S’Mores Pound Cake

When my baby girl asked me for a S’Mores Pound Cake, she gave me very detailed specifications: two-thirds chocolate cake, swirled with one-third vanilla cake. Allow them to naturally swirl together in the pan, instead of manipulating the swirl before it goes into the oven. Very vanilla simple syrup, and a vanilla meringue on top. Oh, and crumbled graham crackers, because it cannot possibly be s’mores without graham crackers.

Easy peasy, right? 

WRONG. I spent more time than I care to admit, manifesting what was in her mind. 😂 But BBs, it was entirely worth it because her vision was outstanding, and the final cake was absolutely perfect.

It’s giving…toasted marshmallows, firepits, and melty chocolate-y goodness. It is…s’mores, and I hope that it serves up the most nostalgic feelings for you as it did for me.

In this Post:

The Recipe

S’Mores Pound Cake

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This S’Mores Pound Cake has a swirly, twirly, delicious chocolate and vanilla marble base, a very vanilla simple syrup, and a decadent vanilla meringue that is positively outstanding. It will conjure up all the sweet campfire feelings without you having to be wet and cold. Enjoy!

• Total Time: 5-7 hours
• Yield: 18 servings 1x

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

For the Cake Batter:

• 314 g (~2 1/2 c) all-purpose flour, divided (187 g [~1 1/2 c] for chocolate cake, 127 g [1 c] for vanilla cake)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda, divided (1/4 tsp for each dry mix)
• 43 g (1/2 c) natural cocoa powder
• 32 g (1/4 c) dry chocolate pudding
• 1 tsp kosher salt, divided (1/3 tsp for vanilla, 2/3 tsp for chocolate)
• 227 g (1 c) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 tbsp neutral oil (I like avocado oil, but any neutral oil will suffice)
• 500 g (2 1/2 c) granulated sugar
• 6 eggs
• 1 1/2 tbsp pure vanilla extract
• 227 g (1 c) sour cream, divided (153 g [2/3 c] for chocolate, 74 [1/3 c] for vanilla)

For the Vanilla Simple Syrup:

• 84 g (1/3 c) water
• 67 g (1/3 c) granulated sugar
• 1/8 tsp fine sea salt
• 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

For the Vanilla Meringue:

• 300 g (1 1/2 c) granulated sugar
• 5 large egg whites
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

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Instructions

To Make the Cake:

