Birthday Cake Oreo Cupcakes

When a friend told me about Birthday Cake Oreos, I was intrigued. That intrigue turned into a full on hunt for the limited edition Oreos made in honor of the cookie's 100th birthday. Once I finally found them, I had to resist the urge to hoard every bag in the grocery store (flashback to Lilly Pulitzer Animal Crackers!) My original intent was to make truffles out of them, but after eating more Birthday Cake Oreos than I care to admit (think the delicious taste of Funfetti in the middle) I decided to bake them into cupcakes for friends in an effort to get them out of my reach.


I've made variations of Oreo cupcakes before. My husband chose mint for his birthday and I brought vanilla cupcakes with chopped Oreos in the batter to a friend's dinner party. There are plenty of possibilities to choose from! This week I decided on a chocolate cupcake with Oreo buttercream although I know a "Funfetti" vanilla cake would be great too. If you have time to make the cupcakes from scratch, go for it! Otherwise feel free to doctor a cake mix as I did this time. (No one will judge - trust me. Especially when they see this surprise Oreo at the bottom of their cupcake.)


Birthday Cake Oreo Cupcakes

Ingredients:
For the Cupcake:
1 box chocolate cake mix of your choice
1 stick melted unsalted butter
Replace the water on the box with milk
Add one extra egg than indicated on box
24 (or as many cupcakes as you're making) Oreos, bottom half and cream
For the Frosting:
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
3 cups confectioners sugar
4 tablespoons light cream (I had that on hand - using milk is fine)
2 teaspoons vanilla
Pinch of salt
The chocolate tops of Oreos from the cupcake bottoms, crumbled finely (I threw in 2 extra whole Oreos as well)

Directions: Preheat oven to 350. Line cupcake pans with wrappers. Slice the top chocolate portion of Oreos off and put the other chocolate half down in the wrapper with the cream filling facing up (see photo above.) Mix cake mix, melted butter, milk and eggs. Blend for two minutes at medium speed until fluffy. Scoop batter into the cupcake pan, filling each tin 2/3 full. Bake according to package directions. Allow to cool.

To make the frosting: Crush remaining Oreos finely. Combine butter, confectioners sugar, cream, vanilla and salt together. Blend on medium high for 3-4 minutes, scraping down the bowl once. Add Oreo crumbs and blend until combined. Frost cupcakes as desired. (With frosting, be flexible. If it is not the consistency you would, you can always add more liquid or confectioners sugar to make it thinner or thicker respectively.)

Enjoy!