Chocolate. Marshmallows. Graham crackers. What’s not to love, right? There are few things in life more perfect than sitting around a campfire with friends and/or family, roasting marshmallows, then squishing them between graham crackers and chocolate, taking a bite and giggling uncontrollably as the s’mores innards ooze down your face. It’s one of life’s simple pleasures, and an activity I can enjoy pretty much year-round (flashback to many happy memories of roasting marshmallows in my fireplace with my family on a cold winter’s night). Personally, I’ve never even needed the graham crackers or chocolate; just gimme a stick, a marshmallow, and a campfire, and I’m one happy little camper (pun intended). So, when I came across this s’mores cupcake recipe, I was intrigued. And I wanted it. Immediately. Luckily, with the weekend right around the corner and no recipe in the queue, it took me only a few days to make this dream a reality. And let me tell you – I needed to be pinched to ensure I wasn’t still dreaming when I bit into these little morsels of perfection.

Like I said, I am not one who needs the whole s’more package, but these are definitely a whole-package deal. This s’more cupcake is a chocolate cupcake, with marshmallow filling, graham cracker buttercream frosting, and a thin graham cracker crumble layer on the bottom of the cake. And, while separately, each component is delicious, together, this might be one of my favorite cupcakes ever.

These cupcakes are heavenly. The cake is nice and moist, and a very delicious chocolate cake. I made no changes the first time around and have no changes I would make for next time. There is no need. You do not mess with perfection. I did make some slight adjustments to the other parts though. Let’s discuss…

The marshmallow filling is sweet and gooey, without being overly sweet. I used a little less cream cheese than the original recipe called for (3oz instead of 4oz), because the blog I found this recipe on, My Year of Cupcakes, said it was very cream-cheesy, and I wanted to cut back on that a little and make it more marshmallowy (I LOVE MARSHMALLOWS!). I succeeded.

Then, the frosting is yummy and once again, the perfect amount of sweetness. I probably added closer to a cup of graham cracker crumbs, but just taste it and you will know. My crumbs were nice and fine, and made the final frosting easy to pipe. Just throw them in a food processor and it’s easy, though crushing them by hand would be pretty effective and easy too. (We are talking about graham crackers here, not diamonds.)

Lastly, I added a little butter to the graham cracker crumbles I sprinkled in the bottom of each cupcake liner. This, again, was because My Year of Cupcakes said the bottom was very crumbly. I wanted to make sure it stuck to my cakes and it worked much better I assume (though I didn’t try any cups without butter, so I can’t say for sure). There was still a slight amount of crumble, but I do recommend the butter addition to the graham cracker crumble.

I guess I did make one more change, which is that I didn’t add chocolate drizzle on top. While I’m sure this would have been delicious, and I have plenty of chocolate on hand at all times, I didn’t feel it was necessary, and, more importantly, I just didn’t feel like melting chocolate. Yes – I was lazy – and I didn’t want another pot to wash. No one complained, but they would have been even prettier and chocolatier if I had done that. I’ll leave that decision up to you.

If you don’t have a cupcake corer, get one. My mom got me this awhile back when I first started baking and it has come in handy many a time since then. It is so easy to use and effective! Another VERY important tip: Make sure to save the cake pieces you core out. There have been times when I have wanted to plug the cupcake back up, and if not, they make a delicious snack on their own. 🙂

As I said, these cupcakes are heaven and next time I am sitting around a campfire, I fear I will long for one of these instead of the classic cracker-chocolate-roasted marshmallow combo. (Mmmm…roasted…on second thought, maybe I will just crave both.) I guess I don’t have to choose between this grown-up s’more all can cherish, and my classic s’more that will forever hold a dear place in my heart.

My sister Jacquelyn enjoying her cupcake. See how devastated she was to cheat on her diet?

I brought these to my parents’ house on Sunday and several diets were sacrificed (very willingly and with no regrets) for these little guys. I took some to work on Monday, and my coworkers were in love. They told me I should start asking for donations for my baked goods,which is not a bad idea; this hobby is really draining my wallet! But I’m addicted! Can’t stop!! I could go on about these guys, but short and sweet (and especially sweet) is the motto of this post. All in all, these cupcakes are everything you want in a s’more and a cupcake: classic flavors, elegant presentation, and all around happiness in a cup. Enjoy!

I got this recipe from this blog called My Year of Cupcakes. I love this blog. She is baking one cupcake recipe from Pinterest every day for a year. Most of them (if not all) are pins of other blog posts, so she links back to the original. For these s’more cupcakes, the original recipe came from Your Cup of Cake. Check them both out for waaaay more recipes than I have had a chance to make yet!

Better-Than-A-Campfire S’more Cupcakes

Prep Time: 30 mins
Bake Time: 18-22 mins (Mine took 18 mins)
Yield: 24 cupcakes (Mine made 28)

Ingredients

Chocolate Cupcakes:

1 ¾ cup sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 cup cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
¾ cup boiling water
Graham cracker crumbs (fine crumbs)

Marshmallow Cream Centers:

3 oz cream cheese
½ cup marshmallow cream
1 ½-2 cups powdered sugar

Graham Cracker Buttercream:

8 oz cream cheese
½ cup butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
1 cup graham cracker crumbs (fine crumbs)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-3 tablespoons whipping cream or milk
mini marshmallows and chocolate for decoration

Directions

Chocolate Cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 360 degrees and line cupcake pans with liners (24).
Mix sugar, brown sugar and oil for 3 minutes until smooth.
Add sour cream and vanilla extract stir well.
Add eggs one at a time and mix only until incorporated.
In a separate bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Add dry ingredients and boiling water to sugar mixture alternating between the two.
Spoon ¾ teaspoon of graham cracker crumbs into the bottom of each cupcake liner. Shake pan to spread evenly.
Fill liners ¾ full and bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Marshmallow Cream Centers:

Beat cream cheese, marshmallow cream and powdered sugar. Add more powdered sugar to taste. (This mixture should not be thick like a buttercream, because it will be in the center of your cupcake.)
When cupcakes are cooled, cut out a small area from the top of the cake and pipe marshmallow cream into each cupcake.

Graham Cracker Buttercream:

Beat cream cheese and butter until light and creamy. Add powdered sugar, vanilla and graham cracker crumbs. At this point, the buttercream will look like cookie dough. Add heavy cream a little bit at a time until buttercream consistency is reached.
Pipe onto cooled, marshmallow filled cupcakes and top with mini marshmallows and melted chocolate.