S'mores Cupcakes

Here's a photo of one of the jumbo-sized cupcakes I made for my lovely boyfriend's birthday a few weeks back. I got inspired by a recipe I found from Bakerella (love her!) and tweaked it a little bit by using Martha Stewart's (love her too!) Seven-Minute Frosting. Originally, I put half a jumbo marshmallow inside each cupcake before putting them into the oven, but when they were done baking the marshmallows just ended up melting all over the place and leaving a hollow center in the cupcakes.. :( That's when I decided to fill them with marshmallow fluff instead and they turned out great! I also really enjoyed making these because I was able to torch 'em! If you don't have a torch, pick one up at your local hardware store. They're really affordable and super fun to use when baking. I can't wait to make something else that's torch-worthy! Here's my twist on Bakerella's recipe. Enjoy!

S'mores Cupcakes
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 cup whole milk
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup canola oil (or any other neutral-flavored oil)
1 7oz. jar marshmallow fluff

Graham Cracker Crumb topping
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup melted butter

Martha's Seven-Minute Frosting

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl and whisk until the ingredients are evenly incorporated. Separate the mixture into two bowls.

Sift the cocoa powder into one bowl and pour the graham cracker crumbs into the other. Add 1/2 cup milk, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1/4 cup oil to the cocoa mixture and beat on medium speed until combined. Repeat adding the same ingredients to the graham cracker crumb mixture.

Prepare the graham cracker crumb topping. Mix the brown sugar and graham cracker crumbs in a small bowl and add the melted butter. Stir until combined.

For these cupcakes I used foil baking cups to really go for that camp-fire feel :) But feel free to use whichever liners you want. Pour a little graham cracker cake batter into the bottom of your baking cups and then sprinkle the topping mixture lightly on the surface. Then pour the cups with the chocolate cake batter until they're about 3/4 full. Sprinkle with more topping mixture and bake for 16-20 minutes.

I was able to make 12 jumbo-sized cupcakes from this batter, but this recipe can probably yield about 15 regular-sized cupcakes (those will take about 15 minutes to bake).

Because I used the original recipe using marshmallows that hollowed out my cupcakes, I was able to easily fill them with fluff. But since this is the updated version (sans marshmallows) you're going to need something like an apple corer or a paring knife to remove a portion of the cupcake in order to make room for the fluff. Once you've made space, fill a piping bag with marshmallow fluff and and stuff 'em! It's a messy job but it must get done to obtain full deliciousness...

Place a desired piping tip (or go really rustic on these cupcakes and don't use one!) into a piping bag and frost each cupcake. I used a star-tip for mine. And now... it's time to torch!

**Be VERY careful when using this device and read the instruction manual carefully before operating!!

Keep the torch several inches away from the frosting and keep the flame moving until you reach the toasted look you desire :) Enjoy!

Check out Bakerella's ooey-gooey delectable s'mores cupcakes here!