High Altitude S'mores Cupcakes
S'mores cupcakes featuring moist chocolate cupcakes on a buttery graham cracker crust, topped with swirled vanilla and chocolate buttercream, and topped with graham crackers and milk chocolate.
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
- 16-inch Disposable Piping Bag (plus tip 8B)
Ingredients
Graham Cracker Crust
- 1 ½ cups finely crushed graham crackers
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
Chocolate Cupcakes
- 1 recipe High Altitude Chocolate Cupcakes
Vanilla and Chocolate Buttercream
- 2 cups unsalted butter, softened to room temperature (see notes)
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp meringue powder, optional
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa powder
- 1-2 tbsp milk
Decorations
- milk chocolate bars, broken into pieces
- marshmallows
- graham crackers
Instructions
Getting Ready
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Line a standard sized muffin pan with 24 paper liners, and lightly spray the papers with non-stick baking spray.
Graham Cracker Crust
- In a bowl, combine the crushed graham crackers with the sugar and salt. Add the melted butter, and stir until moist and crumbly.
- Set aside 2 tbsp of the crumbs for decorating, and divide the rest evenly between the paper liners. Use a small glass (like a shot glass) to press the crumbs into an even layer in the bottom of the paper liners.
- Bake the crust for 5 minutes, then set the pans aside while you make the cupcake batter.
Chocolate Cupcakes
- Make the chocolate cupcake batter as instructed.
- Add the chocolate batter right on top of the graham cracker crust, filling the cups no more than 2/3 - 3/4 full.
- Bake the cupcakes for about 18 minutes, until the tops spring back when gently touched.
- Gently transfer the cupcakes to a cooling rack, and cool completely before frosting.
Vanilla and Chocolate Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute, until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar by spoonfuls, the meringue powder and salt, mixing until combined. Add the vanilla.
- Increase the speed to medium and whip for 4-5 minutes, stopping to scrape the bowl down once or twice, until very light and fluffy. Turn the speed down to "stir" and mix for 1 more minute.
- Transfer half the vanilla buttercream to another bowl. Add the cocoa powder to the remaining vanilla buttercream and whip on medium speed until well combined, adding the milk as needed if the chocolate buttercream is too stiff.
Decorating
- Fit a 16 inch disposable piping bag with tip 8B, or another large open star piping tip. Fill the bag half-full with the vanilla and chocolate buttercream, alternating the two flavors in the bag so that they swirl together when piped onto the cupcakes.
- Pipe the buttercream onto the cooled cupcakes.
- Before the frosting crusts over, decorate with pieces of chocolate and crushed graham crackers.
Notes
Store leftover cupcakes in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2-3 days.
For a whiter buttercream, or for more stability in warm weather, replace half the butter with vegetable shortening.
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