S'mores Cupcakes

Whether you’re sitting around a campfire or standing over your stove, making s’mores is a quintessential summer activity. The crunch of the graham cracker, the melty richness of the chocolate, and the toasty and sweet marshmallow all work together to create one of the best treats of all time.

We love applying that combination of flavors beyond the standard camping trip treat—from brownies to cookies to boozy milkshakes. But one of our favorite celebratory s’mores renditions is a cupcake. A decadent chocolate cupcake is topped with melted chocolate, graham cracker crumbs, and a homemade Marshmallow Fluff-style frosting.

The frosting, if we want to get technical, is actually called a Swiss meringue. We gradually cook egg whites with sugar over a double boiler before whipping it into fluffy sweet perfection. It takes more work than simply opening up a tub of Marshmallow Fluff from the supermarket, but we promise it’s worth the effort. Beyond tasting better, this frosting is much sturdier than the store-bought stuff—which means you can pipe it and pop it in the broiler for that toasty golden exterior.

To balance out the more intensive frosting-making process, this recipe calls for boxed chocolate cake mix. But if you really want to go all out, you can opt for a homemade cake instead.

You can bake your cupcakes and coat the edges in melted chocolate and graham cracker crumbs up to 3 days in advance, storing them in the fridge in an airtight container. We do, however, recommend making the frosting the day you want to serve—it can lose some of the air bubbles and get a bit soupy over time.

Did you try making this? Let us know how it went in the comments!