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In honor of those who have served and are serving... Thank You. 

My Grandpa - Bottom Row, 3rd from Right

Pink S'mores

I swear not all of my posts will be about food, but seriously, who doesn't like food? 

I was asked by a good friend a couple weeks ago if I would make a dessert for a reception celebrating the baptism of her daughter. I was honored by her request, and began thinking about what I would create for this special event.

I'm not a huge fan of chocolate (I welcome hate mail), but these weren't for me. My mind kept returning to the idea of making S'mores Cupcakes, but I couldn't find a recipe online that I fell in love with. I gathered ideas from several different sites and created my own idea of a s'mores cupcake. They were a hit. So I figured I'd post the process here:

I don't have pictures of the whole process, so bare with me here....

Graham Cracker Crust:

Finely process several graham crackers in a food processor. Mix with melted butter. It should be just wet enough to press firmly into the bottom of each cupcake wrapper. 

Chocolate Cake:

This was my first shot at a homemade chocolate cake. It was really easy. Trust me. 

For the sake of saving space and, really, so it's just a little more aesthetically pleasing, I'm just going to link you directly to the recipe. I used Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake. Yum.

Marshmallow Filling:

I was warned about making this. The weather was a bit overcast on the day I made it, which I was told weren't ideal conditions to attempt this frosting. But I'm stubborn and decided to try it anyway. It took a little longer than I think it's supposed to, but it finally set.

4 egg whites

1 cup sugar

Pinch of salt

Combine these ingredients over a double boiler, whisking continuously, until sugar is fully dissolved and the mixture is hot to touch.

Transfer to mixing bowl and mix on medium high. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla, and continue to mix until soft peaks form and it's nice a fluffy. This took about 10 minutes on the day I did it, but I think it could vary depending on the moisture in the air. 

Chocolate Ganache:

Fancy name, super easy. 

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 cup chocolate chips

Melt chocolate chips and whipping cream together in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring constantly. See? Easy. (Don't do this step until you're ready to actually use the ganache. You can do it ahead of time, but be prepared to melt it down again so you can easily spoon it on the cupcakes. The point here is to have a really thin layer of ganache. It will be pretty wet when you put it on, but it will set.

Marshmallow Buttercream:

Okay, so here's where I really don't know how much I put of what. You can really play around with it, which I did. Here's an estimate of what I ended up with.

5 oz. softened cream cheese

1/2 cup. softened butter

about 3 cups powdered sugar

2ish TBSP. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

1 jar marshmallow cream

Mix it all together until creamy and fluffy. You may have to add more milk (just a little at a time), or more powdered sugar. You're just going to want it to be at a good consistency that will be easy to pipe, but stiff enough to keep it's shape.

Ok, so those are all the components. Here's the steps:

1. Pack the graham cracker crust in the bottom of each liner. 
2. Pour in the cake batter and bake according to directions. Let cool completely.
3. Fill each cupcake with the marshmallow filling by piping it directly into the center. It's okay if it oozes out the top a bit.
4. Spoon the ganache over the top of each cupcake. Let set. You may have to refrigerate them if you want them to set more quickly.
5. Pipe the Marshmallow Buttercream out onto the cupcakes.
6. Embellish as desired. I used half of a Hershey's square and a broken piece of graham cracker to give it the s'mores look. I was also doing this for a little girl who loves pink, so I put pink sugar on them, too. I saw some people who used a kitchen torch to toast the marshmallow frosting a bit, and I thought that looked great, but I was afraid of melting my ganache and wasn't sure how it would turn out. 

Here's the final look: (again, the picture was taken using my phone. Sorry there aren't more pics.)