Ashleigh’s Oreo Cupcakes

A fun thing about having a baking blog is people come up with ideas and want you to make it for you.  One bad thing about having a baking blog..is people come up with ideas and want you to make it for them.  Now don’t take this the way it sounds…by this I mean I am always my own worst critic.  And for some reason it frightens me whenever other people in mass quantities taste my food.  I worry people are going to say it tastes great to me…and then spit it out when they turn around!  I know…I know!

My good friend Ashleigh (who I plan on trapping in my kitchen one day soon and having her teach me how to make her delicious marinara sauce!) wanted me to make some cupcakes she concocted…and talk about a chocolate lovers cupcake!  (Isn’t her little one too cute?!)

He started hamming it up for the camera.  Her “bigs” are cute too, but Doug had them a little occupied with the Wii. 
Napkin Ring eyes…I had to move quickly on this one…sorry too much flash, but couldn’t get another good one..he was too quick for me!
Whoops….got a little side tracked there, darn babies get me everytime!  Anyways…so Ashleigh texted me one night to do these cupcakes, chocolate, with chocolate chips, buttercream icing with crushed oreos.  I thought…why not throw one more layer in there and add some oreo cream to the middle!  A lot going on with these cupcakes!
I did not have a good chocolate cupcake recipe, I searched and searched, and found one on allrecipes.com.  To be honest with you I may end up trying a devils food cupcake recipe next time, because I want them to be SUPER moist..but truth be told..devils food could be too rich for all of this mix!  When I initially tried this cupcake last night…I think I had tested too much sugar as the process went along to have an adequate taste of it.  So I had one at lunch today…and I must say…they are pretty darn tasty.  The icing tastes like cookies and cream Ice Cream!
One random side note….this weekend is my birthday!  2 more years left in my 20’s to enjoy..where does time go???  So…my question, is it in bad taste to make a birthday cake for myself? I have a great plain yellow birthday cake recipe I have been wanting to do!!
Now, for the recipe (sorry…lots of pictures because a lot of parts!).  To start off with sift together your flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl and set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugar (It will still be very grainy). Then add the eggs one at a time and then the vanilla extract.
Then add in the dry ingredients and the buttermilk alternating with the last bit of dry ingredients in last. Fold in the chocolate chips last.

Place in the muffin tins 2/3 full (NO MORE, the will over flow in the oven) and bake for 20 minutes at 350 or until a toothpick comes out clean.  While baking go ahead and cream together your butter, shortening, vanilla and powdered sugar for your cream filling.

Remove cupcakes from oven, and allow to cool in tin for 5 minutes.  Then take out and place on a cooling rack to cool completely.

While the cupcakes are cooling, make the frosting.  Cream the butter and vanilla until light and fluffy, then add the powdered sugar gradually.  Add the milk in last and mix until well combined and light.  Crush 12 Oreos finely and then fold into frosting.

Once the cupcakes are cooled completely, I found the best way to take out the centers is to us a piping tip.  Just insert into cupcake, press down and twist around a few times.  Center should come right out.  Then just spoon in the Oreo filling.  (Keep in mind..obviously filling is optional)

Then frost!

YUMMMMMMMM!

Ashleigh’s Oreo Cupcakes
(Yields 24 cupcakes)
Chocolate Cupcakes:
2 cups cake flour
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons butter, softened
2 ¼ cups white sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups buttermilk
½ cup mini chocolate chips

Oreo Cream Filling:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Oreo Buttercream Frosting:
3 sticks butter, softened
24 oz. of powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk
12 finely crushed Oreo cookies

Chocolate Cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin pan with paper or foil liners. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition, then stir in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk; beat well. Fold in chocolate chips. Fill the muffin cups 2/3 full.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Let cool in tin for 5 minutes then transfer to cooling rack and allow to cool completely.

Oreo Cream Filling:
To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2 to 3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy

Oreo Buttercream Frosting:
Cream butter and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually add powdered sugar until well combined. Add the milk and beat until nice and combined. Fold in the Oreos last.

Assembly:
Cut holes in the top middle of the cupcakes (I used a frosting tip and twisted until it came out easy). Spoon in a small amount of Oreo cream, then frost the top with the Oreo frosting.