S'mores Cupcakes

These S'mores Cupcakes have it all: a moist chocolate cake, a rich chocolate ganache filling, a buttery graham cracker crust, and the fluffiest toasted swiss meringue topping. They're delicious and each bite is packed with flavor thanks to all of the elements combined. Trust me, you need these in your life.

These S'mores Cupcakes have four elements: the chocolate ganache, graham cracker base, chocolate cake, and swiss meringue, and you'll make each element in that order. The graham cracker base will be added to the cupcake liners first before being toped with the cake batter and baked. Once cooled, the cupcakes will be cored so that chocolate ganache can be piped into their centers before fluffy swiss meringue is piped on top and toasted.

This recipe makes a total of 12 cupcakes, but can easily be doubled or tripled if more are needed.

A FEW NOTES BEFORE WE GET STARTED

• Room Temperature Ingredients:
  • Butter: It’s important that your butter is softened. In a pinch, you can put your butter in the microwave for about 5 seconds on each side, but watch closely to make sure it is just softening and not melting.
  • Eggs: You also want to make sure that the eggs are at room temperature to ensure that they are properly incorporated into your batter. If you forget to leave them out before you start baking, place them in a bowl of warm water for about 15 minutes until they become room temperature.

• Measuring Your Ingredients:
  • I strongly encourage that you use a kitchen scale to measure your ingredients and ensure that you have the most accurate measurements possible.
  • However, if you don’t have a scale on hand and will be using cup measurements, make sure to use the “spoon and sweep” method when measuring to avoid packing in too much of any dry ingredient.

• Oven Temperature:
  • Make sure to preheat your oven for at least 15 minutes before you start baking.
  • I recommend purchasing an oven thermometer to get to know your oven so you can adjust your baking temperatures accordingly. Some ovens run slightly warmer or colder so its important to know yours to make sure your baked goods come out right.

• Check out My Favorite Baking Tools to see what I use when I bake.

Now let's bake! You'll first make the chocolate ganache that will be piped into the center of the baked cupcakes. It's important to make this first so it has time to thicken up in the fridge. Place the chopped chocolate in a heat safe bowl.

Place the heavy cream in a smaller heat safe bowl and microwave for 10 second intervals, stirring in between until the cream is hot. Pour the cream over the chocolate and stir until combined. Reheat for 10 seconds if the chocolate isn't fully melted. Let cool before covering with plastic wrap and placing in the fridge to chill.

Blend graham crackers in a food processor until they are a fine, sandlike consistency. Add in melted butter and sugar and blend until the crumbs start to clump together.

Line a cupcake pan with 12 liners and divide the crust evenly among them. Use a small, flat bottomed measuring cup sprayed with cooking spray to carefully press the crumbs down until they cover the bottom of each liner and are compact and level. Chill until needed.

Next, preheat your oven to 350º F. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa powder, and salt and set aside.

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the butter and sugar for 2-3 minutes on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl with your spatula as needed. Add vanilla.

With the mixer on low, add the buttermilk. Beginning and ending with the flour mixture, alternate between adding the flour mixture and the coffee to the batter. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Using a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop, carefully scoop 2 tablespoon of batter into each cupcake liner. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and split the remaining batter among the cupcakes until they look even. Bake for 22-24 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let the pan cool on the cooling rack for 15 minutes before gently pulling the cupcakes out of the pan and letting them cool completely on the cooling rack.

Once the cupcakes have started to cool, Stir together the egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar in a double boiler. Continue to stir constantly until mixture reaches 160º F on a candy thermometer. Transfer to a mixing bowl, add in the vanilla, and mix with the whisk attachment on medium-high speed for 3-4 minutes followed by high speed for another 4-5 minutes until stiff peaks have formed.

Use a cupcake corer or a small knife to carefully cut the center of each cupcake without cutting out the graham cracker crust. Save the tops that you cut out as these will be added back.

Add the chocolate ganache to a pastry bag and carefully pipe into the centers of each cupcake until they're ¾ full. If your ganache is too thick, carefully reheat in the microwave for 10 seconds until it is a better piping consistency.

Gently add the tops back so they cover up the chocolate ganache. Scoop the meringue into a pastry bag fitted with an Ateco 807 or similar piping tip.

Starting in the middle of the cupcake, hold the piping bag upright and apply pressure to pipe straight down until a dollop of meringue almost reaches the borders. Gently lift up in a swift swirling motion to leave a slight tip. Repeat this with the remaining cupcakes. Use a kitchen torch to carefully torch the meringue on each cupcake. Enjoy!