Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Cake of the Week: Oreo Cupcakes with Oreo Cream Cheese Frosting

Birthdays are a time to indulge. Do you want cream cheese in that frosting? Yes. How about extra cookies in your cupcake? Of course. And an extra swirl just to top it off? Um duh!


And even though it wasn't my birthday this weekend, I made sure that everyone indulged in some of LLC's birthday cupcakes. 


They were pretty much pure no-holds-barred intensely awesome. (I set a pretty high bar - or should I say cake? - on her birthday last year, so I had to go big this time!)


Listen up and be prepared to experience intense sugar cravings...followed by an equally intense sugar coma. They’re vanilla cupcakes. With an Oreo cookie on the bottom. And Oreo chunks inside. And Cream Cheese Oreo Frosting.


Yup, like I said, pretty intense.

I used the same recipe that made Megan’s Birthday Cake last year, but adapted it into cupcake form. It made 23 regular-sized cupcakes, plus 6 minis.

Oreo Cupcakes

Adapted from BeantownBaker.com
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups flour, plus 2 Tbsp for the Oreo chunks (I omitted this step)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 2/3 cup sugar
3 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 package Oreo cookies (about 30 Oreos)
cupcake liners

Preheat over to 350F.
Twist apart 24 Oreos. Place the wafers (with filling side up) in the bottom of your cupcake tins.

Set aside 5 Oreos (for the frosting).


Cut the remaining Oreo cookies into quarters with a sharp knife (use your best judgement here about how many Oreos to use – it all depends on how cookie-ish you want your cupcakes to be).

In a large bowl cream the butter until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add the milk and vanilla and mix to combine.

In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to butter mixture. Mix until integrated. Stir in sugar. With an electric mixer on low speed, beat for 30 seconds. Turn the mixer up to medium speed and beat for 2 minutes. Add the egg whites. Beat for 2 more minutes. Stir in the quartered cookies.

Fill your cupcake liners. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes for 10 minutes before removing from pan.

Oreo Cream Cheese Frosting


8 oz cream cheese at room temp
1 stick butter at room temp
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
3-4 cups powdered sugar
2 T milk - as needed
5 Oreos

Use a food processor (or a plastic bag and a rolling pin) to completely crust the 5 Oreos (if they’re chunky at all, it will block your piping bag when you’re frosting the cupcakes).

Cream butter and cream cheese until fluffy. Add Oreos.

Add vanilla extract. Slowly add powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached. Add milk as needed.

Assembly

Once the cupcakes are completely cooled, scoop the frosting into a piping bag and apply generously to your cupcakes.


Like I said, I got 23 cupcakes and 6 mini cupcakes out of this recipe. Someone's gotta do quality control, right?

Serve at room temperature. Sing Happy Birthday. Enjoy!



Happy Birthday LLC!