Bottom Line: We're Torching This Cake With Fire
Let's make a chocolate s'mores cake with graham cracker frosting in the middle, and fire kissed marshmallow frosting on top.
We have what you might call “the hang out house.” My teen’s friends just walk on in, grab a drink from the fridge, and raid the pantry before heading upstairs to hang out with my son. They know their way around our home as if they lived here and it all feels like an old-fashioned pleasure that can be hard to come by these days.
Usually I’m the one to make food when people come by, but recently my son has been taking the lead. So when he invited some friends over for a scary movie night last week, he decided a s’mores cake was in order. He also decided he was going to do the entire thing by himself.
At 14 years old, my son has been helping me in the kitchen for a while now. When he was 10 he’d occasionally review my recipes to make sure they made sense, and this year I gave him a job as my official recipe tester. He makes every recipe before I publish it here on Substack.
All of this is to say that he has a decent amount of skill. But this s’mores cake? It takes some know-how. Since it was a work day and I couldn’t be in the kitchen, I suggested making something simpler. Yet he’s at an age where he likes to make his own decisions. Unless it’s something serious, I mostly offer recommendations and then let him figure out the rest.
So, s’mores cake it was. And let me tell you, it was a feat of concentration to be upstairs writing while all manner of sounds were coming from the kitchen as he attempted a recipe on the edge of his skillset.
Is this cake hard? No. But it does involve several steps that all require attention to detail. The pans have to be properly prepared, or the cakes will stick. The cream cheese must be at room temperature, or it won’t combine properly. And if even a speck of egg yolk gets in with the whites, they will not transform into a light and airy marshmallow-like frosting. Like I said, details.
Every now and then he’d shout upstairs to ask a question.
“What kind of attachment do I use for the graham cracker frosting?”
“What do you mean make a double boiler? What is that?”
Other times I’d hear him muttering to himself. “How is THIS going to become frosting?! Dubious, but ok.”
By late morning it looked like my kitchen had exploded. There was flour on the counter and confectioners’ sugar in his hair. (Or maybe the other way around, I couldn’t tell.)
Then around 3 o’clock he excitedly popped his head into my office and exclaimed, “Alright! Let’s torch this thing with FIRE!”
As it turns out, that is why he wanted to make this cake in the first place. He wanted to use my kitchen torch. 🔥 Ah, teen boys, you gotta love them.
The thing to know about kitchen torches is that while they are small, they still pack some heat. They’re essentially mini blow torches and can emit large flames if not used properly. So at this point, I closed my laptop for the day and headed downstairs to assist with the final step, where you take a torch and toast the swirly edges of the frosting so that it tastes like marshmallows warmed over a summer campfire.
The best thing to do when you get to this part of the recipe, is to run some tests. Check the amount of fuel in the torch and move to a well-ventilated, clutter-free area. You’ll need a small flame to torch the frosting, and while that may feel a little disappointing, I think you’ll agree that we aren’t looking to replicate the marshmallow that’s held over the campfire too long before bursting into flames and burning to a crisp.
Once we adjusted our settings, we scooped a small amount of extra frosting onto a baking sheet and experimented to see how close we had to be in order to achieve the right amount of color. Finally, when my son was confident he could get the results he was going for without ruining his cake, he torched the frosting:
Isn’t the end result gorgeous? It looks almost exactly like the cake I made last year when I created this recipe and the photos you see in this post. Despite being one of the most complex recipes he’s ever done, in the end this kid did it. Which means, you can too. As long as you pay attention to detail and thoroughly read my notes below, you should be golden. I tried to share as much info as possible since you won’t have me upstairs to shout questions to. 😉
Some Notes About This Recipe
If you love toasted marshmallows and chocolate sandwiched between crumbly graham crackers, you may want to give this s’mores cake a try. It’s basically the cake version of the campfire s’mores we all love making during the height of summer.
With three layers of tender chocolate cake, graham cracker frosting between each layer, and lots of fluffy frosting on the outside, this cake is hard to resist. Once torched it looks like a giant roasted marshmallow.
Below are answers to the questions my son asked while making this cake, which will help you recreate it in your own kitchen. I’ll also share important ingredient notes, explain some of the science behind this recipe, and provide helpful process photos.
This recipe is for supporting members. Upgrade to a paid membership to get access to exclusive recipes, plus stories and reflections that bring food and life together. I also plant a tree for every new subscription. 🌳