Paleo S’mores Cupcakes
Fluffy and decadent Paleo s’mores cupcakes that are layered with a graham cracker and double chocolate cupcake and topped with a Paleo toasted marshmallow frosting! Undetectably gluten free and dairy free! It’s like biting into a campfire!
Summer tiiiiiime, and the livin’s easy when you have a batch of freshly baked Paleo s’mores cupcakes with marshmallow frosting!
Can I get a heck yes?!
These cupcakes are insane- filled with healthy ingredients, yet tastes like you’re basically sitting next to a camp fire having a s’mores…but in cupcake form!
Get this: these Paleo s’mores cupcakes are sweet from the graham cracker crust, melty and chocolatey from the brownie layer, and gooey like a freshly toasted marshmallow thanks to the frosting.
It is insane, and they’re so much fun to make! So what are you waiting for? Let’s get to it!
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Key ingredients to Paleo S’mores Cupcakes with Marshmallow Frosting
Sweet Potato: naturally, these Paleo s’mores cupcakes are made from sweet potato! BUT BEFORE YOUR FREAK, the sweet potato is truly amazing in these cupcakes- it’s actually pretty phenomenal. I have a whole guide on how to cook your sweet potato just right for these recipes so go check that out if you need some help! For this recipe, I recommend using one Japanese sweet potato and one regular sweet potato, so two full sweet potatoes in these cupcakes! However, if you can’t find a Japanese sweet potato, don’t sweat!! You can use two orange sweet potatoes, the crust will just be a little orange rather than golden 🙂
Coconut flour: to keep these Paleo s’mores cupcakes nut free and give the cupcake base a little oomph 😉
Honey: this is what gives the graham cracker layer it’s graham cracker flavor! Because you can’t have s’mores cupcakes without a true graham cracker flavor!
Eggs: just two for the cupcakes 🙂
Cacao Powder: because you can’t have a chocolate layer of Paleo s’mores cupcakes with the chocolate! I always like to use cacao here instead of cocoa because I think it gives it a way richer flavor!
Maple Syrup: so slightly confusing because we’ll use maple syrup for the chocolate layer, but like I said earlier, the honey for the graham cracker layer! Just a teensy bit goes into each the chocolate layer and the marshmallow frosting! However, if coconut sugar is more convenient for you, please feel free to swap that in!
Chocolate Chips: for these, you can use either 100% chocolate chips, like I did, or another favorite Paleo chocolate chip brand if you’d like! Or you can just use your favorite chocolate chip brand in general 🙂 No need to stick to labels if you don’t need nor want to!
Egg Whites: these are for the marshmallow meringue frosting!
Cream of Tartar: this is my secret ingredient to making the marshmallow meringue frosting actually resemble a marshmallow! You’ll only need a teensy bit- just a 1/4 teaspoon, which is enough to make these gooey like a marshmallow you just stuck over a camp fire 🙂
S’mores cupcakes tips + tricks
So I know these cupcakes might sound intimidating, but they’re actually not, and here’s why: whole foods are pretty straight forward to work with. What we’re doing isn’t complicated, I promise, it just requires following some steps!
I wanted to share some of my best tips and tricks to make sure that these Paleo s’mores cupcakes with marshmallow frosting come out perfect every time!
- Bake your sweet potato all the way through so that it caramelizes. Like I mentioned earlier, I have a whole blog post on it, so go check it out if you have questions!
- Use a food processor to completely puree the sweet potato prior to adding in the rest of the ingredients
- Make sure to not skimp on the baking powder, as this will help the cupcakes rise and hold form
- Heat your egg whites prior to making the meringue (see the following section!)
- Life hack: toast your your marshmallow meringue frosting underneath your broiler for a low maintenance way of toasting! (see the last section for the full deets!)
How to make marshmallow meringue frosting
So this probably deserves a post of it’s own, but the key to making a marshmallow meringue frosting is heating the egg whites slightly! And no, I don’t mean like how you would fry an egg!
Start by whisking together the egg whites, maple syrup (or coconut sugar), and vanilla in a bowl. Next, heat a cup of water in a saucepan that will allow your bowl to rest on top of the saucepan.
Bring the water to a boil and place the bowl of egg whites on top.
Let the heat bring the temperature of the egg whites to 140F. You can use a thermometer here, as it will be hard to just guess that off the bat ha!
