S'mores Cellar Cake

When I was a little girl, my step mom, Caroline, used to make a German Cake called, Kellerkuchen or "Cellar Cake". She made it out of graham crackers layered with a sweetened German chocolate which was then chilled to set the chocolate. This was my favorite cake as a little girl. Although, it's less like a cake and more like a candy  bar, because you can cut off thin slices and eat it with your hands, just like a candy bar. I hadn't had Cellar Cake in a very long time, but I immediately thought of it when I set out to use some leftover ganache from the Peanut Butter Pound Cake I made earlier in the week. I took inspiration from Caroline's delicious Cellar Cake and added layers of marshmallows along with the ganache to make this very easy, S'mores Cellar Cake. 

This S'mores Cellar Cake is softer than Caroline's Cellar Cake. The main reason is because the ganache is soft and liquid at room temperature. In Caroline's Cellar Cake the chocolate was thicker and more like a hard frosting that hardened in the fridge and still held firm once pulled from the fridge. So this cake must be refrigerated to firm up the layers after you frost them. In fact, you may have to pop it into the fridge periodically during assembly if the chocolate gets too warm. If it sits in the refrigerator overnight, if it lasts that long, the graham crackers get soft and the marshmallows and chocolate all become this soft, chewy, delicious slice of heaven. The best part, it's as easy as making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, just spread the chocolate and marshmallow cream on each layer and stack it. Done! 

S'mores Cellar Cake
Makes 2 cakes

2 sleeve of Graham Crackers
3 cups marshmallows, any size
2 cups chocolate ganache
1 T butter

If you don't have leftover ganache as I did, you will need to make the ganache first and allow it to cool and thicken in the refrigerator. 

Chocolate Ganache

4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces
2/3 cup heavy cream

Place chocolate pieces into a medium bowl and set aside. Heat cream in small saucepan and bring to a gentle boil. Watch carefully to ensure you don't scorch the cream. Remove from heat and add hot cream to chocolate, let sit for about 5-10 minutes to melt the chocolate. Whisk until fully melted and incorporated. Let cool completely or place in the refrigerator to chill and thicken to a consistency of soft peanut butter. (~1 hour)

On medium heat, melt butter in small saucepan and add marshmallows. Allow marshmallows to melt, stirring frequently. Once they begin to melt together you can turn off the heat and let sit to melt completely. 

Line a bread pan with parchment paper. 

Each layer will consist of one and a half graham crackers.


Frost first layer of graham crackers with chocolate ganache. 

Frost the next layer with marshmallow cream. Position the whole graham cracker over the bottom half graham, kind of like you are laying bricks and continue to stagger the position throughout each layer. 

In these photos, I alternated the layers of chocolate and marshmallow cream. For my second cake, which I unfortunately didn't photograph, I put the chocolate and the marshmallow cream between each layer of graham crackers. To do this, simply frost the first cracker as stated, but for the second layer, lay the marshmallow cream cracker face down sandwiching with the chocolate. Frost the top of the second graham cracker with chocolate and repeat. Chill in refrigerator until set. Use parchment to lift cake out of pan, cut into 1" slices and serve.