1. Set oven to a true 325°. An oven thermometer will help you determine whether your oven is actually the correct temperature. 
2. Sift together 187 g all-purpose flour, ½ tsp baking soda, natural cocoa powder, dry pudding mix, and ½ tsp kosher salt into a medium bowl. Set aside. 
3. Sift together 127 g all-purpose flour, ¼ tsp baking soda, and ⅓ tsp kosher salt in a second bowl. Set aside.
4. Place 153 g of sour cream in a small bowl and set aside, next to the dry ingredients for the chocolate cake.
5. Place 74 g of sour cream and a tablespoon of neutral oil in a second small bowl. Set aside, next to the dry ingredients for the vanilla cake.
6. This step is very important! For this recipe, you’ll need two mixing bowls. Your primary mixing bowl, where you’ll make your chocolate cake batter, and your secondary mixing bowl, where you’ll make your vanilla cake batter. Before you start (in your primary bowl), you need the bowl weight of each bowl. Write down the bowl weight for each bowl and set that aside where you’ll be able to find it quickly later.
7. Place all of the butter into your primary mixing bowl. Mix on medium speed until the butter is completely smooth.
8. Add the granulated sugar and cream the mixture until light and fluffy. (psst…don’t know what it means to “cream until light and fluffy”? Take a look at this article!) Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary to ensure even mixing.
9. Add all six eggs, one at a time. Mix each egg until it’s fully incorporated before adding the next egg. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary to ensure even mixing.
10. Add all of the pure vanilla extract and mix until fully combined.
11. Place ⅓ of the batter into a second mixing bowl. To do this, follow these steps: a) Weigh the primary mixing bowl while it is full with all of the batter; subtract the weight of the empty mixing bowl, using your note from earlier; and c) multiply the remaining weight by .33 to figure out how much batter needs to be added to the second bowl. Then, remove that amount of batter from the primary mixing bowl into the second mixing bowl. 
12. To finish the chocolate batter: Add half of the flour/cocoa mixture and mix on low speed until nearly combined. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary.
13. Add all of the plain sour cream (not the sour cream/oil mix) and mix on low speed until nearly combined.
14. Add the second half of the flour/cocoa mixture and mix on low speed until nearly combined. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a stiff spatula, and fold the batter until it is smooth and combined. Set the chocolate cake batter aside while you prepare the vanilla cake batter.
15. To finish the vanilla batter: Add half of the flour mixture and mix on low speed until nearly combined. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary.
16. Add all of the sour cream/oil mix and mix on low speed until nearly combined.
17. Add the second half of the flour mixture and mix on low speed until nearly combined. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a stiff spatula, and fold the batter until it is smooth and combined. 
18. Prepare a 10- or 12-cup bundt pan as you normally would. Use an ice cream scoop to layer chocolate and vanilla batter in the bundt; you should begin and end with chocolate batter, since there is more chocolate than vanilla.  My daughter says that you should not swirl the mixture with a skewer or the back of a spoon, but I say do what you like (just don’t tell her I said that). 
19. Bake at 325° for 65-75 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the cake reaches 212°F.
20. Remove the pan from the oven. After ten minutes, remove the cake from the pan by inverting the pan onto a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely.

To Make the Vanilla Simple Syrup:

1. Place granulated sugar, water, and salt in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil.
2. Remove from the heat and add pure vanilla extract. Stir to combine.
3. Once the cake is fully cooled, brush with the fully cooled simple syrup.

To Make the Vanilla Meringue:

1. Bring 2” of water to a low boil in a large (3 qt.) saucepan.  
2. Carefully separate eggs, placing them in a clean metal bowl (either a stand mixer or a large stainless steel bowl).  Add sugar and stir to combine.
3. Place a metal bowl over the top of the saucepan while the water is still boiling.  Whisk the egg white mixture over the saucepan until all of the sugar is completely dissolved.  
4. Remove the metal bowl from the stove.  Add the fine sea salt, cream of tartar, and vanilla extract. Using the whisk attachment on either your hand mixer or your stand mixer, whisk the mixture on the lowest speed until it is nearly opaque.  
5. Increase the mixer to medium speed until the mixture begins to look light and fluffy.
6. Increase the mixer to the highest speed until the meringue is done.  To check the meringue, remove the whisk attachment from the mixture and invert it.  If the meringue slowly folds down over the whisk attachment, it’s complete.
7. Using an offset spatula, quickly spread the meringue over the cooled cake.  If desired, use a butane torch to toast the meringue. Top with crumbled graham crackers and enjoy!

Equipment

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Notes

Need help mastering the steps of this pound cake (there are, admittedly, some pretty specific steps.)? Want help understanding the baking science behind this special campfire-inspired recipe? Fear not, intrepid baking explorer! I have a number of resources, below, to help you go forward boldly, confidently, and knowledgeably with this cake! Read on for more!

• Author: Shani
• Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes (active)
• Cook Time: 65-75 minutes
• Category: Dessert

S’Mores Pound Cake Ingredients

Recipe tinkerers, unite! By reading this section, you’ll learn some of the important baking science in this recipe, which will help understand how to personalize this recipe to a degree. While I don’t recommend wholesale changes to an existing recipe, there are always fun touches that you can add to make it your own! Read on to learn more!

