Back at it again with another S’mores recipe! You’ve seen the S’more’s Cookies but now get ready for the Towering S’mores Trifle!!
This go around we’ve got a towering trifle packed full of delicious graham cracker cake, luscious chocolate ganache, and pillowy marshmallow fluff. This is sure to attract any sweet tooth in your life, and makes for a very impressive dessert for any gathering or BBQ.
Now, I don’t want you to look at the recipe and be intimidated. There are a lot of ingredients and a lot of steps, but that’s ok! All of the components individually are fairly simple to put together, you will just need each one for layering the dessert. So lets go through each piece and how to make it.
Graham Cracker Cake
To make the graham cracker cake, you follow the typical method of creaming, then alternating wet and dry ingredients. Nothing new here! First, with your mixer, you will want to cream together your butter and sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy, this usually takes a couple of minutes. After that you will cream in your eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated and pale yellow. Next, you will mix in your wet and dry ingredients. I started by mixing in the graham cracker crumbs, then the vanilla and buttermilk. Once those are nice and evenly mixed, add in the baking soda and cake flour. At this point you want to mix everything until it is JUST combined, don’t overmix at this point or you will get a tough cake. It is always better to leave a bit of dry ingredient unincorporated because you can always finish mixing by hand rather than with your mixer.
Once the batter is ready, you are ready to bake! Line a 9 x 13-Inch Rectangle Pan with butter or pan spray and fill with your cake batter, this batter is nice and thick so you will need to spread it evenly in the pan. Bake the cake at 350 F for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean with no crumbs or batter. When it is finished baking, allow to cool completely then cut your cake into about 1 inch pieces for assembling later.
Milk and Honey Cake Syrup
This is crucial to having a moist and flavorful cake. Definitely don’t skip this step! It really is as simple as whisking together your milk, honey, and a pinch of salt. Mix those three ingredients until all the honey is dissolved and it is ready to use!
Chocolate Ganache
Chocolate ganache is another one that may seem a bit scary to make yourself, but in reality is so easy. There are literally TWO ingredients in this one!! In a small saucepan, heat up your heavy cream until it is simmering and bubbly around the rim of the pot. You are going to pour the hot cream over your chocolate (I used Valrhona Guanaja cut into small pieces, but you can use chocolate chips or whatever dark or semi sweet chocolate you have!) Let the hot cream sit with the chocolate for a few minutes before mixing to allow the chocolate to get soft and melt. Once it has sat for a couple minutes, take a whisk and mix it together until the sauce is fully combined! You can put it in a squeeze bottle or other container for later. Ganache can store in the fridge for a week, when you are ready to use you just need to microwave it for 30 seconds at a time until it is back to liquid OR heat it up in a hot water bath.
Assembling the trifle
This is the fun part, you can be as creative as you want! In a Trifle dish or other container, you will be layering your ingredients. Start by piping a layer of marshmallow fluff. You can do this by scooping your fluff out of the container and into a ziplock bag with a hole cut in one of the corners or piping bag with a round tip attached. I piped little dots of fluff all along the bottom. Drizzle ganache over top of the marshmallow fluff then start to make a layer of cake. Once you have a nice full layer of cake you will want to drizzle the milk and honey syrup over the top. Use a few tablespoons for each layer so you have enough for the whole trifle. Top the cake with a sprinkling of mini chocolate chips and graham cracker crumbs then repeat the process until all of your ingredients are used up. Mine took about 5 layers in total. To decorate the top, make sure to pipe extra marshmallow fluff and drizzle with extra ganache! You can even create drips down the side for an over the top effect! Sprinkle the final little bits of mini chocolate chips and graham cracker crumbs and voila! You are ready to serve.
I hope you enjoy the trifle, it is meant for big groups or gatherings and will definitely be a show stopper at your next BBQ or party!
S’mores Trifle
Ingredients
Graham Cracker Cake
- 1 cup butter softened
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
- 2½ cups cake flour
- 2 tsp baking soda
Milk and Honey Cake Syrup
- ¾ cup Milk
- 3 tbsp honey
- pinch salt
Chocolate Ganache
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream
- 8 oz dark chocolate chips or chopped
Assembly
- 3 7 oz jars Marshmallow fluff
- Graham cracker crumbs for garnish
- mini chocolate chips for garnish
Instructions
For Graham Cracker Cake
- Preheat oven to 350°F
- Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs one at a time until fully combined and pale yellow.
- Add in graham cracker crumbs and wet ingredients, mix until combined.
- Add baking soda and cake flour and mix until just combined, do not overmix!
- Grease a 9×13 pan with butter or pan spray, fill with batter.
- Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean with no crumbs sticking.
- Allow to fully cool then dice into 1" pieces. Set aside.
Milk and Honey Cake Syrup
- Combine milk, honey and a pinch of salt with a whisk until all the honey is dissolved into the milk. Set aside.
Chocolate Ganache
- In a small saucepan, bring heavy whipping cream to a simmer.
- In a heat safe bowl, pour the hot cream over the dark chocolate.
- Let the mixture sit for a few minutes then whisk to combine.
- Put chocolate ganache into a squeeze bottle, set aside.
Assembling the Trifle
- Put marshmallow fluff in a piping bag or Ziplock bag and cut a hole in one of the corners. If you have piping bags, attach a star tip to the piping bag.
- In a trifle dish or other bowl, pipe a layer of marshmallow fluff and drizzle with ganache.
- Next, add in a layer of diced cake pieces then carefully drizzle with a few tablespoons the milk and honey syrup, just enough to get some on each piece of cake.
- Sprinkle with some graham cracker crumbs and mini chocolate chips.
- Repeat the above steps until all ingredients are used up. Mine made 4-5 layers.
- Garnish the top with more marshmallow fluff, graham cracker crumbs, and mini chocolate chips.
- Serve and enjoy!
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