MSC- S'mores Cupcakes

This month's MSC cupcake choice- S'mores Cupcakes, was chosen by yours truly.
It isn't as easy to choose an item to bake for a group like this as it may seem.

I debated for awhile. I really wanted to choose the Rhubarb Cupcakes with Whipped Cream (pg 33), but I haven't seen any fresh rhubarb yet this season and some fruit choices cause more debate than other things. The Bluberries-and-Cream Cupcakes (pg 42) also looked really good and the Iced Pistachio Cupcakes (pg68) made their way into my choice list too. There were others, but in the end, it all came down to the 1 cupcake that caught my eye the first time I flipped through this book.

I have this thing with graham crackers, which I have mentioned before, which is- I cannot have them in my house because I will eat them all. I never buy them, unless I know that I am going to be using all of them in a recipe, or if I am willing to sacrifice an entire meals calorie allotment on a package of graham crackers, dipped in milk. I know I have a problem and therefore I avoid the item which causes a complete lack of self-control.
I was curious about a cupcake that actually tastes like a S'more.
The marshmallow frosting looked billowy and yummy and so, this is my pick.

I made them yesterday for our Valentine's Day dessert. I skipped the frosting called for, simply because it said that it would harden if not used/served immediately and I knew I had to make and assemble these a few hours before we would eat them.
I also made a ganache with milk chocolate, to keep the flavors true to an actual S'more and used chocolate chips, instead of chopped chocolate and cream. No corn syrup. On the first try, the ganache was too thin, so I tried again with less cream, until the consistency was spreadable.

I also used the marshmallow topping that we used for the Sweet Potato Cupcakes a couple of months ago, which is simply broiling little piles of mini marshmallows and transferring them to the top of the cupcakes.

I made half the recipe and ended up with 9 cupcakes and 15 mini cupcakes.
Please ignore the Halloween cupcake liners- I ran out of plain ones and didn't know it until it was too late.

My 3 yr old and I tasted the cupcakes without the chocolate and marshmallows and they were really good.
I am definitely going to make these again when I can serve them immediately and try out the frosting called for. I took them to a family dinner and everyone enjoyed them. I thought that they really tasted like a s'more, which is the whole point. I was pleasantly surprised.

Go to the MSC Blogroll to see everyone else's thoughts on these!