S’mores Birthday Cake
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A few years ago I was introduced to s’mores brownies. These were game changers. Thick, chocolatey brownies topped with graham crackers and toasted marshmallows? They are totally amazing and I make them often, especially when someone asks me to bring dessert to their house.
A few weeks ago my instructional assistant was having a birthday. Since I am the dessert queen I knew I had to make her a cake. The problem with this is that she isn’t a huge fan of frosting. Craziness right? That’s my favorite part of the cake but she usually scrapes hers off or eats around it. Since I wasn’t about to make a cake or cupcakes minus the frosting I had to come up with another plan.
The good news is that she loves chocolate. I figured I could bake a cake and top it with ganache or something similar, but since I don’t like over the top chocolate desserts I nixed that as well. Then I thought of my s’mores brownies and realized I could probably use the same topping idea on a chocolate cake. No frosting but the top would be covered in graham crackers and toasted marshmallows. It was a win-win idea for everyone!
I just went with a basic chocolate cake recipe. Initially I was going to make a double layer but then I didn’t know what to fill it with so I simply made a single layer cake. When it was finished I topped it with graham crackers and mini marshmallows and put it under the broiler until they browned. Once out of the oven I pressed Hershey Bar pieces onto it. When it cooled it was a delicious sight.
I took it in to my friend the next day and she was thrilled! She loved the idea of topping the cake with the s’mores toppings instead of frosting. I won’t tell you how much cake we ate but lets just say that throughout the day we both had more then a few nibbles of cake…and we may not have shared with anyone else! This is a fun and super rich cake that both kids and adults will love.
S’mores Birthday Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 3/4 c. flour
- 1/4 c. cocoa powder
- 1/2 t. baking powder
- 1/2 t. salt
- 5 T. butter softened
- 1/4 c. light brown sugar
- 1/4 c. sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 t. vanilla
- 1/4 c. milk
- 1/4 c. boiling water
- 1/4 c. chocolate chips
For the toppings:
- 5 graham cracker sheets broken into pieces
- 3/4 c. mini marshmallows
- 3 large Hershey bars broken into squares
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 inch cake pan with cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.
- Mix the butter and sugars together until the are well combined. Then add in the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Stir in the vanilla.
- Add in half of the dry ingredients, then the milk, and the remaining dry ingredients. Stir well.
- Slowly mix in the boiling water until the batter is thin. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Cool the cake for 5 minutes then run a knife around the edges of the pan. Invert the cake and cool for 20 minutes.
- Turn the broil on high in your oven. Move the oven rack to 6-8 inches below the broiler.
- Spread the mini marshmallows over top of the cake. Then sprinkle the broken graham cracker pieces on top.
- Place in the oven, watching constantly, until the marshmallows become brown and toasted (but not too brown or they will catch on fire!)
- Remove from oven and immediately press chocolate pieces into the marshmallow. Cook completely.
Notes
That looks absolutely delicious! Can’t wait to give your recipe a try!