S'more Cupcakes Please!

I've spent a lot of time camping throughout my life. Camping with my grandparents was a huge part of my childhood and some of my best memories were made around a campfire or in a lake. And like any other person who's been camping, making s'mores were probably my favorite part. My grandma always made sure there was a full box of graham crackers, a bag of marshmallows, and of course Hershey's chocolate bars. As time went on we made the discovery that Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are even more amazing on s'mores, but that's another story completely. Well I decided on trying to combine these classics elements into a cupcake and make it even more delicious. And it worked. I made a chocolate cupcake with a graham cracker and chocolate crust. I then topped these cupcakes off with graham cracker crumbs and then threw on marshmallow butter cream frosting. These cupcakes were absolutely the most amazing things I've tasted. The cupcake was soft and had the best chocolate flavor. While the frosting was light, sweet, and tasted pretty much like a marshmallow. To start this recipe off, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and line your pan with cupcake tins.

Start off by taking your semi-sweet chocolate and chopping it up into into pieces. This will be used in the crust of the cupcakes.

Crumble up the graham crackers into a fine dust. Having some bigger chunks isn't a big deal. Set the chocolate and graham crackers aside and save for later.

Next, take a separate bowl and add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder. Whisk together until all the ingredients are completely mixed.

 In another bowl mix the butter, sugar, milk, eggs, and vanilla together until fully incorporated.

After the liquid ingredients are mixed together, melt the semi-sweet chocolate in the microwave. Do this by heating one minute at a time at 70% power. Once the chocolate is fully melted pour it into the liquid batter and mix together.

Once the liquid batter is fully mixed together, pour the dry ingredients into the liquid batter in sections. The batter will be thick, dense, and almost dry looking.

After the batter is fully mixed boil a cup of water. Once the water comes to a complete boil pour it into the batter and mix together.

By doing this is it makes the batter thinner and moister, but it also brings the chocolate flavor out from the cocoa powder. Set the batter aside and save for later.

With your graham cracker crumbs in a separate bowl, take another bowl and melt the butter set aside for the crust in the microwave. Once the butter is completely liquid, pour it into the graham crackers and mix until all the graham crack crumbs are moist.

Take the buttered graham crack crumbs and put enough in the bottom of each cupcake tin. Take a spoon and pack the crumbs down.

Next, take a pinch of chocolate and sprinkle it onto the graham cracker crust.

Put the pans into the oven and bake for 5 minutes at 350 degrees F. Bake until the crusts are a light brown and the chocolate is melted.

Take the cupcake batter and fill the tins until about 3/4 full. Then take the graham cracker crumbs and sprinkle on top of the batter.

Bake in the oven at 350 degrees F for 18-20 minutes. To check if they're done insert a toothpick into the center of a couple cupcakes and it should come out clean. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then take out and let cool completely.

While the cupcakes are cooling you can start on the frosting. Take the butter and mix until creamy. Once the butter is creamy and light add the marshmallow creme and mix until fully incorporated.

Next, add the powdered sugar, a half cup at a time, until smooth and light. At the end, mix in the vanilla. Once your frosting is complete you can spoon it into a piping bag or simply spoon the frosting straight onto the cupcake. Make sure to wait and frost until your cupcakes once they're completely cool and there's no warmth left to melt your frosting.

I chose to pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes

And top with edible pearls =]

Chocolate Cupcake Recipe

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup unsalted butter

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water

Graham Cracker Crust Recipe

1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/3 cup melted butter

3 chopped semi-sweet chocolate Baker's squares

Marshmallow Butter Cream Recipe

1 cup unsalted butter

7 oz marshmallow creme

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Enjoy baking these tasty campfire inspired treats!

Cream Soda Cupcakes

Cream soda is probably the best kind of pop out there. It's light, bubbly, and simply my favorite. I don't drink it often but when I do it's definitely a treat. Ever since I started baking I've wanted to combine a cupcake with cream soda. I just needed to figure out how to do it. So I started to break apart recipes I already knew and came up with my own original cupcake recipe. It's light, airy, and absolutely delicious. To start this recipe off preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and line your pan with cupcakes tins.

Like normal, start off by mixing the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda together in their own bowl. Then set the bowl aside for later.

In a separate bowl mix the softened butter until creamy.

Next, add the white and brown sugar to the butter. Mix until fully incorporated. Continue mixing until it becomes as creamy as possible. This may take a while and the final product will be slightly thick. After the butter and sugars are mixed together, add the eggs one at a time, mixing for a minute between each addition.

After the eggs are mixed in, add the vanilla and mix until fully incorporated.

After the vanilla has been mixed in, pour in the milk and cream soda. Mix until the milk and cream soda are completely combined.

After the liquid batter is fully mixed together, separate the dry ingredients into three sections. By doing this it prevents clumping as you combine the two bowls of ingredients. Pour the sections of the dry ingredients into the liquid batter one at a time and mix until each section disappears into the batter.

Once everything is mixed together the batter should be thick and somewhat dense.

Spoon the batter into the cupcake tins until about 3/4 full.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 18 minutes. To test if fully cooked insert a toothpick into the middle of a cupcake and it should come out clean.

Once done baking, take out of the oven and let cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Once the 5 minutes is up take them out of the pan and let them cool completely.

The tops will be a beautiful light golden brown color and they smell amazing. While the cupcakes are cooling you can make the frosting.

In a bowl, cream softened butter until smooth. Once the butter is beaten, add the vanilla and cream soda and mix into the butter.

Add one cup of powered sugar at a time, mixing between each addition until the frosting is light and holds structure. You can then put the frosting into a piping bag to decorate your cupcakes, or you can spoon it into the top of the cupcakes.

I used a piping bag on half of the cupcakes...

...and spooned frosting onto the tops of the other half.

Cream Soda Cupcake Recipe

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup softened unsalted butter

3/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup milk

3/4 cup cream soda

Yields about 18

Cream Soda Vanilla Butter Cream Frosting Recipe

1 cup unsalted butter

1/2 tablespoon vanilla

1/2 tablespoon cream soda

3 cups powdered sugar

Enjoy my original recipe and happy baking!