At Thanksgiving, what always comes first?

Well, usually breakfast, but if you’re not thinking about food, it’s family.

That “family first” mentality is exactly why I bribed my momma into joining me on this Pin Up adventure.

Last year, I ran across the “Ultimate S’mores Cake” and promptly begged Momma to make it for my birthday. She cut a few corners, but it didn’t matter — I was hooked.

So, over break, we gave it another shot. Guess what? Still fantastic.

The basic concept of this cake is wonderful layered with delicious. Are you ready for this?

Brownie

Marshmallow frosting

Chocolate chip cookie

Marshmallow frosting

Cheesecake

Chocolate frosting

Graham crackers

Chocolate frosting

Cheesecake

Marshmallow frosting

Chocolate chip cookie

Marshmallow frosting

Brownie

Chocolate frosting

The original recipe calls for homemade everything. Because that would take all day, Momma and I took a few liberties — mostly in the form of pre-packed goods. Instead of making our own cookie dough and brownie batter, we turned to my good friends Duncan Hines and Pillsbury.

We made the cheesecake and marshmallow icing from scratch, though. Mom used her own chocolate frosting recipe because the original one requires three sticks of butter. We thought that was a little extreme, so we compromised with two.

The key to this dessert is working in phases. This was especially true for us because we had Thanksgiving in Alabama. So, Mom made the chocolate icing in Kentucky, we made the cheesecake on Wednesday night, and we baked and assembled the rest on Thursday.

We also planned ahead and brought extra cake pans. This allowed us to bake more at once, which really expedited the process.

The basic baking format is as follows:

Coat the pan with non-stick spray, put parchment paper in it (you’ll need to cut it into a circle, just trace the bottom of the pan), spray that, then pour half your batter in.

Once everything has been baked, assembly is pretty easy. Follow the pattern above and you’re good to go. The hardest part is honestly breaking the graham crackers to fit them in a circle. If you enjoy puzzles, you’ll like this part a lot more than I did.

The pre-packaged mixes really helped us. If you have the time, the homemade version is probably a little bit sweeter — if you can handle it.

Here’s what my momma had to say about her second seven-layered adventure:

“I cannot imagine making the whole thing from scratch, as it was time consuming using pre-packaged mixes. It helped having four pans the correct size so that I could bake two things at once.

So, I didn’t follow all the Pinterest recipe to the letter, but the end result is the same — a delightful and delicious cake.”

I’ll let y’all in on a small secret. The first time she made it, the cheesecake was left out entirely. We included it this time, and mom said it added a little extra moisture that she thought really helped the whole cake. To me, it was an awkward texture and I could have done without.”

If you include cheesecake, remember to refrigerate this masterpiece and let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes before you serve it — you won’t be able to slice through all seven layers otherwise.

Tessa will return next week to wrap up the semester of Pin Up Girls with a little holiday cheer.

Happy Pinning!