Faith Durand's S'Mores Pudding Cake

This week, Faith Durand from The Kitchn is serving as a Guest Editor at Food52. She chose a Wildcard winner, answered your questions on the Hotline, and is continuing to share recipes from her new book, Bakeless Sweets -- because during summer, dessert shouldn't require an oven.

This was the first recipe I developed for Bakeless Sweets, having been seized by the dubious ambition to create the most over-the-top, Pinterest-slaying s'mores dessert ever. This was strange, as I don't like s'mores very much; I find the clash of textures hard to enjoy. But I had a soft, gooey s'more at a restaurant one evening, with a tender graham cake as the base, and I realized that the icebox cake was the perfect canvas for s'mores flavors. This one has real torched marshmallows (you'll need a kitchen torch) and rich chocolate custard, slathered between graham crackers that soften in the fridge. No sharp edges -- just pure s'mores bliss. 

S'Mores Pudding Cake

Serves 8 or more

Pudding Cake

4 cups (1 batch) Rich Chocolate Custard
4 sleeves graham crackers
3 cups mini marshmallows
One 13-ounce jar marshmallow crème

Rich Chocolate Custard

6 ounces semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup cream
3 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.

Photo by Stacy Newgent for Bakeless Sweets by Faith Durand