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!
22 Responses to Oreo Cupcakes
Leave a Reply
About
I'm Heather. I'm 33 and have been married to Michael for seven years. Together, we have two beautiful little girls we love more than anything, and a miniature dachshund who drives us crazy. I'm a full-time working mom who has very little time for my own "stuff" these days, like home improvement, cooking/baking, cake decorating, and photography. Despite the team not making the playoffs since 1999, I'm STILL a Buffalo Bills fan, which I think speaks to my loyalty AND sense of humor. I can't wait to pick up the pace with travel again some day... you know, when we're done being ruled by tiny fists. Welcome to my blog.
yumm-o! if I wasn’t getting married in a month, I’d be making these, and probably eating them all. I’ll save these for AFTER the big day :)
Those look super yummy. I could totally go for one right now!
Those look SO SO SO good! I definitely am going to try these sometime. But I’ll have to wait for a party or something, otherwise I will be tempted to eat them all! :)
those are the most beautiful cupcakes i have ever seen
Those look amazing!! I agree with previous poster..if only I wasn’t trying to watch my weight for my wedding in a few months! I will definitely be giving these a try after though!
You should definitely check out the recipe for these in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World! To die for! (actually, everything in that cute little cookbook is amazing) You make them way prettier than me, though!
I don’t even like chocolate cake, but that looks AWESOME. :)
These look yummy! I plan on trying them soon!
These are so good! I made mine with homemade oreos (recipe from smitten kitchen). I will be posting them soon on my blog. Thank you!!
That Oreo Buttercream is amazing!
Had this recipe bookmarked for a while waiting for the opportunity to make these gorgeous-looking cupcakes. Having a get together later this evening and just finished making them and i had to just try one out :-) and they are pure cases of deliciousness. Thank u for the recipe, this is definately my new favourite chocolate recipe!
Omg. Going to make them now. Thanks for recipe.
Taht’s some pretty serious decorating in the laundry room! These look great. Going to try them out tonight. Thanks
Ha, funny! Except our washer and dryer are actually in our kitchen. :)
I found some the other day in our local store and they were delish!! So I went online to look for the recipe… and I found this one. We REALLY DON’T like it!! It taste like strait crisco! NOT GOOD! save yourself the time! Too bad I have to throw the cake away :-(
In response to the comment by Anonymous–
This buttercream recipe is clearly shortening-based, based off of the Wilton buttercream recipe. If you are disgusted by shortening, you can very easily adapt this recipe by substituting butter for the shortening (use the same amount).
You will, however, notice a difference in consistency. Shortening-based buttercreams typically hold up much better than butter-based ones, especially at room temperature and in any kind of heat. Also, I’ve had trouble decorating with butter-based buttercreams before, as the frosting tends to melt from the heat of your hand when you’re working with a piping bag.
Alternatively, if you want the “best of both worlds,” you can use half shortening, half butter.
For all of these reasons, I usually make my buttercream with shortening (assuming I’m using it to do any kind of decorating). While I’ve always had people gobble it up without issue, I know that some might be pickier about the taste of their buttercream frosting… and in that case, definitely use butter.
I was recruited to make a chocolate cake with oreos for a friend’s surprise birthday party. This looks perfect! Is the cake moist? And if I make 2 rounds, should there be enough icing fill between the layers and ice the outside of the cake? Thnanks for the recipe!
WOW, these look awesome!!!
Could you tell me what kind of cups you used? Or maybe weigh the ingredients measured with cups? I always mess up recipes using cups as measurement :(
Thanks in advance!!!
Your changes to these recipes, makes them perfect, the addition of Oreos is great, the cupcakes look so yummy. I’ve featured this recipe on my blog, hoping that you don’t mind, but if you do, please contact me and I’ll remove it. All the best.
[…] Find the recipe at : http://www.heatherdriveblog.com […]
I’ve got these in the oven now. So excited about them. Thanks for the note that says that the batter will be thin. I was worried for a minute. But they look amazing. Just the type of recipe I wanted.
This is the best recipe. I have made it a few times now. I made some today into mini cupcakes. One recipe makes a whole lot. I think I got at least 100 out of it. They bake in 15 minutes.I also like that this recipe gives me an excuse to buy oreos.