All-Purpose Flour – This kitchen staple is a pound cake’s backbone! While it might be tempting to reach for cake flour, stick with all-purpose for this recipe – its higher protein content gives us that pleasantly plump, tight-crumbed texture we need in a proper pound cake. Cake flour would make things too delicate and fluffy, which isn’t the goal here. Plus, cake flour would not help the batters remain separate, so you’d likely end up with a chocolate cake instead of a marbled cake.

Kosher Salt – Don’t even think about skipping this! Salt is your flavor balancing superhero – it counteracts the sweetness of the sugar while magically making the chocolate and vanilla flavors pop even more. Without it, your cake would taste overly sweet, which would be a sad ending to all of your labor.

Natural Cocoa Powder – Not only does natural cocoa powder give our chocolate swirls that deep chocolate flavor we all love, but it’s also a bit of a science whiz in our cake! Its natural acidity works with baking soda to create tiny bubbles that help the cake rise while keeping things tender and delicious.

Dry Chocolate Pudding – Wonder why this cake stays so ridiculously moist for days (though let’s be real – it never, ever lasts that long)? The secret’s in the pudding mix – literally – since its modified cornstarch and extra cocoa grab onto water molecules like tiny moisture magnets, while also creating that perfect velvety texture we’re after.

Baking Soda – This tiny but mighty ingredient is your cake’s lift ticket! When it meets the acidic natural cocoa powder and sour cream, it creates bubbles that help your cake rise perfectly.

Butter – Butter adds its distinctive delicious flavor, but it does so much more – as butter melts during baking, it helps tenderize the proteins in the flour to achieve perfect balance. Plus, when creamed with sugar, it traps air bubbles that give your cake that perfect pound cake texture.

Neutral Oil: This important ingredient alongside butter to create an exceptionally moist cake that stays fresh longer. Unlike butter, oil remains liquid at room temperature, which results in a cake that tastes moist even longer. And you want this S’Mores Pound Cake to be moist from the first bite to the last!

Granulated Sugar – Sugar isn’t just for sweetness! When creamed with butter, it creates millions of tiny air pockets that give your cake structure. It also helps create that gorgeous, deep golden crust we all fight over.

Eggs – Talk about nature’s perfect contradiction! These kitchen MVPs are basically two ingredients in one shell – the proteins in the whites build structure and strength, while the fatty yolks work to tenderize those same proteins. Strangely enough, though, both characteristics work together perfectly for cake perfection.

Pure Vanilla Extract – Vanilla adds more than just flavor! Vanilla actually enhances our perception of sweetness, meaning we can get maximum yum without having to add extra sugar. Make sure to use pure vanilla extract in your baking, as vanilla flavoring has additional ingredients that can impact the flavor of your cakes.

Neutral Oil – This ingredient is our moisture-boosting secret weapon for the vanilla portion of our marbled cake, just like how the pudding mix works its magic in the chocolate part! By staying liquid at room temperature and coating those flour proteins during mixing, the oil keeps our vanilla swirls super moist and tender for an extended period of time. (Again, this is not usually an issue, as this cake usually disappears during the first offering.)

Full-Fat Sour Cream – Don’t even think about reaching for the low-fat stuff here – full-fat sour cream is bringing its A-game with both fat and acidity to make this cake amazing! The fat tenderizes the proteins in the egg whites and flour, while the acidity interacts with the baking soda to help create rise.

Now that you know the science, there’s some additional resources that will help you become more confident with every S’Mores Pound Cake you ever make! Read on for additional blog resources that will help you take all of your pound cakes to the next level!

S’Mores Pound Cake Math: How to Get Perfect Chocolate and Vanilla Cake Batter Amounts

Let’s talk about one of the most important steps in making the marbled cake base of this S’Mores Pound Cake – getting the right ratio of chocolate to vanilla batter. We’re going for a 2:1 ratio here, which means we’ll need ⅔ chocolate batter and ⅓ vanilla batter. Don’t worry, I’ll walk you through exactly how to do this successfully!

