This cake was far more awesome than you might think based on the photo alone. What you don't see is the warm, rich chocolate cake underneath, or how melty and gorgeous the toasted marshmallows were after coming out from under the broiler. It's a S'more Cake, which was one of two cakes I made for my friend Colleen's 30th birthday celebrations. She loves s'mores just as much as (maybe more than?) she loves mint chocolate chip ice cream, so they were the perfect two cakes to make. In case you missed it, check out the other cake here.
Now, I have no intention of turning this blog into a constant plug for my Pampered Chef business, but when I encounter a product that I love or that changes my cooking life, I need to rave about it, no matter who makes it. This cake was made in my new Pampered Chef Rockcrok, which is an amazing product that can be used in the microwave, on the stove, on the grill, in the oven, and under the broiler. You'll see below that this cake, made in this pot alone, started in the microwave and finished under the broiler. I don't know of many cooking vessels that can handle that, and that's why I'm so excited about this! Clean up was a breeze too, which is always a bonus!
S'more Cake
Recipe from Pampered Chef
Ingredients:
3 milk chocolate Hershey bars (1.55 oz each), broken into squares
1 small package (9 oz) devil’s food cake or 1 and 2/3 cups from a regular-size package
1 egg
8 oz. sour cream
1 bag regular-size marshmallows or 4 cups mini marshmallows
3 whole graham crackers, broken into pieces
Directions:
Place oven rack in middle of oven; preheat broiler.
Combine cake mix, egg and sour cream in large bowl; mix until blended. Pour batter into Rockcrok™ Everyday Pan or Rockcrok™ Dutch Oven. Microwave, covered, on HIGH 4-5 minutes or until center of cake is firm and springs back when pressed. (It took 5 minutes in my microwave.) Remove pan from microwave; arrange marshmallows in an even
layer over cake. Broil 30-60 seconds or until marshmallows are golden
brown.
Meanwhile, microwave chocolate in small bowl on HIGH 30-60 seconds or until mostly melted. Stir until smooth.
Remove cake from under broiler; sprinkle with graham crackers and drizzle with melted chocolate. Serve warm.
The cake seriously taste like a ginormous s'more, just as I hoped. And I can't hate a cake that comes together from start to finish in less than 10 minutes!
I sort of feel like I'm cheating by sharing this cake. It can barely count as a recipe considering the actual cake part was made with a box mix! But it was delicious, and a really easy option for a birthday cake that's not hard to make but still looks pretty cool.
I made this for my good friend Colleen's birthday. She turned 30, not 8, but loves, I mean LOVES, the Minions from Despicable Me. So when I saw those plates and napkins and tablecloth in Party City a few months ago, I had to buy them in preparation for her big day.
Even if I use a cake mix for a recipe, I usually like to doctor it up a bit with sour cream, or pudding mix, or vanilla (usually all three!) but this cake needed to be done in a pinch after a very busy weekend with a family wedding and a family birthday party three hours and two states away from each other! So this time I just mixed up the cake mix per the box instructions and baked them as directed for two 8-inch rounds. I'm not ashamed to say that I LOVE box mix baked goods, so it tasted delicious to me!
Once the cakes were cooled enough to be removed from the pans, I moved them to a wire rack and then lined one of the pans with plastic wrap. I then packed softened mint chocolate chip ice cream into the pan, all the way to the rim, and smoothed it over. I covered the top with plastic wrap and put it back in the freezer to harden up.
Then I made a ganache to go on top:
Mint Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients:
20 Andes candies
1/4 cup half & half
Directions:
Combine candies and half & half in a small saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until candies are melted and no white streaks from the half & half or mint centers remain. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
When I was ready
to assemble the cake, I stacked the cake layers with the ice cream in
between, using the plastic wrap to carefully remove the ice cream from
the pan. If your cake layers domed up a bit while baking, you might want to level out the tops by carefully slicing the domed parts off with a large serrated knife to allow the layers to stack more evenly.
I carefully spooned the cooled ganache over the top of the cake, letting it drip down the sides. I stuck the cake in the freezer for about 15 minutes to let it harden up, and then garnished the cake with some more Andes candies, cut in half diagonally to form long triangles. I tried sticking the candies on top right away, but until the ganache hardened a bit, the candies wouldn't stay upright.
If you're not ready to serve the cake right away, store it in the freezer until about 10 minutes before you're ready to eat it. Let it sit out for a little bit to soften up and make it easier to cut, then enjoy!
As an extra fun little tidbit to go with the Despicable Me theme (I LOVE a good theme!), I asked my friend Colleen (not the birthday girl; a different Colleen!) to make a special Minion card I had seen in her Etsy shop, Glitter Ink. She is a seriously talented card maker - check her out if you're looking to send someone a more personal touch!
