S’mores Bundt Cake

A graham cracker bundt cake, layer of chocolate ganache, and homemade marshmallow fluff frosting toasted to a perfect brown — this S’mores Bundt Cake is the best part childhood summers, made even better!

This recipe is, officially, the fastest turnover ever on Bunsen Burner Bakery.  Because that cake pictured above?  I made it at 9:30pm last night.  I covered it with marshmallow fluff and toasted it at 12:15am.

And then at 12:37am, I scraped it all off and made my own version from scratch.  (More on this below.)

Why this complete last minute cake insanity?  Well… did you know today (August 11th) is National S’mores Day?  Yeah, I didn’t either… until about 4pm yesterday.  Coincidentally, I had already planned on making this S’mores Bundt Cake for my August Bundt Cake of the Month.

I just hadn’t, you know, made it yet.  (Well, I’ve made it before for a lab picnic.  I didn’t make it again to photograph, however.)

I thought I would be baking this over the weekend, leisurely decorating and taking pictures and sharing sometime next week.  But when I heard it was National S’mores Day — well, how can I resist sharing a S’mores Bundt Cake on National S’mores Day?

Clearly, I can’t.

This also goes down as my biggest baking disaster to be salvaged enough to still photograph and share.  See, given the extreme last minute nature of this baking endeavor, I tried to take a shortcut… and use marshmallow fluff.

You know, the kind bought in the big tub from the grocery store?  Yeah… whatever you do, do not use marshmallow fluff.

I’m not trying to say this as a hoity-toity food blogger, like the people who tell you you should never, ever used boxed cake mix.  Come on – we’ve all baked a cake with boxed mix at some point, and it makes a totally good cake.

No, I’m saying this as someone who tried, and failed epically.  Go ahead.  Try the store-bought marshmallow fluff.  And you, like me, will be scraping the melting, runny fluff off the sides of your cake and straight into the sink long after you should have gone to bed.

Don’t say I didn’t tell you.

Homemade marshmallow fluff frosting, however?  It’s much thicker (who knew?) and thus actually stays on the cake.  Yeah.  It takes like, 15 extra minutes to make.  In my attempt to save 15 minutes, I wasted nearly two hours.

Lesson learned, people: baking shortcuts are sometimes anything but.  Make the stupid delicious marshmallow fluff yourself.

How to Make S’mores Bundt Cake

Now that we have my epically epic last minute disaster out of the way, let’s talk about the good parts of this s’mores bundt cake (which is basically everything other than my marshmallow fluff fail).

It’s a graham cracker-based bundt cake, studded with chocolate chips.  It’s then covered with a thick layer of chocolate ganache, and covered with ***homemade*** marshmallow fluff, toasted to a perfect brown.

How to Toast Marshmallow Frosting

I use a Bernzomatic TS8000 torch in lieu of a standard kitchen torch.  [Amazon links are affiliate]  You know, more power, kitchen torches are for wusses, who has 3 minutes to toast the top of a small creme brûlée, etc.  Last time I made this cake, I used a kitchen torch.  It took about 7 minutes to evenly brown the marshmallow frosting to a perfect pale toasty color.  This torch, advertised as ideal for “light welding,” required about 30 seconds to brown the whole thing.  Perfect for making up all that time I wasted on the marshmallow fluff!

Also worth noting, the homemade fluff browns SO MUCH BETTER than the store-bought stuff, which actually ignited in areas and charred black, much like a literal marshmallow.

No torch? No problem! Pop the cake under the broiler of your oven.  But **do not walk away**.  Marshmallow frosting can go from toasty brown to burnt to a crisp in about 0.2 seconds.  Plus, you’ll want to be able to slide the cake back and forth under the broiler so all sides get evenly toasty.

TL;DR: This post was a very long-winded way to say: Happy S’mores Day! You should totally celebrate with this amazing S’mores Bundt Cake, reminiscent of childhood summers spent camping.  You should most definitely, absolutely make the homemade marshmallow fluff to use as the frosting.  And even the most disastery disaster can be saved with a fresh coat of chocolate ganache, homemade marshmallow frosting, and a blowtorch.

Print Recipe

Yield: Serves 12-16

S'mores Bundt Cake

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Total Time: 3 hours

Graham cracker bundt cake, layer of chocolate ganache, and homemade marshmallow fluff frosting toasted to a perfect brown.

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup whole milk, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chocolate chips

For the chocolate ganache:

• 8 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
• 3/4 cup heavy cream

For the marshmallow meringue frosting:

• 3 egg whites, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 °F.  Grease and flour a bundt pan.
2. Using an electric mixer, beat together the eggs, oil, milk, and vanilla.  Add in the sugar.  Slowly add in the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder, and salt.  Continue to beat until ingredients are fully incorporated and smooth.  Add in the chocolate chips and mix until evenly dispersed.
3. Pour batter into the prepared bundt pan.  Bake 50 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the cake comes out clean and the cake springs back gently when pressed with a finger.  Cool cake in the pan for 10 minutes, then invert cake onto a wire rack to cool completely.
4. To make the chocolate ganache, chop the chocolate and place it in a heat-save bowl.  Heat the heavy cream in a small saucepan or the microwave until simmering.  Pour over the chocolate, allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes, then whisk until smooth.  Allow the ganache to cool for an additional 5 to 10 minutes, then pour over the cake.  Refrigerate the cake for 30-45 minutes, until the chocolate ganache has set.
5. To make the marshmallow frosting, combine the egg white, sugar, cream of tartar, and vanilla in a mixing bowl set over a pot with a few inches of simmering water.  (If you are using a stand mixer, you can do this right in your stand mixer bowl.)  Whisk by hand until the egg white mixture reaches 160 °F.  Remove the bowl from the heat and whisk using an electric mixture on high until stiff peaks form, 10 to 12 minutes.
6. Use a spoon to spread the marshmallow frosting over the cooled ganache.  Use a kitchen torch to toast the frosting until browned.

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