S'mores Cupcakes with Graham Cracker Buttercream

Who doesn't love s'mores??

My niece's 9th birthday was last month, but her party with her friends is tomorrow. She's having a make-your-own-pizza party - how fun!

I offered to make cupcakes for her party to give her mom a little break on the party planning. I had to find something that was gluten-free since she has Celiac Disease, and also nut-free since so many kids have nut allergies. I didn't want to risk something happening with that at all.

I offered her mom a few choices and this was her pick.

I tweaked the original recipe just a bit. I used a box of King Arthur Gluten-Free chocolate cake mix instead of making a from-scratch cake like the recipe called for, along with GF graham crackers. I'd probably do the same thing if I was making a regular cake. The box I used called for 1 1/3 cups of water (plus eggs and oil), but I used only 1/3 cup of water and 1 cup of sour cream. I think the sour cream adds nice moisture to a cake!

The below recipe is how I made it, and the original can be found here at Your Cup of Cake.

Ingredients

Chocolate Cakes:

2-layer box mix of chocolate cake plus ingredients on back minus 1 cup of water

1 cup of sour cream

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup sour cream

Graham cracker crumbs (fine crumbs)

Marshmallow Cream Centers:

4 oz cream cheese

½ cup Fluff (marshmallow cream for you non New Englanders)

1 ½ - 2 cups powdered sugar

Graham Cracker Buttercream:

8 oz cream cheese

½ cup butter, softened

4 cups powdered sugar

¾ cup graham cracker crumbs (fine crumbs)

1 teaspoon vanilla

2-3 tablespoons whipping cream or milk

mini marshmallows and chocolate for decoration

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 360 degrees and line cupcake pans with liners (24).
2. Mix cake mix, ingredients from back of the box and sour cream together in a mixer until fully combined.
3. Spoon ¾ teaspoon of graham cracker crumbs into the bottom of each cupcake liner. Shake pan to spread evenly.
4. Fill liners ¾ full and bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
5. Mashmallow Cream Centers: Beat cream cheese, marshmallow cream and powdered sugar. Add more powdered sugar to taste. This mixture should not be thick like a buttercream, because it will be in the center of your cupcake.
6. When cupcakes are cooled, cut out a small area from the top of the cake and pipe marshmallow cream into each cupcake.
7. Graham Cracker Buttercream: Beat cream cheese and butter until light and creamy. Add powdered sugar, vanilla and graham cracker crumbs. At this point, the buttercream will look like cookie dough. Add heavy cream a little bit at a time until buttercream consistency is reached.
8. Pipe onto cooled, marshmallow filled cupcakes and top with mini marshmallows and melted chocolate.

S'more Brownies

Original recipe found at Betty Crocker

Ingredients

1 box (1 lb 2.4 oz) Betty Crocker® Original Supreme Premium brownie mix plus water, vegetable oil and egg called for on brownie mix box

2 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows

4 graham crackers, broken into small pieces

2 Hershey's candy bars, broken into 1-inch squares

OR 

1 cup chocolate chips

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Make brownies as directed. After removing pan from oven, set oven to broil.
2. Immediately sprinkle marshmallows and graham crackers over warm brownies. Broil about 4 to 5 inches from heat 30 to 60 seconds or until marshmallows are golden brown. (Watch carefully marshmallows and graham crackers will brown quickly.) Sprinkle with chocolate candy. 
3. To serve warm, cool about 30 minutes. For brownies, cut into 4 rows by 4 rows.