remaining 1/4 cup sugar, and melted butter in a large bowl; stir until well combined.
5. Place 1 tablespoon graham cracker mixture into the bottom of each prepared muffin cup. Use the bottom of a small glass to pack crumbs into the bottom of each cupcake liner. Reserve remaining graham cracker mixture for topping.
6. Place 2 teaspoons chocolate in each muffin cup. Transfer muffin tins to oven and bake until the edges of the graham cracker mixture is golden, about 5 minutes. Remove from oven and fill each muffin cup three-quarters full with cake batter. Sprinkle each with remaining chocolate and graham cracker mixture.
7. Return to oven and bake, rotating pans halfway through baking, until tops are firm and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer muffin tins to a wire rack and let cupcakes cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan and let cool completely.

DIRECTIONS FOR FROSTING:

1. Beat together 2 egg whites & 1/4 tsp. salt with a mixer until very frothy. Add 1/4 cup sugar very SLOWLY, and beat until smooth & glossy. SLOWLY, add 3/4 Cup light Karo Syrup, & beat until it holds stiff peaks. Gently fold in 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla.
2. Transfer frosting to a large pastry bag fitted with a large plain round or French tip (such as Ateco #867 or Ateco #809). Pipe frosting in a spiral motion on each cupcake.
3. Transfer cupcakes to a baking sheet. Using a kitchen torch, lightly brown the frosting, taking care not to burn the cupcake liners. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container, up to 2 days.