S’mores Cake

For the crust:

Melt the butter and cook on low until the butter is a golden brown.

In a food processor, pulse the graham crackers with the sugar and the salt until the crumbs are really fine. Pour the crumbs into a medium bowl.

Pour the butter over the graham crackers and gently mix together until it is a uniform damp crumb.

Prepare three 8″ rounds with parchment paper rounds on the bottom and then spray with non-stick baking spray.

Divide the graham cracker crumbs between two of the three prepared pans, pressing them down firmly with a spatula. Set aside

For the cake:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Put the cocoa powder in a small bowl, and pour the boiling water on top of it. Whisk the water and cocoa together until smooth, and then set aside until cooled.

In a mixing bowl or standing mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the vanilla and the eggs one at a time until they are completely combined.

Sift all of the dry ingredients together. Gently add half of the dry ingredients to the batter and half of the chocolate. Mix to combine. Repeat with the remaining ingredients and mix into a smooth batter.

Divide the batter evenly between the three pans. For two of them, gently spread over the surface of the graham crust.

Bake the cake layers about 25 minutes, but keep a close eye on them because every cake is different.

Let the cake layers cool.

For the ganache:
Place the chocolate pieces in a heat safe bowl. In a small pot, bring the cream to a simmer over medium heat. Pour the cream over the chocolate pieces and let sit about 5 minutes. Whisk the ganache until smooth and shiny. Set aside.

Cover a cake plate with a few strips of parchment or wax paper.

Turn out one of the cake rounds with the graham crust onto the parchment covered cake plate, graham layer up. Put a large dollop of ganache on top of the grahams.
Spread evenly. Follow with another layer, graham crust layer up. Put a large dollop of ganache on top of the grahams. Finally top with the third round which is just cake.

Refrigerate, at least 15-20 minutes.

For the frosting:
In the bowl of a standing mixer, whisk the eggs and salt until pale and frothy.

Meanwhile, heat the sugar, corn syrup, water and vanilla paste. Heat over medium flame until the sugar is dissolved and just simmering, about 5 minutes.

With the mixer on medium speed, add a tiny bit of the hot sugar mixture to the egg whites at a time. (Temper the eggs – don’t scramble them!) Eventually all of the sugar will be added and then turn the mixer up to high. Beat the mixture on high for about 5 minutes or until very stiff and shiny.

While the marshmallow frosting is mixing, frost the cake with the remaining ganache, which should be stiff and the texture of a glossy frosting. Frost the cake in a smooth, even layer.

Then remove the parchment from under the bottom layer of cake, revealing a nice clean cake plate!

Ideally, you will pipe a layer of the marshmallow frosting on the top of the cake or you can glop the rest on top in a big mound and smooth it around.

Using a kitchen torch, brown the marshmallow frosting.
Slice and enjoy!!