Sunday, June 20, 2010

Father's Day "Death by Oreo Cupcakes"

I wasn't planning on baking cupcakes this weekend considering I am due any day now with our second daughter, but I realized it was fathers day or as I like to call it "baby daddy day" and I just HAD to make something. I have an ever growing list of cupcakes to make and I have been wanting to make oreo cupcakes for a while now. I have seen oreo cakes and cupcakes recently in ads and blogs so maybe this is a popular recipe for fathers day. Either way I wanted to make them. I took my chocolate cupcake recipe, used dark cocoa powder instead of regular, put an oreo at the bottom of the cupcake and frosting with quite possibly the yummiest frosting ever, swiss meringue butter cream with oreo cookie crumbs mixed in. Topped off with a few mini oreos and Voila! "death by Oreos cupcakes" .  I was going to fill them with the frosting too but decided to just top each one with a GIANT swirl of the buttercream. I got a little carried away and had to scrape some off the ones that had a little too much and try to redo so they all got frosted equally. I still had 4 left over and not much frosting left so they got blobs instead of swirls. Still tasted JUST as good. I think next time I would put some batter down then the oreo because as we took the liners off the oreo wasn't stuck to the bottom of the cupcake it fell away. All in all though these were really really yummy and I will make again!!


I went with a two bowl method for these instead of using my stand mixer. I was being lazy and sometimes I really hate washing my mixer bowl and beater blades. 

Using the dark chocolate cocoa powder instead of regular gave these cupcakes a richer flavor and a darker chocolatey color. hmmm yummy

I couldn't get it in the picture very well but I LOVE the oreo package says how many POUNDS of cookies it contains not the actual number of cookies inside. Gotta love Nabisco 

 I carefully twisted the cookies so I placed one half down with the filling inside each liner and saved the other half for the frosting. Okay so maybe I wasn't that careful and a few broke and I ate them - but most made it in. ha ha
Mixing the eggs til they are slightly thickened and more pale in color

Adding in the dry ingredients

So yummy. LOVE this recipe!

Filling the tins. With the oreo at the bottom one scoop of batter seemed to be a little TOO much but I still filled them all the same any way. I ended up with 30 cupcakes this time instead of 27-28. I made 6 without oreos on the bottom to save for another time. Always great to have a few cupcakes stashed in the freezer for an impromptu dessert or practice a decorating style on.
You can see these are pretty full. The batter is super dark. Yes I spray my tins with cooking spray because I have had the cupcakes spill out during baking and stick to the pans and then when I tried to remove the  tops tore off. So better safe than sorry I guess
This time they just puffed up pretty high, didn't spill over.
Yummy chocolaty goodness

I pureed about 12 whole oreos and a few of the tops for the crumbs to be mixed into the frosting

I started with a basic vanilla swiss meringue buttercream and added in the oreo crumbs once it was all mixed together 

Love the little flecks of cookie crumbs

Giant swirls of frosting

I used my massive ateco tip that I call my wilton 1m on steroids piping tip

Yummy

Here is one with the blob of frosting since I didn't have enough left to swirl

And of COURSE one cut in half to see the oreo. These cupcakes are super moist so I was OK with not filling them. Normally I fill them to break up ALL that cake with just the blob of frosting on top and in case they are a little dry the filling helps. But these didn't really need the filling. 


Oreo Cupcake Recipe
MY chocolate cupcake recipe with a few changes


Best Chocolate Cupcakes Ever

Makes 28 -30

Dry Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (dark chocolate cocoa powder like Hersheys)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Wet Ingredients:
1 cup whole milk
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate melted and cooled (cooled for about 15 min make sure its still melted though don’t want it to harden back up)
½ cup plus 1 tbsp water, heated to boiling ( have a kettle of water on the stove boiling ready to go)
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs room temp
2 tablespoons vinegar (not wine vinegar)
1 tablespoon vanilla

