S'More Cake!

I hope you're not all caked-out by now because I saved the best for last...s'more cupcakes!

These were mom's special request for her birthday a few weeks ago and, because I wanted to share in the fun, I modified the recipe to make it vegan. Admittedly, some of the ingredients are difficult to come by, so it you choose to stick with the original recipe, I will totally understand, so I'm posting both for you.

Before you eat these you should know that they are VERY messy. If I were you, I'd strictly eat them with a fork, unless you have a friend to hose you down afterward.

For the original recipe you'll need:

1/2 cup shortening

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs

(they sell these in a box, so don't crumble up perfectly good graham crackers)

3 tsp baking powder

1 can (12oz) evaporated milk

For the vegan version you'll need:

1/2 cup Earth Balance vegan shortening

(yes, I was also amazed this existed)

1/4 cup Earth balance marganine

(I like the one that comes in sticks, like butter, because it's easy to measure)

1 cup sugar 

(I used Sun Crystals)

EnerG Egg Replacer equivalent to 3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

(Use the real stuff, the fake kind pales in comparison)

2 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs

(You'll need to check the ingredients of your graham crackers to make sure they don't include honey. If you eat honey, go ahead and use the boxed crumbs. Otherwise, you'll need to get the vegan-friendly kind and whirl them through the food processor.)

3 tsp baking powder

12 oz coconut milk 

(Use the kind in the can, it is thick and will act more like evaporated milk)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and prepare your cupcake tins with paper liners.

In a large bowl, cream together the shortening, margarine, and sugar until it is light and fluffy. Add the eggs or Egg Replacerand beat well - it'll get almost frothy. Next, beat in vanilla until combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the graham cracker crumbs and baking powder.

Add the graham cracker crumbs and the milk to the shortening mixture in three small batches, alternating crumbs, then milk, then crumbs, etc.

Next, distribute the batter evenly among the cupcake tins. If you don't already have a handy little scop for this, you can use a spoon or an old-fashioned ice cream scoop. I have a set of three scoops from Pampered Chef and I use them for everything. For cupcakes, I use the largest of the three.

If you do the vegan version, the batter is incredibly light and airy. When you spoon it into the cupcake tins, be aware that it isn't going to rise very much, so you can really fill up each cup...otherwise you get shrimpy little cakes.

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. If you use the traditional recipe, you will take them out after about 20 minutes; if you go the vegan route, you'll want to bake them closer to 25 minutes.

After you remove them from the oven and the baking tins, let them sit out to cool on a wire rack. You'll want them to cool completely before you frost them or you'll have a big, soupy, marshmallow-y mess.

The frosting is my favorite part of these little delights, as it is basically home-made marshmallow fluff. If you're not interested in making your own fluff from scratch, you can certainly take the easy route and use the store-bought variety but I think you'll completely fall in love with the homemade version, so give it a try if you've never made it before. For my lazy vegan friends, feel free to use Ricemellow Creme - it's a vegan substitute for fluff and it's a great time saver.

For the regular fluff, you'll need:

1 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
2 egg whites

Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan and stir over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Boil it on medium to medium-high heat, uncovered, without stirring, for about five minutes.  If you have a candy thermometer, it should reach 240 degrees. If not, look for lots of little bubbles, the syrup should be clear and thick - do not let it turn color, that means it's caramelizing.

Remove the syrup from the heat and let it sit until there are no more bubbles.

While the syrup cools, beat your egg whites until soft peaks form. The original instructions tell you to stop at soft peaks but I like to beat the egg whites until they're somewhere past soft peaks but not all the way to stiff peaks - otherwise the fluff is really runny and soupy.

While the mixer is running and you've achieved soft peaks, add the hot syrup all at once - be sure to do this as quickly as possible! If you try to do it gently you will splatter hot sugar syrup all over yourself and your kitchen. Beat on high for about ten minutes. The egg whites and syrup will combine to look like fluff almost instantly but you really need to beat in a lot of air and let the mixture cool before it's ready to use. After the beating is done, it's ready to plop in tablespoonfuls on top of your cupcakes! Top with chocolate chips (I like the minis) and enjoy!

For the vegan fluff, you'll need:

5TBSP soy protein isolate 90%

(you can find this at your friendly neighborhood health food store)

2 tsp Baking Powder

1/4 tsp guar gum

3/4 cup cold water

All the above ingredients act like the egg whites from the "regular" recipe. You'll want to combine the dry ingredients in your stand mixer, mix thoroughly, and then add the water and mix until soft peaks form. If you've done this with egg whites in a past life, don't expect this mixture to get as big and fluffy as they did, because it'll just disappoint you. You will get soft peaks, though, so don't worry - it'll work out in the end.

Next you'll need:

1 1/2 cups raw sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup water

1 TBSP Genutine Vegetarian Gelatin

(I know, you went vegan and never thought you'd again get to have anything like jell-o, right?)
2 tsp vanilla extract

(use the good stuff, not the fake kind)

In case you hadn't already realized it, this next set of ingredients acts as your sugar syrup from the other recipe.  To start, combine the sugar and Genutine in a saucepan and whisk together quickly - it will get very thick. Next, add the corn syrup and heat over medium heat, stirring frequently. If you're using a candy thermometer, you want to get the mixture to 230 degrees (no, that's not a typo, since you're using different ingredients, you're looking for a different temperature than in the first recipe). If you're not using a thermometer, you want to get the sugar syrup to be really thick and gloppy. You'll know you're there when you can stir the syrup and it will separate, revealing the bottom of your saucepan. 

Once this happens, take it off the heat immediately! Lastly, stir in the vanilla. Be aware, this is the sticky-est, gloppy-est, messy-est thing you may ever make, so be careful not to get it on you or your kitchen.

Just like in the "normal" version, add this to the "egg" white mixture as fast as you can and mix on high speed. Let it run on high for ten minutes, until very fluffy and cool. This is now ready to use!  Plop by tablespoonfuls onto your vegan cupcakes, top with chocolate chips or carob chips and enjoy!

 

 

The recipe for vegan fluff came from a blog called "Vegan Marshmallows" but I think he got it from somewhere else. It's step one of making your own vegan marshmallows, so if you want real vegan s'mores and want to make your marshmallows from scratch instead of buying them, follow the rest of the recipe on his blog - they are wonderful! (The store-bought kind aren't bad, either.)

 

Of course, you could skip both recipes for homemade fluff, like we talked about earlier, and just top your cupcakes with regular marshmallow fluff OR Ricemellow Creme and they'd still be pretty good.