Oreo Cupcakes

For this week's cupcake, my daughter suggested that I do an Oreo Cupcake.  So together we made these beauties.  I had found a recipe for a chocolate cake that looked fabulous, so I decided to try that for this cupcake.

First, we placed a whole oreo in the bottom of the cupcake paper.  Then added the cake batter on top of that.  Here is the recipe I used.  I don't remember where I found it.

1 box Devil's Food Cake Mix
4 eggs
2/3 cup oil
1 small pkg. chocolate instant pudding
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

I just mixed it all together and blended it for about 2 minutes on high speed.  This batter is very, very thick.  But it turned out really good and very moist.  I baked them for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees.  They took just a little longer to cook than most cupcakes, probably because of the thick batter.

While they were cooling, we made the cream cheese oreo frosting.  First, we crushed the remaining oreos from the package.  Not sure how many that was, but we had a whole normal size package, used 24 for the cupcake bottoms, so whatever was left.  We put them in a food processor, which is the best way to pulverize cookies.

For the frosting:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
16 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1 lb (4 cups) confectioners’ sugar, sifted - we ended up using 5 for a thicker consistency
1 t vanilla
pinch of fine sea salt

Beat the softened butter and cream cheese until creamy and completely blended. Add the vanilla and salt and beat in. Then add the powdered sugar, ½ cup at a time, beating until the frosting is creamy, somewhat fluffy (this frosting calls for more cream cheese than the original, somewhat fluffier recipe, but is tangier as a result).
(this recipe came from here: http://thespicedlife.com/2012/11/pumpkin-cupcakes-with-cream-cheese-frosting.html#sthash.SNr9TawU.dpuf)

We then added the crushed oreos and mixed until completely combined.

Once the cupcakes were completely cooled, we frosted them.  Make sure you use a very open tip when you are using frosting that has a mix in, otherwise the tip can become clogged with the larger pieces.

We garnished them with mini-oreos.  Since it is summer and warm both outside and inside, I am keeping these in the refrigerator so the frosting doesn't melt.

Yummmm