Ooey Gooey S'mores

It's summer time, and I've been slacking in my cupcake duties.  Who wants to be in a hot kitchen when you can be floating in the pool, right?  But I got to daydreaming about S'mores cupcakes.  Not just any S'mores cupcakes, ooey gooey ones.  I surfed the web and wasn't satisfied with any recipe I found.  I did find an interesting recipe at Proceed with Caution's website.  I used her cake recipe, then tweaked the rest to make it my own.  Without further ado, here's the recipe:

S’mores Cupcakes
Source: Proceed with Caution
Yields 30 cupcakes

For the graham crust:
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 - 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips  (I used semi-sweet)

(I used a box of graham cracker crumbs and doubled this recipe so I had a lot of graham crust pieces)

For the cupcakes:
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil  (I used a melted stick of unsalted butter instead)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease muffin cups or line with paper liners.
2. Combine 1/4 cup sugar,graham cracker crumbs and melted butter in a small bowl. Spoon 1 tablespoon of graham cracker mix into the bottom of each muffin cup. Press crumbs firmly, using the bottom of a small glass. Save the remaining mixture for topping. Top graham cracker mix with several bittersweet chocolate chips. (I would suggest keeping them away from liner as they have a tendency to stick)

 (I put the extra graham crust in a 9x13 pan and baked until edges were golden brown)
3. Bake graham mixture for about five minutes, or until the edges are golden brown. Remove from oven and set aside.

4. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl.
5. In a large bowl, combine eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Stir until well blended.
6. Add flour mixture to large bowl and beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans. Fill prepared muffin cups 3/4 full with batter (about 1/4 cup). Sprinkle batter with small amount of remaining graham cracker mixture.

7. Bake 22 to 25 minutes.  (Mine only baked for 17 minutes, so keep a close eye on them.)

Here's where I diverge from the recipe further:  Using cake corer or sharp knife, hollow out center.  Make sure you don't cut all the way down to the crust.  (I put all the centers in a bowl, topped them with the leftover Marshmallow Sauce, Chocolate Buttercream, and Graham Crust pieces and fed it to my husband and neighbor.  Yum, yum)

Fill with Marshmallow Sauce (mix 2 jars of Marshmallow Fluff with a little warm water until you get desired consistency.  Don't get it too wet!  Just enough water to make it pourable and not so sticky)

Frost with Chocolate Buttercream and top with more graham crust pieces.

Chocolate Buttercream:

Adapted from: Brown Eyed Baker

2 cups room temp unsalted butter

5 cups powdered sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

16 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled (the original recipe calls for 8oz, but I doubled it to make it fudgier)  (Is fudgier a word?  Is now.)

Whip butter on medium high speed for 5 minutes using the wire whisk attachment, stopping to scrape once or twice.

Reduce speed to low and add the powdered sugar.  Increase speed to medium high and add vanilla.  Add the melted chocolate and whip at medium high until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping the bowl as needed to incorporate all of the chocolate.

Enjoy your Ooey Gooey S'mores!

 

Nom, nom, nom!

 I would suggest you serve immediately, the marshmallow will break down and melt into the cupcake.  If you're not eating immediately (and why not?)  you should mix the marshmallow fluff with butter and powdered sugar to stabilize it.