S’mores Cupcakes | My Baking Addiction

By Sauce On Aug 6, 2023

S’mores cupcakes are a must-make before summer’s end. With a graham cracker base, an easy, tender chocolate cake, and perfect marshmallow frosting, they are everything you love about s’mores in cupcake form!

Unwrapped s'mores cupcake set on a gray countertop. A cup of espresso and more cupcakes are visible in the background.

It’s been years now, friends. Between you and me, if you’ve been hanging out here, you are well aware of the fact that I have a slight obsession with all things s’mores.

From giant s’mores cookies to s’mores dip, I just can’t get enough of all that melty chocolate goodness. Seriously, I’m obsessed.

And you know how much I also love a good cupcake! So obviously I had to combine the two to make these totally awesome s’mores cupcakes.

With the end of summer coming up, these are pretty much a must. Kiss summer goodbye and welcome the new school year with a batch of these cupcakes!

Close up of s'mores cupcakes topped with marshmallow frosting and a chocolate square on a white platter.

WHAT ARE S’MORES CUPCAKES?

The first time I ever made s’mores cupcakes, I was headed to a girls’ night with our old neighbors and was totally anxious about it. So I decided that I would just dazzle with s’mores cupcakes.

Turns out, I didn’t need to worry at all – and they totally loved the cupcakes, too.

When I first made these, I used s’mores oreos as the base of the cupcake. But those oreos are a lot harder to find now and they’ve changed them a bit, so I decided to tweak the recipe for a more straightforward “graham cracker” element to these cupcakes.

Halved s'mores cupcake laid on a white plate to show the graham cracker base, chocolate cake, and marshmallow frosting topping.

I ended up adapting my graham cracker crust recipe and putting it under a devil’s food doctored cake mix. That took care of the graham cracker and the chocolate part of the s’mores.

For the marshmallow, I topped the cupcakes off with silky marshmallow frosting, toasted it up with a kitchen torch, and added a square of chocolate for an added touch.

The final s’mores cupcakes are decadent and so delicious, but also totally easy to make.

S'mores cupcake ingredients arranged on a gray countertop.

HOW TO MAKE S’MORES CUPCAKES

These cupcakes combine some shortcut elements with some from-scratch elements for a cupcake that is totally doable no matter your baking experience.

The cupcakes themselves are especially easy to make, so they’re the perfect thing for kids to help with!

Making this recipe

The first thing you need to make is the graham cracker base.

Mix graham cracker crumbs with the melted butter and sugar, then divide between 24 lined cupcake wells. Press the mixture down firmly – if you have a cocktail muddler, that works really well for this.

Graham cracker crust pressed into the bottom of cupcake pan wells for s'mores cupcakes.

Next, mix together the chocolate cupcake batter. Combine a devil’s food cake mix, chocolate pudding mix, sour cream, vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla, and water in a large mixing bowl. Beat for 2 minutes with an electric mixer.

Divide the batter over the graham cracker base. You’ll use about 3 tablespoons of batter per well.

Bake the cupcakes for about 18-22 minutes. The cupcakes are done when the tops spring back when lightly touched and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 10 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Cake batter for s'mores cupcakes in a white mixing bowl.

Once the cupcakes have cooled, you can make a batch of my marshmallow frosting and pipe it onto the tops.

Because the frosting does use the stove, this is one step that an adult will definitely need to help with if you have kiddos working on this recipe!

To finish off the cupcakes, use a butane kitchen torch to toast the frosting – again, another step an adult will need to do if you have young helpers in the kitchen.

Top each cupcake off with a square of milk chocolate and voila! You have adorable, delicious s’mores cupcakes just begging to be eaten.

Baked chocolate cupcakes for s'mores cupcakes cooling in the cupcake pan.

MAKE-AHEAD AND STORAGE TIPS

Because of the egg whites in the marshmallow frosting, you will want to store these s’mores cupcakes in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

If you want to prep them ahead of time, you could make the chocolate cupcakes and store them unfrosted at room temperature for up to 3 days. You could also freeze them for up to 2 months – for more info, check out my post on how to freeze cake.

You can make the marshmallow frosting 1-2 days ahead of time and store it in the fridge in an airtight container.

When you’re ready to serve, just frost the cupcakes, toast the marshmallow frosting, and add the chocolate square!

S'mores cupcakes topped with toasted marshmallow frosting lined up on a wire cooling rack.

FAQS

Can you substitute yogurt for the sour cream?

Absolutely. If you don’t have sour cream on hand or don’t like to bake with it, you can substitute plain yogurt for the sour cream in the cake batter.

Can you use homemade cake mix?

Of course! If you don’t like using store-bought cake mix, my friend Megan has a homemade devil’s food cake mix that you could use here instead.

Unwrapped s'mores cupcake with a bite taken out of it. A platter of more cupcakes is visible in the background.

Is there a substitute for the homemade marshmallow frosting?

I really love pairing the shortcut chocolate cupcakes with the homemade marshmallow frosting. The frosting is a lot easier than you’d think and it totally fools everyone into thinking you made all of the cupcakes from scratch!

But if you are running short on time or energy, you could top the cupcakes with some store-bought marshmallow creme. Simply spread it onto the cupcakes and toast it with a kitchen torch for that campfire flair.

Can I toast the marshmallow frosting using the broiler?

You MUST use a kitchen torch to toast the frosting. I know it’s tempting to pop the cupcakes under the broiler to toast them all at once, but the broiler will get too hot and will melt the frosting.

Avoid the mess and stick with the kitchen torch!

White platter filled with s'mores cupcakes, surrounded by graham crackers and toasted marshmallows.

Can you freeze s’mores cupcakes?

Since the marshmallow frosting doesn’t fully harden when frozen, I wouldn’t recommend freezing the frosted cupcakes.

Freeze the cupcakes and the frosting separately, then thaw and decorate when you’re ready to serve.

Bite taken from an unwrapped s'mores cupcake.

For the graham cracker base:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 cupcake pans (24 wells) with paper liners. Combine graham cracker crumbs, butter, and sugar. Divide between liners and press firmly.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, eggs, vanilla and water. Beat for about two minutes on medium speed until well combined.
Using a large cookie scoop (3 tablespoons), distribute the batter between 24 cupcake wells; about 3 tablespoons of batter per well.
Bake in preheated oven for 18-22 minutes or until the tops of the cakes spring back when lightly touched.
Allow cupcakes to cool inside cupcake pans for about 10 minutes.
Remove cupcakes from cupcake pans and allow to fully cool on a wire rack. Once cupcakes are cool, prepare the marshmallow frosting.
Pipe or spread frosting onto cooled cupcakes.
If desired, use a kitchen torch to lightly brown the marshmallow frosting and top with a milk chocolate square.

My favorite brand of cake mix for doctored cake mixes is Betty Crocker.

The default measuring system on My Baking Addiction is US Customary. Unit conversions are provided as a courtesy; please be aware that there may be some discrepancies.

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