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Wednesday, July 2, 2008

S'mores Cupcakes: Just in time for the 4th of July!

When I think of summer I think of these things: hot dogs, watermelon, fireworks, and s'mores. How great is it that there is at least one day of the summer where all of these things come together! Friday is July 4th, and I dunno about all of you, but I know I'll eat my share of hot dogs (mostly because I'll be working at a festival and we'll sell at least 200 of them!). When I'm not chowing down on mysterious cow organs and non-organs, I'll probably have watermelon juice dripping from my elbows. After I have accidentally consumed enough melon seeds to start a small garden, I'll be searching for a nice spot downtown to watch the fireworks. And after all that commotion, I'll hopefully be heading home for one of these freakin awesome S'mores Cupcakes!

Being the cupcake enthusiast that I am, I have seen my fair share of S'mores Cupcakes on Flickr, Bakespace, and many a food blog. There have been many different methods of attacking this beast, but all the cupcakes showcase 3 main flavors: graham cracker, marshmallow, and chocolate. Now if you ask me, it doesn't matter how these flavors are thrown around, they'll always taste like a delicious s'more (click it if you're totally weird and don't have the foggiest idea of what I'm talking about). However, some cupcake recipes focus mainly on the chocolate flavor and barely hint around the other two. I chose a recipe that has a good ratio of graham to marshmallow to chocolate! It's really moist and the graham cracker crumbs in the cake give it a neat texture. The marshmallow frosting is CRAZY good! It's basically SMBC minus the butter... making it just a Swiss meringue. You know how sometimes 7-minute frosting and other meringue-type frostings tend to dissipate and turn into tons of flavorless air bubbles after a day or so? Well, 24 hours later this Swiss meringue is still just as marshmallowy as when it first came out of the mixer. I am very confident in saying that these are perfect S'mores Cupcakes!
Ingredients... including sour milk...This batch of batter went in the trash because I'm dumb and
didn't read the expiration date on the milk!A trip to the grocery store and 30 minutes later... GOOD batter!Ready for the ovenYou know I can't resist leftover cupcake batter!They smelled soooo yummy while they were cooling.You can garnish them with shaved milk chocolate and a graham cracker...OR graham cracker crumbs and a piece of chocolate. Oh yeah... I had some leftover frosting left and I was curious. I piped some on parchment paper and put them under the broiler until they turned brown. They baked like the meringue on top of pies. I think they'd be super cute on top of mini lemon curd cupcakes!
The perfect place for the perfect cupcake is on a fancy glass pedestal!
Cupcake recipe from Cupcakes Galore by Gail Wagman. Frosting recipe by me.

MY NOTES: I reduced the salt by half and they were perfect. Mine were done at 16 minutes.

S’mores Cupcakes
Makes 16-18 regular cupcakes

INGREDIENTS
Graham Cracker & Milk Chocolate Cupcakes
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups finely crushed graham crackers (about 20 grahams)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
(I reduced this to 1/2 tsp)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup milk
1 cup milk chocolate (I pulsed mine in the food processor to make them a lot smaller)

Swiss Meringue Marshmallow Frosting (NOT BUTTERCREAM)
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar (I used 3/4 cup regular sugar and 1/2 cup vanilla sugar)
4 egg whites
1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Mix flour, crushed graham crackers, baking powder, and salt together and set aside.
3. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add vanilla. Alternately add flour mixture and milk and beat until batter is almost smooth. Fold in chocolate chips.
4. Spoon batter into cupcake papers, filling cups about 2/3 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean (Mine were done at 16 minutes). Remove from oven and cool.
5. To make the frosting: Combine egg whites and sugar in the top of a double boiler (or a glass bowl over but not touching a pan of simmering water). Whisk constantly over medium-high heat until mixtures reaches 160°F, about 5 minutes. Pour egg white mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on high for 6 minutes or until room temperature. Add optional vanilla extract 1 teaspoon at a time until desired flavor.
6. Frost cooled cupcakes and sprinkle with grated milk chocolate or graham cracker crumbs.


Overall rating on a scale of 1-5
Moistness: 5
Tenderness: 5
Frosting: 5

29 comments:

Cakespy said...

I was just awakened to the joy of s'mores cupcakes this year--I had never been a fan until I tried Trophy Cupcake's version here in Seattle. Yours looks like another that might make me a believer though--your frosting improvisation looks like it works really nicely!

Lot-O-Choc said...

mm these look delicious! i feel so deprived over here in england we dont have such thing as smores or even graham crackers so i make sure to stock up when im in america!
p.s thanks for the tip about the buttercream :)

Anonymous said...

Those look really good. I was thinking that maybe you should have toasted the marshmallow frosting, because then it would really have the s'more look and feel. But it looks really delicious either way!

ingegerd said...

its look so yummy!!You are good at this!!And i like your blog!its fun to see what you coming up whit!!And thanks for your comment!=)

Stephany Benbow said...

Ooh, I'll have to try these. I tried the ones Chockylit had posted, but it was a mild fiasco. They tasted ok, but were pretty disappointing.
I think I may bury a glob of ganache under the meringue to make it even more decadent...

