This incredible S'mores Cake is inspired by the Bouchon Bakery Cookbook. Begin with the Bouchon Devil's Food Cake recipe then layer in graham cracker streusel, chocolate cream custard and a meringue topping for a campfire treat -- bakery style.
Bouchon Bakery Inspiration
I have this beautiful Bouchon Bakery Cookbook that I haven't had much time to work with. I recently visited with a friend that had made some cookies to share from one of the recipes in the book. Delish is all I'm going to say about that! Those cookies were the final straw. I decided to open my book and do a bit of experimenting. After some page-flipping the devil's food cake caught my eye, I knew it could be a great base for a Smores Cake.
I mean what's not to love about the Bouchon Bakery? I don't think I have ever had anything bad from there. Have you?
So after much drooling, the devil's food cake recipe was sounding good. But what to do with it? Don't get me wrong, sometimes a chocolate cake just for the sake of cake is pretty fantastic. So after perusing through the web for chocolate cake ideas, it was clear that S’mores have become pretty popular. After all, what's not to love about a S'more? We made some modifications to a recipe by Hint Of Vanilla and this is what we ended up with.
For this recipe we used the Bouchon Devils Food Cake recipe and went with a graham cracker streusel from the book. We then topped that with a chocolate cream custard and made a meringue for the final topping. You can see in the photograph we left the meringue as we piped it. But you could easily grab a small kitchen torch and toast the meringue a bit to get it to look like a toasted marshmallow.
Smores Cake Ingredients
This recipe has a lot of ingredients but most are pantry items you should already have.
- All-purpose Flour
- Dutch process cocoa
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Kosher salt
- Eggs
- Granulated sugar
- Vanilla paste
- Mayonnaise
- Graham cracker crumbs
- Vanilla extract
- Light brown sugar
- Unsalted butter
- Heavy whipping cream
- Whole milk
- Salt
- Egg yolks
- Dark chocolate
How to Make a S'mores Cake
This cake tasted as good as it looks. It's a very simple recipe but with quite a few steps. This is one of those desserts that you need to plan for just due to setup time in the freezer. So think about it on Thursday. Buy your ingredients on Friday, then bake the cake, make the graham cracker streusel and the chocolate cream custard. Let this sit overnight and the next morning finish it off with the meringue. Let it sit in the freezer and by Saturday date night, you have a five-star dessert to present to your loved one!
Do you love chocolate? Try these delicious chocolate based recipes.
- Red Wine Chocolate Cupcakes
- Chocolate Pudding Cupcakes
- Chocolate Pop Tarts
- Chocolate Cake with Earl Grey Buttercream
- Instant Pot Triple Chocolate Cheesecake
After making this S'mores Cake recipe, the devil's food cake has quite a bit of leftover. Wrap it in plastic wrap and keep it for up to two weeks. A bite of cake a day keeps the doctor away! I wish!
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Smores Cake
Ingredients
Devils Food Cake - From Bouchon Bakery
- 100 grams AP flour
- 31 grams dutch processed cocoa powder
- 2.5 grams baking soda
- .5 gram baking powder
- 1 gram kosher salt
- 56 grams eggs
- 126 grams granulated sugar
- 2 grams vanilla paste
- 86 grams mayonnaise
- 105 grams room temperature water
Graham Streusel
- 75 grams almond flour
- 75 grams graham cracker crumbs
- 75 grams light brown sugar
- 40 grams AP flour
- 1 gram vanilla extract
- 90 grams unsalted butter cold, diced into ½" pieces
Chocolate Custard
- 220 grams heavy whipping cream
- 115 grams whole milk
- 66 grams sugar
- 10 grams dutch processed cocoa powder
- 1 gram salt
- 66 grams egg yolks (about 4 large)
- 125 grams dark chocolate melted
Meringue
- 75 grams egg whites
- 110 grams sugar
- 1 gram clear vanilla extract
Instructions
Devils Food Cake:
- To start, line four 3' diameter ring molds with acetate and place on a silpat lined baking sheet, and set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 325°. Line a half sheet pan with a silpat or spray with nonstick spray and line with parchment paper and then spray the parchment.
- Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder in a medium sized bowl. Add the salt and stir to combine.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, place the eggs, sugar and vanilla in the bowl and mix on medium-low speed about 1 minute to combine with the whisk attachment.
- Increase the speed to medium and whip for five minutes.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then whip on medium high speed for another five minutes until it has thickened.
- Add the mayonnaise and whip to combine. Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in the dry ingredients and water in two additions each. (So ½ of the dry ingredients, then ½ of the water, the remaining dry ingredients and then the remaining water.)
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and use an offset spatula to spread it into a thin even layer going to all the corners. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Set on a cooling rack to cool. Once cool, cut around the edges of the cake with a knife to loosen it from the pan. Place a piece of parchment onto the cake, and invert the cake onto the parchment. Remove the silpat from the top of the cake and place in the freezer for an hour.
- Cut out eight 3 inch diameter rounds from the cake while still frozen and place it in the ring molds, two per mold.
For the streusel:
- Preheat oven to 325°, line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Combine the almond flour, graham cracker crumbs, sugar and vanilla and AP flour in a small bowl. Whisk to combine.
- Add butter quickly and break it up with your fingertips until it resembles a coarse meal. Spread streusel onto the baking sheet in an even layer and place in the freezer for 15 minutes to firm up the butter again.
- Bake for 10 - 15 minutes, stirring every five minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely.
- Once cool, spoon 40 grams of streusel into each ring mold and press until it holds.
For the Chocolate Custard
- In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, cocoa powder and salt.
- Combine milk and cream in a medium saucepan on medium high heat until it comes to a small boil. Slowly pour a small amount of milk mixture onto the egg yolk mixture and whisk continuously. Continue tempering all the milk mixture into the egg yolks and then transfer it all back into the pan and put back onto stovetop to continue cooking on medium low heat until the mixture has thickened enough to coat the back of a spatula.
- Remove from heat and pour through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl on an ice bath. Add the melted chocolate and emulsify. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the custard and refrigerate overnight.
- The next day fill a piping bag with the custard and pipe into the molds until you run out. Smooth the tops and freeze for 4 more hours.
Meringue:
- Combine the egg whites and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Whisking constantly, bring the mixture up to 140°, then transfer to stand mixer and whip on high speed until stiff peaks form. About 8-10 minutes. Add vanilla extract and whip for 1 more minute to combine.
- Pipe the meringue into the rings and then smooth the top with an offset spatula. Place into freezer for an hour. Take out and remove the rings and the acetate.
- Place in refrigerator for 4 more hours or until ready to eat.
Notes
Nutrition
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