Witch Hat S’mores Cupcakes

These Witch Hat S’mores Cupcakes are the perfect spooky (but in a cute way) halloween dessert. Graham cracker cookie crust, chocolate cupcake, homemade toasted marshmallow frosting, and the cutest s’mores witch hat on top. These halloween cupcakes couldn’t be more adorable if they tried.

Ingredients

• Graham Oreos. There is a graham flavored Oreo cookie underneath the chocolate cupcake and in the s’mores witch hats. There are several Oreo cookie flavors that use the graham flavored cookie. Alternatively, you can use a regular chocolate Oreo or any thin crisp cookie that’s similar in size.
• Dutch Process Cocoa Powder. Dutch process is a deep dark chocolate flavor that works so well in these cupcakes. The meringue is very sweet, so the dark chocolate balances it out nicely.
• Egg Whites. The marshmallow frosting is made up of an egg white meringue. You want to separate whole eggs rather than using a carton of egg whites.
• Dark Chocolate Chips. To coat the witch hats in chocolate, I used Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips. The 72% purple bag never lets me down and always melts so beautifully and is easy to temper so that you end up with shiny set chocolate. Sometimes if you improperly temper the chocolate it will set cloudy, but this chocolate works perfect every time! You can use any chocolate that you feel comfortable tempering properly.
• Cream of Tartar. This ingredient will help to stabilize the meringue and help you achieve the best and fluffiest marshmallow frosting.

How to Make Witch Hat S’mores Cupcakes

Make the Chocolate Cupcakes.

Preheat the oven to 350 and line 2 cupcake pans with 22 cupcake liners. I like to use these parchment cupcake liners. Separate 22 graham flavored Oreos and place the cookie only side (not the side with the cream filling) into the bottom of the cupcake liners.

In the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until well incorporated, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl to make sure all of the butter is getting mixed in. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix an additional 2 minutes, or until light and fluffy.

In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda. Alternate adding the dry ingredients and the buttermilk in 3 total additions. So add half the dry ingredients, then all of the buttermilk, then the other half of the dry ingredients. Doing it this way helps ensure everything gets incorporated evenly, but prevents over mixing.

Use a large cookie scoop (or a spoon) to fill the prepared cupcake liners 3/4 of the way full. Bake at 350 for 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean with a few moist crumbs attached. Let the cupcakes cool while you prepare the marshmallow frosting.

Make the Marshmallow Frosting.

The marshmallow frosting is made by making a meringue using the Italian method. I tested it with both the Swiss and Italian meringue method, and found that the Italian method was much more reliable and stable. It holds up best to torching, coating in chocolate, and it stayed stable in the fridge for several days after I made these.

You will need a candy thermometer for this because you will make a sugar syrup that needs heated to exactly 240 degrees F. Making meringue can seem intimidating, but just take a breath and read the recipe – you got this!

Start by adding the sugar and water to a small saucepan and begin to heat it over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves, then just keep an eye on the temperature and swirl the pan around occasionally. Try not to let to mixture come up the sides of the pan too much to prevent the sugar from crystallizing. Meanwhile, begin to whip the egg whites with the cream or tartar in your stand mixer with the whisk attachment.

The idea is to have the sugar syrup reach 240 degrees F at the same time that the egg whites are whipped to soft peaks. So, feel free to adjust the speed of your mixer or the temperature of your stove in order to nail the timing.

Once the egg whits are frothy and at a soft peak stage and the sugar syrup is at 240 degrees F, turn the mixer to medium speed and slowly and carefully drizzle the syrup into the egg whites. Once the syrup is all in the mixer, turn the speed up to medium high and whip until stiff peaks and glossy, about 7-8 minutes. Towards the end of whipping, add in the vanilla bean paste. You should be able to lift the whisk out of the meringue and have a stiff peak standing straight up. The photo below shows a medium stiff peak and needs whipped just a few more minutes until it stands straight up.

Make the Witch Hats

Separate more graham Oreos (or scrape the cream filling off of the ones you’ve already separated) and place them on a cookie sheet. You’ll need 22 total for the cupcakes, but I suggest making a couple extra just incase one breaks or you drop it or your toddler wants to eat one. I made 25 total.

Take about 1 C of the marshmallow meringue and place it in a piping bag with a small round tip. Pipe it onto the center or each Oreo creating the witch hat shape. Place them into the freezer for at least 30 minutes for the meringue to set up. This will help ensure it doesn’t melt when you coat it in chocolate.

About 10 minutes before you take the witch hats out of the freezer, melt the chocolate and coconut oil until completely smooth. Do this in the microwave in 20 seconds increments, stirring in between. Once the chocolate is completely melted, let it cool for 10 minutes before pouring onto the meringue.

When ready to coat, place the witch hats onto a cooling rack on top of a parchment (or paper towel) lined cookie sheet. This will allow for easy clean up! Use a spoon to pour the melted chocolate evenly over the meringue and Oreo. You could also pour the melted chocolate into a piping bag and snip a small hole then drizzle over the witch hats! Add star sprinkles while the chocolate is still melty, then pop them into the fridge for 10-15 minutes to set.

Assemble the Witch Hat S’mores Cupcakes

Place the remaining marshmallow frosting in a piping bag with the tip of your choice. I used a Wilton 8B. Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes, then torch with a kitchen torch. Alternatively, you can torch the meringue under the broiler but don’t take your eye off it! Top each cupcake with the witch hats and a sprinkle or crushed graham crackers or crushed graham Oreos.

Serve immediately, or keep in the fridge for up to 3 days. When ready to serve, let them come to room temperature for 30 minutes.

Equipment

• Stand Mixer with Whisk & Paddle Attachments. You can make the cupcakes with either a stand or hand mixer, but the meringue will be most successful in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment.
• Kitchen Torch. Torching the marshmallow frosting will be easiest with a kitchen torch. They’re pretty inexpensive, easy to use, and great for torching meringue or creme brûlée.
• Candy Thermometer. For making meringue using the Italian method, you will need to make a sugar syrup and heat it to exactly 240 degrees F. A candy thermometer is essential.
• Piping Bags & Tips. To pipe the marshmallow frosting onto the Oreo for the witch hats and onto the cupcakes to be torched, you’ll need piping bags and tips. I use these bags. And I used a small round tip and a Wilton 8B.
• Star Sprinkles. You can decorate the witch hats however you like. I kept it simple with some white star sprinkles.

Witch Hat S’mores Cupcake FAQs

• Can these be made gluten free? Yes. Just swap out the all purpose flour in the chocolate cupcakes for a 1 to 1 gluten free replacement like Bobs Redmill or King Arthur Baking. Also, be sure to use a gluten free Oreo.
• Can I use Store Bought Marshmallow Fluff? No. The store bough fluff is much too runny and won’t stand up to being piped on the cupcakes or witch hats. If you don’t want to make a meringue, you can use a vanilla buttercream instead, but you won’t be able to torch it. However, it will work for both frosting the cupcakes with and for the witch hats. Make sure you still freeze it before coating in the melted chocolate.
• Can I use regular cocoa powder? Yes, for this recipe regular cocoa powder will work fine, but note that you cannot sub regular cocoa powder for dutch process in every recipe.
• My cupcakes didn’t bake evenly or boiled over the top. What happened? Most likely you didn’t mix the batter evenly. With cakes and cupcakes especially, the egg whites tend to settle at the bottom of the bowl. Make sure to do a final mix by hand with a rubber spatula to make sure everything is evenly mixed.

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