Chocolate Fudge Cake: Marshmallow S’mores Dessert
This recipe for S’mores Chocolate Fudge Cake is loaded with marshmallow and graham crackers. It’s the next best thing to sitting by a campfire in the summer.
Enjoy all the gooey goodness of your favorite summertime treat all year round with this delicious recipe for S’Mores Chocolate Fudge Cake. It’s a super easy recipe made with a boxed cake mix and all your favorite campfire s’mores ingredients!
The Best Chocolate Birthday Cake
Are you the type of person who relishes the thought of your birthday and marking the start of a brand new year of life? Or are you the type who loathes it and would rather no one noticed?
Personally, I’m not quite as bad as my sister who claims an entire birth-month to celebrate, but I do look forward to having a day once a year to feel special and reflect on who I’ve become and where my life is headed.
This year, I’m officially reaching “mid-life” — the big 4-0! It’s not going to be black balloons, tombstones and over the hill stuff for me, though. I love celebrating birthdays with my family and prefer we mark this momentous occasion with bright colors, good cheer and of course, cake!
This melt-in-your-mouth S’mores Chocolate Fudge Cake has graham cracker, toasted marshmallow and melted chocolate bars. It’s like having your favorite summer-time treat any time of the year.
What You Need:
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Kitchen Tools Needed:
- mixing bowls
- mixing spatula
- 9×13 glass baking dish
- terry cloth strip
- wooden spoon
Ingredients Needed
Read the detailed ingredients and instructions in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post. But here’s a general overview of what you’ll need from the store.
- Chocolate fudge cake mix
- Water
- Vegetable oil
- Eggs
- Jar of hot fudge
- Graham crackers
- Marshmallow cream
- Chocolate bars, broken into pieces
I originally shared this S’more Chocolate Fudge Cake recipe at Belle of the Kitchen a few weeks ago as the latest in our Ideas for the Kitchen exchange where Ashlyn and I trade blogs to bring you new recipes and ideas for your kitchen. Both Ashlyn and I were born in the month of March.
To celebrate, we thought it would be really fun to swap birthday dessert ideas this month. While I was there, she was here sharing a delicious recipe for Cake Batter Bars.
The S’mores Chocolate Fudge Cake I’m sharing today was inspired by a “Campfire Cupcake” I had at a bakery in Chicago several years ago. It was covered in toasted marshmallows, crushed graham crackers and rich chocolate.
I just knew I had to try making my own version as an entire 9 x 13″ cake when we celebrated my mother’s birthday that year. She has a summer birthday and what says summer more than s’mores and campfires?
S’Mores Poke Cake
Another name for this cake is a poke cake. That’s because you literally bake the cake first, then poke it and pour chocolate fudge into the holes.
Poking and filling with chocolate fudge will make it really gooey and rich. Be prepared. If you enjoy chocolate and sweets, this will become one of your new favorite desserts.
Why wait until summer, though, to enjoy s’mores?! This delicious S’mores Chocolate Fudge Cake is like having gooey toasted marshmallow s’mores by a roaring campfire to bring a little warmth and good cheer to what can otherwise be a cold dreary season.
S’mores Chocolate Fudge Cake
Ingredients
- 15.25 oz chocolate fudge cake mix
- 1 1/4 cup Water
- 1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
- 3 Eggs
- 11.75 oz jar of hot fudge
- 6 graham crackers
- 7 oz jar marshmallow cream
- 4 – 1.55 oz. chocolate bars broken into pieces
Instructions
- Mix the chocolate fudge cake following the instructions on the box for oil, water and eggs.
- Pour the chocolate fudge cake mix into a lightly greased 9 x 13″ glass baking dish. TIP: To help the cake cook evenly, run a strip of terrycloth from an old bath towel under cold water. Wrap it around the cake pan and secure it with a safety pin. This will keep the edges from cooking too quickly which causes the cake to mound up in the center.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let the chocolate fudge cake cool for 15 minutes.
- Use the end of a wooden spoon to poke holes in the cake about 1 inch apart.
- Heat the jar of hot fudge in the microwave for 30 seconds. Stir, then heat for 20 more seconds. Pour 3/4 of the jar over the top of the holes in the cake.
- Broil on high for 1-2 minutes or until the marshmallows are toasted. WATCH CLOSELY so the marshmallow doesn’t burn.
- As soon as you take the chocolate fudge cake out of the oven, drizzle the remaining hot fudge across the top. Insert chocolate bar pieces into the toasted marshmallow.
Nutrition
Serving Suggestions for S’mores Chocolate Fudge Cake
- Serve it warm. This S’more Chocolate Fudge Cake is best served warm.
- Pair with vanilla ice cream. Pair it with cold vanilla ice cream, if you’re celebrating a birthday. Candles and party hats are optional.
- Serve with graham crackers. This is a really gooey cake, so feel free to use some graham crackers to help cut down on the richness or to dip into the cake.
- Room temperature is ok. I served this S’mores Chocolate Fudge Cake to my Bible study group the day after I made it, though, and they seemed to enjoy it just as well at room temperature.
What’s your favorite birthday cake or dessert? Do you have a standard one you enjoy every year or do you prefer to try new desserts for your birthdays? Please comment below and share. We would love to hear about your traditions and are always looking for new ideas.