Here’s what to do before you start mixing anything:

• Understand that this cannot be accomplished successfully without a digital kitchen scale. (I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but it’s really necessary for this cake!)
• Weigh your empty mixing bowls and write these numbers down (trust me on this!);
• Keep those numbers handy – you’ll need them in a few minutes.

Once you’ve mixed up your base batter (but before adding any of the chocolate or vanilla dry/wet ingredients), here’s how to divide it perfectly:

1. Weigh your primary mixing bowl with all the batter in it;
2. Subtract the empty bowl weight you wrote down earlier;
3. Multiply that number by 0.33; and
4. Transfer exactly that amount to your second mixing bowl.

Fear not, gentle reader! I have a real-life example for you: Say your bowl of batter weighs 1500g, and you wrote down that your empty bowl weighed 500g. You’d do this math:

• 1500g (full bowl) – 500g (empty bowl) = 1000g total batter
• 1000g × 0.33 = 330g goes into your second bowl for vanilla

Techniques for the Best Marble Cakes

Marble cakes have a reputation for being…fussy. And, for years, I did nothing but add to this reputation, with a steadfast refusal to make a single marble cake in my kitchen. 😂 BUT it doesn’t have to be that way. 

To that end, I’ve cultivated some great technique resources from the Begin with Butter site to help you create the most gorgeous (marble) pound cakes of your life. Read on to get a ton of confidence-building tips!

• My Favorite Bundt Pans
• Sifting: Quick Technique, Huge Impact
• Meet Your Kitchen BFF–Your Digital Kitchen Scale! (this one is particularly important for this cake!)
• Technique Tips for the Best Pound Cakes
• How to Cream Butter and Sugar (With New Video!)
• Baking 101: How to Measure Ingredients
• How to Grease a Bundt Pan
• The Best Tools for Perfect Pound Cakes
• Knowing When to Stop a Technique
• Begin with Butter Home Baking Academy | Perfect Pound Cakes Class!

These resources are super helpful to help you build consistency and confidence on your marble cake (and pound cake) journey. Happy reading!

But wait! There’s more! Grab your coffee or a glass of wine and get ready to check out my favorite equipment!

Important Tools

Guess what? Begin with Butter has its own Amazon Storefront, where you can find all of the amazing equipment that I used in this S’Mores Pound Cake! Want even more specific product recommendations? Check out the product links, below.

I do get paid a commission when you purchase, but these are the tools that I use all the time in my own kitchen.

If you have these tools already, great! Think of this as a checklist to help you build the confidence that you’ll need to execute this cake!

• Taylor Oven Thermometer
• ThermoWorks Square Dot Thermometer
• Ozeri Pronto Digital Food Scale
• OXO Digital Food Scale
• KitchenAid Hand Mixer
• KitchenAid Stand Mixer 
• Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl Set
• Deli Containers for Prep
• OXO Spatula Set
• Sifter
• My Absolute Favorite Pound Cake Pans

Conclusion: This Cake is a Sweet, Nostalgic Treat

This marbled masterpiece brings all your favorite s’mores flavors into one showstopping cake. Each bite offers the perfect balance of rich chocolate and vanilla-scented cake, both impossibly moist and tender. The cloud-like vanilla meringue mimics the gooey marshmallow you love in a traditional s’more, while the graham cracker crumbs add that essential crunch and honey-sweet flavor that ties everything together. Whether you torch the meringue for that campfire-kissed flavor or leave it pristinely white, this cake is guaranteed to be the talk of any gathering.

I’d love to see your take on this S’mores Pound Cake! Find me at beginwithbutter.com, or come hang out with me on Instagram @beginwithbutter, where I share tips, tricks, and plenty of baking science to help you become a more confident baker. Tag me in your creations – I absolutely love seeing what comes out of your kitchen! And if you have specific questions about this or any other recipe, drop me a line at bakingbestie@beginwithbutter.com. Can’t wait to share Day 9 of our holiday baking adventure with you tomorrow!