Sunday Bake-a-thon- Part 1

This past Sunday, I thought I'd never make it out of the kitchen alive.  I was in the kitchen for 7 hours straight. I made 4 dozen cupcakes and 3 frostings.  I can't believe it took so long but when you're working with only 1 12 cup muffin pan and waiting for it to bake, cool, and reuse again, I guess it's gonna be a slow process.  Luckily this won't happen again because today I finally received my 2 24 cup muffin pans that I was impatiently waiting for for nearly 3 weeks!  Yes 3 weeks!  Well, when you order from an online store which shall remain nameless and the description simply says 24 cup muffin pan and the photo looks like they are standard size cups but you aren't totally sure and take a chance, you end up with mini muffin pans and have to return and reorder. Not to mention you opt for the free shipping which translates to the SLOWEST possible shipping method.  Uggh! Anyway, it was a lot of fun regardless.  And I was very pleased with the outcomes.
Here's what happened...
I've been wanting to make s'mores cupcakes for a while and finally decided to test a recipe I researched and found to be the best out there, but of course I wanted to put my personal spin on it.  The recipe called for a graham cracker crust and I love anything with graham cracker crusts - it is my go to crust for pies and cheescakes and now s'mores cupcakes too.  I prepared the crust with graham crackers, sugar, and melted butter and I placed a TBSP at the bottom of each cup.  I also through some chocolate chips on the bottom intending they would melt into the crust but no such luck. 

I left the chips on the bottom hoping they would melt when the batter bakes but I guess I wasn't thinking it through properly - after all, chips don't melt in cookies so why would they melt in this case?
Next I moved onto the batter,  I used the same ingredients as the original recipe called for however I rearranged the preparation of it.  The recipe calls for cocoa sifted together with the flour and sugar and combining that with the wet ingredients - kind of like a one bowl mix.  I don't like one bowl mixes because I think it leaves a grainy texture.  Instead I prepared the wet first - sugar and eggs beaten together until pale yellow.  I dissolved the cocoa in boiling water and added it to the eggs and whipped for a few minutes. I added the dry alternating with milk and mixed just until incorporated.  Just before popping the tray into the oven, I added 3 mini marshmallows and some crushed grahams to each cup. After baking for 20 minutes and cooling, I tore one open to investigate. The cupcake was light in texture but full of flavor and very moist.  The marshmallows floated to the top and crusted up giving the cupcake a toasted marshmallow flavor - yum!  I wanted to take the graham better - the crust was almost non existant and I didn't get any texture from the graham topping. The chips, of course, didn't melt and they just stayed on the bottom.  
Luckily, I had the other half of the batter remaining to bake and was glad to have a second chance to tweak a couple of things.  I melted the chips and put a spoonful at the bottom of each cup over a thicker graham crust. I also added more grahams to the top of the batter.  The second bake was much better. The cake was great like before but this time I could taste and feel the graham better - making it feel more like a s'mores. 

Frosting:  I went with marshmallow/meringue frosting using egg whites and sugar, dissolving over a double boiler, and beating to glossy stiff peaks.  I topped each cake with a massive swirl and a chocolate dipped graham cracker.  Voila!

I brought these to work the next day and they were a huge hit!  In fact, I'm going to make this recipe again later this week because I received my first order! 
This hobby turned business is already so rewarding and I haven't even made any profits yet. I am truely enjoying every moment of it and look forward to my weeknights and weekends so that I can immerse myself in cupcake adventures!
Part 2 of the Sunday Bake-a-thon coming up.