1 package of regular sized Oreo cookies and one package of mini Oreo cookies

 Instructions
This can be done with a stand mixer or by hand with a hand mixer or whisk but it is more of a 2 bowl method than one if going the hand mixing route

1. Preheat oven to 350F with rack in the center.
2. Place paper baking cups in regular sized muffin tins, spray edges around 
cups lightly with cooking spray. If you have a small 6 cup muffin tin and you only
get 27 or 28 cupcakes fill the rest of the wells halfway with water and no baking
cup
3. Carefully twist off one side of the oreo and place the half with the cream filling down, filling side up in the bottom of each liner
4. Whisk together the dry ingredients (sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt)
in a large bowl.
5. In a large bowl or bowl of stand mixer whisk eggs till slightly thickened and a pale
color
6. Add in the milk, vanilla, oil and vinegar and whisk/beat well
7. Add in the melted and cooled chocolate and whisk/beat until combined well
8. Either add the flour mixture into the wet ingredients OR the wet into the flour and mix
just to combine. Add in the boiling water and mix again just to combine. Scrape
down the sides of the bowl with a spatula to make sure all the dry ingredients are
incorporated
9. Fill each cupcake liner 3/4 of the way with batter. You will have more than 24 cupcakes this way so if you don't have another tin or even a 6 cup tin, keep the remaining batter set aside and bake  the rest after the first batch comes out of the oven
10. Bake 15-18 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean and free
 of crumbs or the cupcake tops bounce back when lightly pressed. Mine baked for
18 minutes.
11. Let cool for 5 min in pans and then remove carefully to a wire cooling rack. Cool completely before frosting

Oreo Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

Ingredients

Makes 5 cups
  • 5 large egg whites
  • 1 cup plus 2 tbsp granulated sugar
  • 2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into tablespoon sized pieces
  • 1 1/2  tsp teaspoon vanilla extract
  • pinch salt
  • oreo cookie crumbs ( 12-14 whole oreos, pulse in food processor until you get very fine crumbs, no big pieces left)

Directions

  1. Place sugar and egg whites in the heat-proof bowl of an electric mixer. Set bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, and whisk until sugar has dissolved and egg whites are hot to the touch, about 3 minutes. Test by rubbing the mixture between your fingers; it should feel completely smooth.
  2. Transfer bowl to mixer stand. Using the whisk attachment, beat on high speed until mixture has cooled completely and formed stiff and glossy peaks, about 10 minutes.
  3. Add the butter, one piece at a time, and beat until incorporated after each addition. Don't worry if the butter cream appears curdled after all the butter has been added; it will become smooth again with continued beating. Add vanilla, and beat just until combined.
  4. Switch to the paddle attachment, and beat on the low speed to eliminate any air pockets, about 5 minutes. 
  5. Add in the oreo cookie crumbs and beat to incorporate
  6. If using buttercream within several hours, cover bowl with plastic wrap, and set aside at room temperature in a cool environment. Or transfer to an airtight container, and store in the refrigerator, up to 3 days. Before using, bring buttercream to room temperature, and beat on the lowest speed with the paddle attachment until smooth, about 5 minutes.
  7. I personally DON'T switch to the paddle attachment, I keep it on the whisk. Never noticed any difference and then its less attachments to clean up. ha ha 
  8.  This makes enough to GENEROUSLY pipe frosting on to 24 cupcakes or maybe a little more less on 30. It will probably spread onto 40 cupcakes if going the spatula route. 

28 comments:

  1. Yum yum these look lovely - I see you decided to make cakes in the end instead of blog surfing ;) Thanks for your comment on my blog, your frosting looks yummy, which tip did you use?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am going to have to try this "Best Ever" recipe.. now I'm craving Oreo Cupcakes.
    Look amazing!
    Steph

    ReplyDelete
  3. OMG, I can't stop drooling. I will have to make the cupcakes this week and will report back.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great cupcakes! The only problem I had was when taking the wrapper off, the oreo wanted to stick to the paper. Maybe next time I will put it in the middle!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hmm yummy, I love Oreo cupcakes- they're pretty much my no.1 cupcake ever! I love the mini Oreo's on top of yours! and I love putting an oreo in my base too, it's a nice little surprise for people who aren't expecting it! Good luck for when the baby arrives!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi! i have a mixer but it only haves 1 attachment.. its a metalic one.. would it make any difference if i make the frosting that way?... Oh and what if i use salted butter?..