Four Fabulous Foodies said...

Does the frosting taste like marshmallow? I was thinking of cheating and using marshmallow fluff to frost them with...but I like being authentic. :)

marae said...

Those look so cute...and yummy!!! I made some interesting concoction last nite kind of like an Almond Joy cupcake...with fluffy boiled icing that tastes like marshmallows. It was divine. I love getting all creative for the holiday!

Anonymous said...

this looks so delicious! i can't wait to make some. i recently just made some orange dreamsicle cupcakes and they were the best. so moist and yummy. i though you might want to make some. they're made with fresh oranges. yum!

Lot-O-Choc said...

Ah right hmm they're sort of like a round plain biscuit quite hard to describe really not really sweet..sort of semisweet..they're nothing all that special hehe :)

Redheaded Celt said...

I'll have to try this. I have a s'mores cupcake recipe from one of those grocery store magazines I think it's a Betty Crocker recipe... or Pillsbury that I get rave reviews with. The frosting is fluff, butter, and sugar... which is amazing.

Jacque said...

Wow, that meringue topping looks totally delish! They look fantastic.

Four Fabulous Foodies said...

I made these this weekend and they were very good. :) They reminded us a bit of chocolate chip cookies. Frosting turned out great. :) I got some awesome feedback from friends at a party. Thanks for posting!

Sandie said...

These look great, I have seen quite a few recipes for smores cupcakes now, and yours put me over the edge. I will have to make them!

maryeb said...

I saw your post on flickr. These look really good. I will definitely give them a try. Thanks for sharing the recipe.

Redheaded Celt said...

1 cup Fluff
2 cups powdered/confectionary sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 to 2 teaspoons milk

Microwave fluff for 15 to 20 seconds.

In large bowl, beat fluff, butter, and powdered sugar on low speed until blended. Beat in enough milk, 1/2 teaspoon at a time, to make frosting spreadable.

Enjoy! I've always come out with more frosting than needed for 24 cupcakes, and I tend to stir to get the desired consistency - I've also stirred with just a wire whisk instead of using a blender and it's worked just as well.

I use this frosting on everything and most of my friends have stolen it for their own. It's fluff, how can you not love it? :-)

Anonymous said...

What frosting tip did you use? I usually use a 21 for swirls but I love this look!

Caroline said...

that's a kick ass frosting you got there :D I love it!

Fearghas said...

Just made a batch of this icing, tasted fab! Didn't look as good as yours, but still darn good :)

Nana said...

I made these this morning!
I used only 18 pieces of graham crackers so it was more on the fluffy side =)
Thanks so much for the yummy recipe!

Anonymous said...

I had a go at making these today.
Used chocolate cookies as we don't have graham crackers in new zealand so I halved the amount of chocolate.
Just came out of the oven and they taste divine, can't wait to frost them!!

Anonymous said...

Queen Cassie Cupcake! I definitely just tried making these... I followed your instructions exactly except my cupcakes were so soft that I couldn't get them out of the pan without destroying them... And my frosting was really soupy! =(

Any ideas on what I could've possibly done wrong?

How To Eat A Cupcake said...

Anonymous, did you use paper liners in your cupcake pan? If not, did you let the cupcakes cool for about 10 minutes before taking them out of the pan? If they were in paper liners, did you possibly add too much liquid to the recipe? Or maybe not enough graham cracker crumbs?

As for the frosting, meringues are very tricky. There are many many reasons why it could've gone soft. Was it warm or humid in your kitchen? Did you make sure you cooked the egg whites until they were just barely too hot to touch? Also, were the egg whites fresh?

I hope we can solve this problem, because these cupcakes really are delicious! ;D

Anonymous said...

This frosting is SO good and pretty! But what do you do with leftovers? Can it be kept? Do you refrigerate it? Or just toss it - maybe it doesn't keep well?

How To Eat A Cupcake said...

Dawn, meringue frostings don't keep very well. When you refrigerate them, they get very hard. And whipping them back up can be time consuming and very difficult. I usually try to make just enough. If I have a tiny bit leftover, I just toss it. It's sad to waste it, but it's just so hard to revive.

Satchmo the french bulldog said...

What tip did you use to frost these? I love your blog!

Anonymous said...

I also made them and they were waaaay too soft. I don't knwo what I did wrong! The middle just caved in. They are still delicious and the icing turned out great, but I will have to try again and maybe add more graham and less milk to make them look prettier.

Mepenguin16 said...

OMG!!! I made two batches of these for my boyfriends birthday,the 5th, and they were all gone. I did one batch with the Marshmallow frosting and put some graham cracker crumbs on top.The other batch I used mini marshmallows and put them under the broiler to brown.They both were really good. Thanks for the recipe!!!

FROSTED! said...

These look incredible and delicious. I've been dying to try a S'mores Cupcake but haven't found a recipe that I've wanted to try. Until now. I'm definitely going to give these a try. Thanks for all the great recipes. I love your blog!

www.thefrostedcupcakes.blogspot.com

Blushing Crow said...

So here we are, New Years Eve 2013, and I am using your recipe again...how many life events have passed from the time I discovered your blog and now, and I always go back to this gem... :-)