S'mores Cupcakes

Today is the Hobbit premier eve. How do I know this? Because I am a HUGE fan. I am a fan of Lord of the Rings, Tolkien, Peter Jackson, Howard Shore and anyone else associated with the fantasy action books and movies. Back in my teenage days my friends and I were kind of crazy fans. By "kind of" I mean we would wait outside of the filming areas for the actors to come out (stalking, some might call it?) we knew the words to every line in every movie (still do) we collected Lord of the Rings merchandise (five boxes sitting at my parents house) and we slept outside before the premier of the movies so we got the best spot to get signatures, shake hands and take photos of the actors. I have met almost everyone on Lord of the Rings, Viggo Mortenson, Ian McKellon, Elijah Wood...even got a kiss from Orlando Bloom himself (I was OB-sessed with him). Living in Wellington (or Middle Earth as it is re-named this week) was amazing and now that I live all the way up here in Orc-land (heh, see what I did there) I can't go to the premier and it kills me.

I really wanted to re-read the Hobbit before I went to the movie so I asked my parents if I could go through my boxes of LOTR stuff. After going through countless action figures, signed books, videos and puzzles I finally found it but not before finding out that one of the boxes was badly water damaged. It just so happened to be the box with my photo album in it. So I took it home and salvaged what I could. I found this awesome photo which took me by surprise. All those years ago I baked my friend a One Ring cake, complete with Elvish and everything! The photos aren't very good but you can make out the "Happy birth-day Kylee" on top and the awesome costumes which I may or may not be wearing (I was Galadriel) This photo was so inspiring, I was a cake decorator even back then!

Fast forward 10 years and I'm still baking! This recipe was a really fun one that I had been dying to make ever since I made this goal last year. It has a biscuit and chocolate base then a chocolate cupcake which is covered in meringuey icing which is toasted on top. Seems like a lot of work but they tasted great so it was worth it! My only problem with them was how messy they were to eat, but that's not so much of a problem now is it?

Just to give you Kiwi's a heads up, S'mores are a tasty treat that our Americans enjoy by the campfire. It consists of toasted marshmallows and chocolate sandwiched between two biscuits which they call graham crackers. It is thought that the name S'mores is a shortened version of "some mores", as in, these are so gosh darn good give me some more!

Crushed up biscuits with sugar and butter, squashed into the bottom of each cupcake case using bottom of a shot glass.

Mmm look at those chocolate chunks!

After filling cases with cookie crumbs and chocolate, toast in the oven for about five minutes. Mmm dark melted chocolate.

I just want to pop that bubble!

Before baking the cupcakes, sprinkle the leftover cookie mixture and chocolate to give it that extra crunch and taste.

The cupcakes may look a bit strange but they sure don't taste strange!

MacDonalds ice cream? Nope, that's just a yummy marshmallow icing...it seems like it's missing something.

That's better! Toast that sucker! Be very careful not to burn the cupcake cases, I did this several times. It was a bit of a rush to be honest. Every now and then a cupcake case would catch on fire and I had to blow it out! Check out the recipe below:

S'mores Cupcakes
Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart
Makes approx 30 cupcakes

Biscuit Base:
1 1/2 cups Biscuit crumbs (I used Digestive Biscuits)
1/4 cup Sugar
80g  unsalted butter, melted
250g bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

Batter:
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees and line two muffin tins with cupcake cases, set aside.
• Combine biscuits crumbs, 1/4 cup of sugar and melted butter in a bowl.
• Scoop 1 Tablespoon full of biscuit mixture into each cupcake case (keep the rest for sprinkling over the cupcakes)
• Press the biscuit mixture in using bottom of a shot glass so it is nice and firm.
• Sprinkle 2 teaspoons of chocolate crumbs over the biscuit mixture in each cupcake case.
• Bake the cookie-chocolates for about 5 minutes or until the biscuit mixture is golden.

• In a large bowl, sift together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix until combined.
• In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla.
• Add the wet mix to the dry mix and beat on a low speed until nicely combined (remember to scrap the sides of the bowl down) and continue beating mixture for about 2 minutes.
• Add boiling water to mixture and stir to combine (if you used an electric beater this part would be messy!)
• Fill each cupcake case three quarters full and sprinkle remaining biscuit mixture and chocolate crumbs.
• Bake for approximately 18-20 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the cupcake comes out clean.
• Let cupcakes cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Marshmallow Icing:
8 large egg whites
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

• Place egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar in the heatproof bowl of an electric mixer. 
• Set over a saucepan with simmering water. 
• Whisk constantly until sugar is dissolved and whites are warm to the touch, 3 to 4 minutes.
• Transfer bowl to electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and beat, starting on low speed, gradually increasing to high, until stiff, glossy peaks form, 5 to 7 minutes. Add vanilla, and mix until combined. 
• Transfer icing to a piping bag fitted with a large round or star tip.
• Pipe icing onto cupcakes (using this tutorial).
• Use a kitchen torch to lightly brown the icing so it’s nice and toasty. Be very careful where you do this, I always use it on the kitchen bench right next to the sink. Take care not to set the cupcake cases on fire, I did that a few times, when it happened I just blew it out quickly and it didn’t affect the cupcakes.

Recipe notes:
I managed to make 34 cupcakes out of this mix. 24 were made as above, 6 just had the biscuit and chocolate base (not sprinkling on top) and 4 were plain chocolate cupcakes. The icing was plenty for all of them.