August Food Network S'mores Cake!

 I've been waiting all year to make this specific cake from my "A cake for every month" article in January 2013's Food Network Magazine. 
You'll need the basic chocolate cake recipe right HERE.
and you'll also need the cake accessory recipe HERE. (filling and ganache)

What you'll need for your basic chocolate cake recipe. Plus eggs which went back in my fridge and didn't sit on the counter.

I tweaked my accessory recipe slightly, I didn't use a double boiler for my ganache because I don't own one and hate trying to make one. I didn't need one for my double chocolate cake ganache so I didn't need one for this. I just heated the cream on low until it was hot, added the chocolate, and stirred until it was almost melted, then I took it off the heat and continued to stir until all the chocolate was melted. I poured it into a measuring cup for easy pouring, and set it aside. Done.

I also have an issue with marshmallow cream for some reason. It's twice as expensive as a bag of marshmallows and doesn't taste the same. Considering it's supposed to be creamed marshmallows, I would expect it to taste the same. At any given moment, you'll find rice krispie treats in my home, so I just used the same recipe minus the rice krispies. Meaning, I poured a bag of marshmallows into a microwavable bowl, added about 2 Tablespoons of butter and heated it in 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until it was melted and spreadable.  In the end, after cutting this open and such, I would either double my marshmallow "recipe" so I could add more filling between layers, or keep it as is and only use 2 layers instead of cutting the cakes into 4.

Now, a warning.... Oh I feel so witchy typing that!
Do NOT melt your marshmallows until you are completely ready to assemble. It will start to thicken the second you stop heating it, so you want to work quickly, unless you'd like it to stick and pull chunks of your cake up as you try to spread it around. Also, spray your spatula with cooking spray or lightly coat it with oil or butter before each layer. Try to pick up your spatula as little as possible. Throw a blob of marshmallow in the middle and quickly spread it outwards in gradually larger circles.

I normally just make 2 layer cakes which are actually 2 cakes stacked on top. Because that's how I roll. But with these cake recipes you really do have enough batter for 2 cake pans.  

Everything was pretty straight forward and easy though. Nothing too particularly hard about this recipe.  I'm not super fussy about how straight and even my cake layers are, so that was a breeze for me. If you'd like even layers then you'll have to google some of the methods for doing that. I just cut and turn and hope for the best. Because it's a cake. I'm going to eat it. I'm certain my family doesn't scrutinize that closely, they really just care about how it tastes. It's not like my layers are Alice in Wonderland lopsided, all of the filling stays on them and that's all that matters.  It is funny though, when you look at the photo and you can see the filling, my layers are so not the same thickness.

So eventually you'll want it to look like this, (my 3 cake layers on paper plates and the one on the glass plate is ready for frosting. Use a serrated knife for cutting the cake. You can kind of see that in the background.

The graham crackers went from crispy to not in about 15 minutes, which is the amount of time I waited to cut myself a piece. I was surprised, but I suppose the cake is pretty moist and that is what is sitting right on top of the graham crackers. I thought it was worth a mention, it's not crunchy, like you think it will be with the toasted cracker crumbs. It's still good though. I would add a couple tablespoons of sugar with my cracker crumbs before I toasted them if I made this again, just to give them a little extra sweetness. I just used plain grahams, I'm not a fan of the cinnamon ones, and I thought it might compete with the chocolate flavor. However, if you use cinnamon graham crackers with your smores, then by all means use them here! The honey graham crackers would be delicious as well. Also, if you want some finer crumbs, you can throw it in a food processor or throw your crackers in a plastic bag and scrunch it while you wait for your cake to cook. I just crushed mine haphazardly because I don't care about larger chunks. The larger chunks toasted just fine.

Overall, this cake was pretty yummy. It would be better if I had added more marshmallow filling in between the layers (live and learn), I also would have added more cracker crumbs in between. I was afraid I would run out so I used them sparingly, but I ended up with almost half the pan left over in the end. I think it would be better with more in there.  So it was delicious and super easy to make, took hardly any of my time, but after making it I see where it could be improved for sure. Next time it will be magical.

I really hope you try this one! Let me know if you do and how it turns out!
Enjoy!

eventually you'll end up with something like this.

*The recipes featured are from Food Network Magazine. All opinions and "tweaks" are my own*