Oreo Cupcakes

If you love Oreos and chocolate, this recipe is for you.

Last week, I saw a photo of an Oreo cupcake on Cupcakes Take the Cake. "Chocolate cake filled with Oreos, topped with Oreo buttercream, and for good measure, one more tiny Oreo on top." Ummm, HELLO. These things spoke to me. They wanted me to make them at that very instant. The problem? Well, a lack of recipe. The photo was from a bakery's website, and well, bakeries don't usually go handing out their secrets.

So, I hit Google searching for just the right cake recipe, and of course, an Oreo buttercream recipe. I didn't find exactly what I was looking for, but I was nudged in the right direction. I figured, what the hell? I'll just get in the kitchen and experiment.

And that's what I did. My experiment? A COMPLETE SUCCESS. Mission accomplished.

See for yourselves:

It's really quite a shame that we don't have more leftovers, because I could so go for another one. But my waistline is thankful, I assure you. We took these over to a family dinner at my mom's house on Saturday night, and came home with just two cupcakes (the recipe made 24!). Not only did everyone indulge in one after dinner, but cupcake doggie bags were made for all.

OK, so let's talk about what I did. First, I searched for the most amazing chocolate cake recipe I could find. I have to admit that I had never made chocolate cake from scratch before, so I had to start new.

I had seen and heard good things about Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake, and after doing some poking around, reading reviews and such, I decided to go with it. My only modification to it was the addition of crushed Oreos in the batter. And well, it was the best chocolate cake I've ever had. Hands down.

Then, I took Wilton's buttercream frosting recipe (the one that I've made tons of times now, thanks to my cake decorating classes and my subsequent cake projects), and turned that into "Oreo Buttercream." And it was, well, amazing. Very sweet, but when on top of the "perfectly chocolate" chocolate cake? It was perfect.

Before I began working on the cupcakes and frosting, I opened up my package of Oreos and started to cut them in half with a sharp knife. Some of them break, so I found it was best to do this in the beginning to ensure I'd get 24 good-looking Oreo halves to use for the tops of the cupcakes. The ones that broke, I set aside and used for the cake and the frosting. Between the cake, the buttercream, and the tops, I used the entire bag of Oreos (minus a cookie or two that my husband and I sampled).

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake

(Source: Hersheys.com)

Ingredients:
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup boiling water
- 8-10 Oreo cookies, crushed or put through food processor (optional) - My addition

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans (For cupcakes or other pan sizes, see variations listed below.)

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.

VARIATIONS:
ONE-PAN CAKE: Grease and flour 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Heat oven to 350° F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely. Frost.

THREE LAYER CAKE: Grease and flour three 8-inch round baking pans. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost.

BUNDT CAKE: Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50 to 55 minutes. Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely. Frost.

CUPCAKES: Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Heat oven to 350°F. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. About 30 cupcakes. (I filled my muffin cups about 3/4 full to get bigger cupcakes, so I only got 24 out of the recipe.)

Oreo Buttercream

Ingredients:
- 1 cup shortening or butter (I use shortening so it doesn't have to be refrigerated)
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp. water
- 1 lb. confectioner's sugar (if you don't have a scale, it's approximately 4 cups)
- 1 tbsp. meringue powder
- 12-14 Oreos, finely crushed in food processor

Directions:
1. In bowl of stand mixer, cream shortening, vanilla, and water.

2. Add confectioner's sugar, meringue powder, and crushed Oreos. Mix until well combined.

3. At this point, your frosting will be very thick. To top cupcakes, it's better to have medium to thin consistency icing, so you'll have to add more water. I probably added another 2-3 tbsp. to get the desired consistency, but you'll want to add the water little by little to make sure you don't add too much. When it's the right consistency, it should be pretty easy to stir by hand (think about whether you'd be able to easily squeeze it out of a piping bag). If you accidentally make it too thin (runny), add more confectioner's sugar.

Once cupcakes were completely cool, I used a piping bag to add a decorative swirl on top of each one. Then I pushed one half of an Oreo cookie into the frosting for garnish.

The result was the perfect Oreo cupcake. Enjoy!