Two weeks I wrote about my culinary explorations of the s’more variety. With the semester coming to the final stretch, writing has been forced to take a back seat. Spring break ended with a great two-day skiing trip to Attitash and Wildcat, with beautiful spring skiing conditions. Fresh snow on the mountain both days, with temperatures in the thirties and low forties and sun lighting the slopes. While the skiing was incredible, I could not escape from the task that was waiting for me back home; the most difficult baking challenge I’ve ever taken on: the S’more Cupcake.A cupcake may seem like nothing for someone who has mastered S’more Chicken, but this recipe involved creating everything from scratch, including the frosting. This meant I would have to use a candy thermometer for the first time, and combat my arch nemesis, egg white peaks. The last time I attempted a recipe that involved beating egg whites to specific peakicity my meringues ended up as some sort of freak mushy meringue nightmare. While scarred, I knew that if I were to ever master the art of the novice baker, I had to conquer the egg whites once and for all.

Once my candy thermometer arrived from Amazon, I headed to the store to acquire the necessary ingredients. The S’more Cupcake consists of three main components: the graham cracker bottom, the cake portion, and the marshmallow frosting. The graham cracker crust and the cupcake batter both went down without a fight, proving no match for my rolling pin and electric mixer. With the cupcakes cooking in the over, it was time to tackle the frosting. Now I realize for those familiar with baking, a candy thermometer is nothing new, but to me, the idea of having to mix ingredients at certain temperatures is a bit intimidating. What doubled the intimidation level, however, was that I had to time my egg white beating with the decreasing temperature of the syrup so that they could be mixed together at the opportune moment.Syrup simmering on the stove, I began beating the egg whites, watching hopefully for the liquidy mess to turn into a beautiful mountain range of soft peaks. To my amazement the peaks began to form and the temperature of the syrup reached the correct temperature. I mixed them together and miraculously produced a delicious, marshmallowy frosting.

With the cupcakes cooled, I frosted each with a dollop of marshmallow frosting and then sprinkled some shaved chocolate on top for effect. I couldn’t wait for post-dinner dessert time to come around and gently unwrapped the reward of my toils in the kitchen. It was delicious. The warm chocolate blended perfectly with the graham cracker crust and the marshmallow frosting topped it off with a light sweetness. I wound up with lots of extra batter, frosting, and crust, and made a mini S’more cake, which lasted mere days in our house of six college students. This brief exploration into S’more desserts was delicious, fun, and horrible for my waistline, but definitely worth it!