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More Cake Ideas
While you’re here, be sure to check out other cake ideas on Ideas for the Home by Kenarry® –
If you liked this S’mores Chocolate Fudge Cake Recipe, please share it with your friends or pin it for later:
Originally published March 2015. Updated March 2018.
I would eat the whole pan of this with a whole tub of ice cream. In one sitting.
Better have a glass of milk (or two) to go with it too, Emily! 🙂
Thanks Kim! I’m so glad our recipe caught your eye. We’re thrilled you came by to check it out.
This looks awesome, so much better than the mini smores I made in the microwave tonight, with chocolate chips and fluff. I pinned this so I can keep it for the next pot luck, I am totally making these. I gave it three stars for now, only because I haven’t had the chance to make it yet, this is just based on what I know I will like. I will re-rate once I am able to make it!
Oooh… I have chocolate chips and fluff in my cupboard right NOW… that does sound like a great idea in a pinch, though I can’t wait to hear about what you think about this S’mores Chocolate Fudge Cake. Hope you and your friends enjoy it at your next potluck!
Smores anything goes to top of my list! Pinned to my Smores board 🙂
Poppin’ in from the Creative Exchange Linky Party.
You have an entire s’mores board on Pinterest, Alexandra? That’s awesome! Thanks for including our S’mores Chocolate Fudge Cake.
You’re so welcome, Kyla! Thank you for coming by to check out the cake!
Would chocolate syrup work? It’s all I have right now and I want to make thus now. What do you think?
Hi Amy, great question! I’ve never tried it with chocolate syrup. I think it would work though. You’d just skip the part about microwaving it since chocolate syrup is already more runny. Let me know how it turns out!
What a perfect summer treat! Thanks for sharing at Motivational Monday! Hope you will link up again tonight.
You’re welcome, Becky! Thanks for coming by to check out the recipe. We appreciate the opportunity to share our ideas at your party.
YUM – that looks so good. My husband would love it!! Pinning it to try one day! 🙂
Thanks, Jamie! I hope your husband loves the cake. Mine sure does!
OH my goodness. This looks like heaven. Thanks for sharing at the #HomeMattersParty 🙂
Oh Brittany! It sure is. Thanks for visiting us from the #HomeMattersParty!
This looks incredible! We love smores, and we love cake- such a great idea to combine the two!
Thanks so much for linking up at The Pretty Pintastic Party– we will be featuring this post at the party this weekend! We hope you’ll stop by, grab a featured button, and link up some more amazing posts!
Oh Jamie! I am absolutely thrilled you chose to feature our S’mores Chocolate Fudge Cake at the Pretty Pintastic Party this week. Thank you! Thank you! 🙂
I wish I had found this a couple of months ago. Our theme for the Silver & Gold Charity Auction (navy scholarship thing) was “Raising S’more for Charity.” And at the party for the VIP’s I was responsible for s’mores related desserts. I ended up developing my own s’mores bark (which turned out pretty well, actually)….but this looks great too. I was actually wanting something more “dessert”.
Jennie
p.s. I found your post via “Pinterest Party” (and going to pin your pin…obviously) on Recipes for our Daily Bread.
p.p.s. Planning on going to check out your Pinterest page right now!
What a fun theme for a party, Jennie! Thank you so much for pinning and sharing the recipe — and for checking us out on Pinterest. We really appreciate it.
Dee, thank you so much for featuring our S’mores Chocolate Fudge Cake. We’re thrilled you liked it!
this looks A-mazing! Came across post while featured at Friday Flash Blog at The Jenny Evolution!
Thanks, Susan! I’m thrilled you came by to check it out. 🙂
Made this tonight for my son’s birthday, he added M&M’s to it as well! Very delicious but I think we’ll try brownies next time. The only downfall was that when your cutting pieces, all the gooey goodness sticks to the knife! We also had ice cream on the side! Was definitely a hit!!
Robin, you totally made my day! I’m thrilled to hear you made this cake for your son’s birthday. I bet it was so colorful and fun to make with M&Ms. I haven’t made it in a while, but I wonder if you dipped the knife in water before slicing if it would keep the gooey goodness from sticking to the knife? Either way — I agree this would be a yummy way to make brownies too. Thank you so much for taking the time to let us know how your son’s birthday cake turned out.
Best wishes,
Carrie at Ideas for the Home by Kenarry®
How long do you leave the towel around the pan? You don’t bake it do you?
Hi Annica,
Great question! I actually DO bake the cake with the strip of towel wrapped around JUST the edges of the pan (not under it). The towel strip should be only 1.5-2″ wide the same as the depth of the pan. Just make sure the towel is really wet with very COLD water so it doesn’t burn. Remove the strip of towel after step 3 once you’ve initially baked the cake for 30-35 minutes. At that point, the strip of towel will have dried out and you can just toss it in the laundry with the rest of your towels the next time you’re doing a load. If you’re not comfortable using a strip of towel, you can just skip that part all together. The cake will just mound up a little in the center because the edges cook faster.
Happy baking!
Best wishes,
Carrie
Ideas for the Home by Kenarry®
Thanks Carrie!