11 April 2011

Oreo Cupcakes

Looks good enough to eat!
Since seeing these delights on many a blog and tweet, I've had these stored as a 'to-do' for a few months and just couldn't wait any longer to make them! I got my recipe from the blog 'A Cup Full of Cake' - which I halved and adapted slightly.

Unfortunately I don't have a stand mixer so have shyed away from the Swiss Meringue buttercream, opting for simple buttercream instead (this was a new recipe I tried which personally I didn't like very much so you might want to stick to your favourite). I'd be interested to try it with Swiss Meringue frosting in the future.

I always make a mixture of regular sized and mini cupcakes, not only because the mini ones are so cute, but some people prefer a smaller serving. The below recipe produced 12 regular cupcakes and 9 mini ones.

The cupcakes come out nicely, with a good chocolate flavour but I found them just a little dry - this might be due to reducing the recipe by half - in future I will try adding an extra tablespoon of oil.

My regular sized cupcakes erupted in the middle a bit (I hate my oven!) so I had to slice the tops off (and eat them!) to create a more even level to frost.

As stated I wasn't overly keen on the frosting recipe I used this time, plus it made quite a bit more than I needed even though I frosted the cupcakes generously. I created an even chocolate icing by beat the frosting well after adding the crushed oreos, however you could create a more speckled vanilla frosting if you only mix the crumbs in briefly.

But I have to say, the outcome was pretty impressive and they were well received by my 'guinea-pigs' so they will definitely become part of my repetoire!

Just a quick note: only add the mini oreo decoration when they are going to be consumed as they go soft and it loses the nice contrast you get with the crunchy oreo and soft frosting.

Oreo Cupcake Recipe (makes approx 15 regular-sized cupcakes)
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup whole milk
2oz dark chocolate melted and cooled
1/4 cup and 1 dessertspoon boiling water
1/3 cup and 1 tbsp vegetable or sunflower oil
1 large egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 pack of regular-sized Oreo's
1 pack of mini Oreo's

1) Preheat oven to 170 degrees.
2) Place paper cases in muffin tin.
3) Break the chocolate into chunks and melt: either very carefully in the microwave on a low setting (max. 1 min) or place in a bowl over boiling water.
4) Carefully twist off one side of the oreo and place the half with the cream filling (facing upwards) in the bottom of each paper case. Save the plain half of the oreo for the frosting.
5) Place all dry ingredient in a large bowl and mix well (flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt).
6) In another bowl whisk the egg until pale in colour and slightly frothy. Add the milk, oil, vanilla and melted chocolate and beat (make sure the chocolate is cooled otherwise it could cook the egg).
7) Add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients and mix. Then add the boiling water and mix together.
8) Fill each cupcake liner 3/4 of the way with the mixture.
9) Bake for 15-18 minutes (insert a skewer or toothpick and when done, it will come out clean). My mini cupackes took 15mins and regular cupcakes about 18mins.
10) Leave to cool for a few minutes in the tin, then remove carefully to a wire cooling rack.
11) Frost the cupcakes and decorate with mini oreos.

Oreo Buttercream Frosting
250g unsalted butter, softened
600g icing sugar
2 tablespoons whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Approx 12 half Oreo biscuits (without cream), crushed

1) Crush the Oreo biscuits either in a processor, or put them in a plastic food bag and beat with a rolling pin. Make sure there are no large pieces as it will make piping the frosting difficult.
2) Beat together the butter and icing sugar carefully, add the milk and vanilla extract and continue beating until light and fluffy.
3) Add the crushed Oreos (add a few tablespoons at a time to get your required chocolatey-ness); for a more speckled frosting just mix the crumbs in until well distributed, for a more overall chocolately frosting beat them in well.

No comments:

Post a Comment