S'mores Cake With Toasted Marshmallow Frosting

S'mores Cake With Toasted Marshmallow Frosting

The ultimate S'mores cake! Super soft and moist graham cracker cake layered with a toasted marshmallow fluff frosting, crunchy graham cracker crumbly, and a gooey chocolate drip. You'll be instantly transported to that summer campfire with every bite.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 35

Total Time 55

Servings cups

Calories 1714kcal

Author Elizabeth Marek

Equipment

1 Kitchen torch
3 6" round cake pans or two 8" cake pans
1 Piping Bag

Ingredients

Graham Cracker Cake Recipe

7 ounces all-purpose flour
7 ounces finely crushed graham cracker crumbs
12 ounces granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
6 ounces unsalted butter room temperature
2 large eggs room temperature
3 large egg yolks room temperature
8 ounces whole milk room temperature
2 ounces vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

Ganache

12 ounces Hershey's chocolate chips
4 ounces heavy whipping cream

Graham Cracker Crumble

8 ounces roughly crushed graham crackers
4 ounces melted butter

Toasted Marshmallow Fluff Buttercream

13 ounces marshmallow fluff
6 ounces pasteurized egg whites
24 ounces powdered sugar
24 ounces unsalted butter softened but not melted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Graham Cracker Cake Instructions

NOTE: It is SUPER IMPORTANT that all the room temperature ingredients listed above are room temperature and not cold so that the ingredients mix and incorporate correctly.
Preheat your oven to 350º F and prep three 6-inch cake pans (or two 8-inch pans) with cake goop or your preferred pan release.
Add your milk, eggs, yolks, vegetable oil, and vanilla into a small bowl. Give it a quick whisk with a hand whisk and set aside.
Add your flour, sugar, crushed graham crackers, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment.
Mix your flour mixture for a couple of seconds on low speed to incorporate all the ingredients together.
Add your room temperature butter to your flour mixture. Mix on low speed for 1-2 minutes or until the texture begins to look like coarse sand.
Add ⅓ of your wet ingredients into your flour mixture and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Make sure to stop and scrape the bowl in between.
While mixing on low, stream in the rest of your milk mixture and then increase the speed to medium speed and mix until combined.
Divide your batter evenly into your cake pans. PRO TIP: You can use a scale to divide your cake batter evenly between the cake pans for even layers!
Bake the cake layers for about 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center. If you are making a larger cake with more batter then the cake will take longer to bake.
Allow your cakes to cool in the pans until the pans are barely warm to the touch before flipping them out onto a cooling rack to cool fully. I like to put my cake layers into the freezer to cool down faster so I can decorate right away. This takes about an hour. You do not need to wrap your cakes in plastic wrap unless you are freezing them overnight.

Graham Cracker Crumble

Add your crushed graham crackers and melted butter into a large bowl and mix with a spatula to combine.
Place the crumble onto a baking sheet and bake it in your oven for 6-8 minutes.
Let it cool down to room temperature and set it aside. We will use this for our crunchy filling and toppings.

Toasted Marshmallow Frosting

Place the marshmallow fluff on a baking sheet and spread it as thin and as even as you can with a spatula (this helps toast the maximum amount of fluff).
Turn your oven on broil and place the sheet in the oven for about 2-5 minutes depending on how hot your oven is and how much you want it toasted. ( Keep an eye on it and watch until it gets a dark golden brown color, then take it out.)
Once your marshmallow fluff is toasted, let it cool for 2-5 minutes until it's cool to the touch, then scrape it into your bowl of buttercream with a spatula (If the marshmallow is too warm, it will melt your buttercream).
Place your egg whites, salt, and powdered sugar into the bowl of your stand mixer with the whisk attachment.
Mix on high for five minutes to dissolve the powdered sugar.
Add in your softened butter and vanilla extract. Continue mixing on high for 8-10 minutes or until the buttercream is light and fluffy and no longer tastes like butter.
Add in your toasted marshmallow fluff and mix until combined.
Switch to the paddle attachment and mix on low for 5-10 minutes to remove air bubbles.

Hershey's Ganache

Place your Hershey's Chocolate in a medium bowl and place it in the Microwave for about 15 seconds to soften it.
Heat your cream in the microwave in 30-second increments until it's very warm.
Pour your hot cream onto the chocolate and leave it to melt for about one minute.
Whisk the cream and chocolate together with a whisk until they are combined smoothly. Set it aside until you are ready to use it

How To Decorate The S'MORES CAKE

Place your first cake layer on a cake board matching the size of your cake.
Place a layer of chocolate ganache onto your first layer of cake and smooth it with an offset spatula.
Add a Scoop of marshmallow buttercream on top of the ganache and spread it out evenly.
Then sprinkle a layer of graham cracker crust on top of the buttercream.
Place your second layer of cake on top and repeat the process.
Place your third cake layer on top and create a crumb coat by smoothing a thin layer of marshmallow buttercream all around the cake. Place in the fridge for 15-30 minutes until the cake is firm to the touch.
Apply a final coat of buttercream to the sides of the cake and smooth it with a bench scraper and offset spatula. Do the same thing to the top. Place the cake in the fridge to set the buttercream before doing your final decoration.
Fill a piping bag with the ganache and pipe it onto the edges of the chilled cake, letting it drip down the sides.
Pick up your cake from the bottom and spread the graham cracker crust all over the bottom rim of your cake. PRO TIP: Have a baking sheet or parchment underneath to catch the escapees.
Top with toasted marshmallows and more graham cracker crust crumbles.

Video

Notes

Important Things To Note Before You Start

The best investment you can make when you’re getting started with baking is a digital kitchen scale! Weighing your ingredients will help you avoid cake failure. Using a kitchen scale for baking is super easy and gives you the best results every single time.
Practice Mise en Place (everything in its place). Measure out your ingredients ahead of time and have them ready before you start mixing to reduce the chances of accidentally leaving something out.
Need more help with making your first cake? Check out my how to decorate your first cake blog post.
Make sure all of your cold ingredients (e.g. butter, eggs, milk) are at room temperature or a little warm. Why? Because we want to create an emulsion and allow the ingredients to fully mix together.
Make your own pan release (cake goop!) The best pan release ever!
Chill your cakes before frosting and filling. You can cover a frosted and chilled cake in fondant if you wish. This cake is also great for stacking!
A Chocolate cake would also be great with marshmallow buttercream if you're not a fan of graham cracker cake.
If you don't have pasteurized egg whites, you can make Swiss meringue buttercream or pasteurize them yourself.

Nutrition