    ReplyDelete
  7. I made them today and they are very very good =) My friends and my daughter loved them. Many thanks and nice greets from Germany

    ReplyDelete
  8. Claudia
    You need the whisk attachment when making the meringue base to aerate it and to get the proper volume you can then switch to the paddle attachment. I suggest getting the whisk I use it ALL the time its a worthy investment for any baker!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I made them for my roommates birthday! Turned out great, I didnt have the proper beater attachments in my tiny kitchen but it all turned out great! Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks for answer! I will keep looking for that attachment! :D

    ReplyDelete
  11. what kind of vinegar do you use?

    ReplyDelete
  12. These were very dense cupcakes, but I guess that's how most chocolate ones are. I'm not a big chocolate person but they were yummy, I made them for my family. The only problem was if you eat the bottom Oreo by itself it tastes burnt but if you eat it with a bite of cupcake you can't tell.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Need I say that these look amazing! I love the little oreos on top! Sooo cute!

    ReplyDelete
  14. My little sister and i made these cupcakes this weekend. The batter tasted delish and the cupcakes looked absolutely perfect, but the cupcakes were dry! I'm not sure what we did wrong. We followed the directions down to the t (chocolate heated then cooled, eggs room temp, etc. etc.) Is there something i could be missing? We couldn't stop eating the batter, it was so good, but then they came out dry. I only cooked them for 15 mins and they were just finished. What could i have done wrong??

    P.S. I love your website, such great recipes :-)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Michelle - you ate too much batter not enough left over for the cupcakes. ha ha Just kidding. Maybe you over mixed or your oven temp is off. Sorry they came out dry they really aren't a dry cupcake. Maybe next time mix in the dry with the wet and fold with a spatula not even a hand mixer and just barely mix to get all ingredients moist. Unless someone else has another suggestion usually overbeating the batter makes them too dry!

    ReplyDelete
  16. I tried these out today for a friends birthday. The cupcakes turned out great, but my frosting is pretty runny. I followed the recipe exactly, with the one exception that I used a hand mixer because that is all I have. Any suggestions to help this?
    Thanks!
    Amy

    ReplyDelete
  17. A hand mixer doesn't have high enough power you have to keep mixing and it will come together eventually. Easier with a stand mixer. A worthy investment for any baker

    ReplyDelete
  18. I made these for a 6th birthday. I will be making this frosting again for sugar cookies. I didn't use this recipe for the cupcakes-- just went with the box cake mix and tossed a cookie in the middle with a cream cheese, egg and sugar mixture. yum.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Looks delicious! I made something similar, but definately plan on trying these! Thanks for sharing!

    http://cupck4u.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  20. why does it have to be boiling water? is it okay since theres eggs in it?

    ReplyDelete
  21. The boiling water helps make the cupcakes moist and it doesn't affect the eggs because once the water is quickly mixed in it isn't at boiling temperature anymore. Just make sure once the water is mixed in the cupcakes make it to the oven pretty quickly!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Michelle ,
    Try adding 1/2 cup sour cream to the batter.. I add this to all my chocolate recipies to make them moist.. Since chocolate does tend to have a dense texture.. !! Enjoy!!

    ReplyDelete
  23. what ateco tip was used for this frosting? they look great!


    thanks, manda

    ReplyDelete
  24. I made these a few weeks ago and everyone raved about them! They were delicious, thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Thank you for the great recipe, I made these yesterday and everybody really loved them... got lots of complements.
    P.S the recipe made 36 cupcakes

    ReplyDelete