A delicious graham cupcake that tastes just like summer—filled with a smoky milk chocolate ganache, topped with a creamy toasted marshmallow buttercream and topped with a fun shark fin-shaped graham cookie.
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A little while ago, my son’s best friend’s mom asked me if I would make cupcakes for her son’s shark-themed birthday party. I’ll accept any excuse to bake for other people so I immediately agreed, and because I’m the kind of person who loves to go all out for a birthday party (at least as far as baking goes) I offered to make a few flavours. The birthday boy chose Cookies ‘n’ Cream, Moon Mist, and S’mores, so I developed three cupcake recipes that combine a cake, a filling, a frosting, and a shark fin-shaped cookie topper to go with each flavour.
I think these S’mores cupcakes taste just like summer! These have a graham-flavoured cake that is filled with a milk chocolate ganache filling infused with smoky Lapsang Souchong tea to make it taste like it was just toasted on a campfire, topped with a couple swirls of toasted marshmallow buttercream, and topped with a graham cookie shaped like a shark fin.
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Contents
Why You’ll Love S’mores Shark Cupcakes
- The filling tastes just like it was toasted over a campfire! I infuse Lapsang Souchong (a kind of black tea that is dried over smoldering wood and smells just like a campfire) into heavy cream and use that to make a milk chocolate ganache to fill the cupcakes with.
- The buttercream has actual toasted marshmallows in it! I’ll show you how to get the marshmallows to blend smoothly into the buttercream for the ultimate frosting to top your s’mores cupcakes.
Tips for Success
- Let the meringue for the buttercream frosting cool completely to room temperature before you add the butter, to prevent it from becoming a soupy mess. Add the butter to the whipping meringue about a tablespoon at a time, letting each piece incorporate before adding the next.
- Warm the sides of the mixer bowl after adding the toasted marshmallows. They tend to want to clump and can have a hard time incorporating into the buttercream—gently warming the sides of the bowl with a kitchen torch or gel hot pack helps the marshmallows soften enough to blend in.
FAQ
How long do S’mores cupcakes last?
Eat within a few hours of baking, and store leftovers in the fridge to eat within 2–3 days.
Can I freeze S’mores cupcakes?
You can freeze the plain unfilled and un-decorated cupcakes for up to 3 months.
Can I make this gluten-free?
Yes, just swap out a gluten free all-purpose flour replacer such as Cup4Cup wherever all-purpose flour is called for.
Can I make this dairy free?
Yes, swap out a vegan butter or margarine anywhere butter is called for, and a dairy free milk such as oat or soy wherever milk is called for. For the ganache filling, use cashew or coconut cream instead of heavy cream, and dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate.
Can I make this egg free?
Use a vegan egg replacer for the cookies and cake, and look for a vegan Swiss meringue buttercream recipe as the base for the buttercream frosting, then toast some vegan marshmallows to mix into the frosting.
Can I make this vegan?
Yes, see my notes above for making this recipe dairy & egg free. Make sure you use vegan granulated sugar (surprisingly, most granulated sugar is not strictly vegan!)
S’mores Shark Cupcakes
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat the oven to 350˚F (175˚C). Line a muffin pan with paper liners.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together 180 g graham crumbs, 60 g all-purpose flour, 2 tsp baking powder, ¼ tsp fine sea salt, and ½ tsp ground cinnamon. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or a large bowl if you're using a hand mixer), cream together 227 g unsalted butter, 100 g brown sugar, and 50 g granulated sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes).
- Add 2 large eggs and beat on medium speed until smooth. Scrape down the bowl and paddle with a spatula before adding ½ cup whole milk and ½ tsp vanilla extract and mixing together. It will look curdled and separated at this stage, don't worry—it will come together once you add the dry ingredients.
- Decrease the mixer speed to low and slowly add the graham cracker mixture. Beat on low until completely combined.
- Fill the cupcake liners three-quarters of the way full. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until edges just start to brown or a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack before filling or frosting.
- Bring 100 g heavy (whipping) cream to a simmer. Stir in ½ tsp Lapsang Souchong tea and leave to infuse for 10–15 minutes. Pass through a strainer to remove the Lapsang Souchong leaves, and bring the infused cream to a simmer again.
- Put 100 g chopped milk chocolate in a small heat-proof bowl. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and leave to set for 1-2 minutes to allow the chocolate to melt. Whisk until smooth, then stir in 20 g unsalted butter and whisk again until melted and smooth.
- Cover with plastic wrap and leave to cool to room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 375˚F (190˚C). Line a baking sheet with a perforated baking mat, silicone baking mat, or sheet of parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together 365 g all-purpose flour, ½ tsp ground cinnamon, ½ tsp fine sea salt and ¼ tsp baking powder. Set aside.
- Add 113 g unsalted butter and 120 g dark brown sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or a large mixing bowl if using a hand mixer. Beat on medium high speed until light and fluffy, about 2–3 minutes.
- Add 38 g honey, 1 large egg and 1 tsp vanilla extract and mix until completely combined. Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed just until combined.
- Roll out between two sheets of parchment paper to about ¼" thick. Use a circular cookie cutter about 2-3" in diamater to cut out pairs of overlapping circles to make crescent moon shapes. Use a knife to cut across the crescent moons to make shark fin shapes. Gather up and roll out the scraps to make more shark fins or cookies as desired—you only need 12–14 shark fins to decorate the cupcakes.
- Line a rimmed baking sheet with a silicone baking mat and place on a heat-proof surface. Evenly spread 100 g mini marshmallows on the baking sheet, and toast with a kitchen torch until toasted or burnt to your liking. If you don't have a kitchen torch you can also toast them in your oven—set the oven to broil, and place the baking sheet on the top oven rack. Keep a close eye on it, the marshmallows will toast quickly and will burn easily. Allow to cool to room temperature.
- Add 65 g granulated sugar and 1 ½ tbsp water to a small saucepan bring to a boil. Heat to 250˚F (121˚C). At the same time, put 3 large egg yolks in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment and begin whipping on medium speed.
- As soon as the sugar syrup reaches 250˚F (121˚C), slowly and carefully pour it into the whipping egg yolks. Try to pour the syrup between the bowl and the moving whisk—if it hits the bowl, it could stick there and solidify, and if it hits the whisk you could get hit with hot sugar syrup.
- Increase the mixer to high speed and whip until no longer warm to the touch, about 10 minutes. Add 225 g unsalted butter one piece at a time until completely incorporated. Add the toasted marshmallows and mix until combined. If the marshmallows are clumping and refusing to mix into the buttercream, gently torch the outside of the mixer bowl (or rub a gel hot pack on the bowl) until the marshmallows begin softening up and mixing into the buttercream. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a large round tip.
- Remove the center from a cupcake using a cupcake coring tool or an extra large piping tip. Fill the cavity with some milk chocolate campfire ganache, then pipe a couple large swirls of toasted marrshmallow buttercream. Sprinkle on some blue sanding sugar or sprinkles if you like, then nestle in a graham cracker shark fin.
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