Next, remove the egg whites from the heat and add in the cream of tartar. Then beat the egg whites on high for about 10 minutes using either a stand mixer or a hand mixer (a hand mixer will take longer, but you’ll get the same result!).
Then just simply frost your cupcakes when your cupcakes are cool and you’re ready to toast your marshmallow meringue frosting!
Making Toasted Marshmallow Frosting
So there are two ways in which you can toast your marshmallow frosting.
Because who wants to eat non-toasted Paleo s’mores cupcakes?! On that note, who wants to eat a non-toasted marshmallow in general?!
Yes, I’m judging you if you don’t burn your marshmallow to a crisp like I do.
Just kidding, I don’t judge but I won’t say I’m not puzzled by your taste preferences haha!
Anyways. We actually have two really simple ways of creating the toasted marshmallow frosting look that you see here and on other fancy food blog sites ha!
One way is really simple, and it requires your broiler in the oven. Simply place the cupcakes onto a baking sheet, marshmallow meringue frosting on top and everything, and place your baking sheet into the oven set to broil high.
Now, don’t peel your eyeballs away from that oven! Crack is slightly or turn on the oven light to make sure that your cupcakes don’t burn because it will go from toasted to burnt in a nanosecond. The whole toasting process should take about 45 seconds-1 minute.
Then just remove from the oven!
Your second option is using a culinary blow torch, which I have to say, is a heck of a lot of fun. Simply lightly torch each cupcake to the desired toast level and there ya go!
I hope you absolutely love these s’mores cupcakes with marshmallow frosting as much as I do! They’re perfect for a summer’s night or party, or just for whenever!
Happy baking and toasting!
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Paleo S’mores Cupcakes
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 35
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 10 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: baking
Description
Fluffy and decadent Paleo s’mores cupcakes that are layered with a graham cracker and double chocolate cupcake and topped with a Paleo toasted marshmallow frosting! Undetectably gluten free and dairy free! It’s like biting into a campfire!
Ingredients
Graham Cracker Crust:
- 1 large Japanese sweet potato (10–12 ounces), cooked and skin removed
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup coconut flour
- 2 tbsp coconut or almond milk
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
Chocolate Layer:
- 1 large regular sweet potato (10–12 ounces), cooked and skin removed
- 1/2 cup cacao powder
- 1 large egg
- 2 tbsp coconut or almond milk
- 1/3 cup coconut flour
- 1/4 cup maple syrup or coconut sugar
- 1/2 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/3 cup chocolate chips
Toasted Marshmallow Frosting:
- 3 large egg whites
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
Instructions
Graham Cracker Crust:
- Preheat the oven to 375F and line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.
- In a large food processor, puree the sweet potato.
- Add in the remaining ingredients and puree until smooth.
- Spoon the batter evenly into 10 cupcake liners and set aside for the chocolate layer.
- Do not bake yet.
Chocolate Layer:
- Rinse out the food processor and get it ready for the chocolate layer.
- Pure the large sweet potato in the food processor until smooth.
- Add in the remaining ingredients, except for the chocolate chips.
- Puree until smooth.
- Fold in chocolate chips and then divide the batter evenly on top of the graham cracker layer.
- Place the cupcakes into the oven and bake for 35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
- Let cool before frosting.
Toasted Marshmallow Frosting:
- In a medium bowl, whisk together egg whites, maple syrup, and vanilla extract.
- Place about 1 cup of water into a medium saucepan and heat until it boils.
- Place the medium bowl over the saucepan as it boils to raise the temperature of the egg whites.
- Let the temperature raise until it hits 140F while stirring the mixture occasionally.
- Remove the egg whites from the saucepan and pour them into a large mixing bowl.
- Add in cream of tarter and beat the egg whites on high until it reaches high fluffy peaks. This should take about 10 minutes.
- When ready to frost the cupcakes, spoon the frosting into a piping bag and pipe each cupcakes.
To get the toasted marshmallow frosting:
- Turn the oven on broil, high, and place the cupcakes on a baking sheet in the oven for about 1 minute, keeping your eye on the cupcakes the entire time to make sure it doesn’t burn.
- Or use a culinary blow torch to lightly toast the cupcakes.
Keywords: s’mores, s’mores cupcakes, Paleo, gluten free, dairy free, vegan option
WOWWWWW!!! That frosting tastes just like marshmallows! The texture is incredible. You are so creative and I’m very impressed 🙂
★★★★★
I’m so happy you liked it!! Thank you! The frosting is my favorite 🙂