The Story:
When I was a kid, we didn’t have big name brand sweets in the house. But when I went to a friend’s house, there were two things I always looked forward to: Gushers and Oreos.
Thankfully, I no longer have hankerings for Gushers, but Oreos are such a classic cookie. They have been around since 1912, and though the icing color changes from one holiday to the next, the originals can always be found in every grocery store.
I often browse the cupcake photo galleries online to try to spark some ideas. I found an Oreo cupcake with the cookie baked at the bottom of the cupcake and had to try it.
These cupcakes seem pretty childish, but adults love them just as much as the kids do. The Oreo at the bottom is always a fun surprise and I tend to think of these types of cupcakes as cupcakes for the soul. You can play up the fact that they are “Oreo” cupcakes only as much as you want to by how you top them off.
If you’re looking for other cream cheese recipes, I’ve got a to-die-for cream cheese filling too!
Chocolate Buttermilk Cake:
Devils Food cake mix (or any chocolate flavor)
3 eggs
1/2 cup oil
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 cup sour cream
24 Oreos
Cream Cheese Frosting:
(-You also can use White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting-)
8 oz cream cheese
½ cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3-4 cups powdered sugar
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Separate Oreo sandwiches and place one in each cupcake liner cream side up
3. Mix eggs, oil, buttermilk and sour cream until combined.
4. Add to cake mix (for easy mixing, sift cake mix)
5. Fill cupcake liners 2/3-3/4 full over Oreos. Make sure to gently shake the pan side to side to allow the batter to settle. (If not, the cupcakes will have tall peaks from the Oreos at the bottom.)
6. Bake according to back of cake mix box, usually it will not take the full baking time.
7. Frosting: Combine cream cheese and butter and whip until light and smooth. Add vanilla and as much powdered sugar as needed for desired taste.
Feel free to play around with the Oreos. You can crumble them up and put them in the batter, put the whole Oreo in the middle of the cupcake, or crush them so they fit through a sifter and add them fold them into the frosting. (If you try to pipe the frosting out and the crumbles are too large, your piping back will clog.)
Another great cupcake recipe! I made these for a cast party this past weekend and they were the first thing to disappear. Loved seeing the reactions of the kids when they found the oreo at the bottom of the cupcake. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Just had to stop by from Food Buzz and tell you that these photos are AMAZING! Great job!
Love this blog. So glad I found you.
I have a question on the receipe it says water and milk., Some of the boxes it ONLY asks for water NO milk. What does yours mean to add milk,,Water (1/2- 1/3 of the amount specified on the box)
Milk (1/2-2/3 of the “water” amount specified on the box
Thank you,
Yvette
San Diego, ca
Caroline,
Thank you for your question, I know it's confusing.
Take the amount of water that your cake box calls for and put in HALF that amount of water and the other half milk.
Adding milk makes it richer and a better texture, you could add all milk and no water if you wanted to.
If you want another fabulous chocolate cake recipe I found after I posted this one go to http://www.yourcupofcake.com/2010/11/peppermint-junior-mint-cupcakes.html
Thanks so much!
These are adorable! Love your photography. And that cut-open cupcake looks so moist and delicious! I'm hungry.
I like that all of your cupcakes start with a boxed mix anyone can buy in a store and builds on it.. allows for anyone/everyone to do these recipes !! No hassle with the ingredients
I made these a few weeks back(with a different twist but along the same lines), but I wasn't too thrilled with how the Oreo almost tasted a bit burnt, have any tips for preventing that?
Other then that I love all your ideas!
Katelyn, change which rack you are baking them on. If your heat is mainly coming from the bottom, bake them up higher. You can also always bake a a slightly lower temperature. I hope it works out!
Lizzy,
I love reading your blog! You have an amazing talent both for baking and photography! There are several versions of oreo cupcakes you have posted, do you have a favorite?
I like the German Chocolate Cake recipe best, I do what this recipe does with a full half oreo on the bottom (not only the crumbs) and I do sift some crumbs into my cream cheese buttercream.
Thank you so much!
I made these for my husband's birthday and they were a hit! The only problem was that the cookie kind of fell out when you were eating it. Any suggestions?
Apron Gal, I know what you are talking about. Sometimes that happens to me and then other times the cookie sticks like glue. I don't know what the deal is either, if you find out, let me know 🙂
Is there anything that could be substituted for cream cheese in the frosting? I'm not a fan of cream cheese haha
Yes, just use another stick (1/2 cup) of butter to substitute.
love it so much!
they are good but a little dry.any ideas?
You may have over baked them, home ovens get much hotter than others. Try decreasing your oven temp to 330 and bake for less time, and once the tops spring back when you tap them, they are done!
these are awsome.how do you get your frostinbg so perfect?
hi, lizzie i'm only 9 and i'm wondering how do you get the oreos to crumble?
Put the oreos in a zip lock bag and roll over them with a rolling pin, good luck!
thanks, they were so yummy!
do you mix the oreo crumbs in with the frosting?
You can look at my Oreo Crumb Cupcake recipe. Mixing the crumbs in with the frosting is DEVINE. But, I recommend really crushing the oreos and then putting the crumbs through a sifter, and only put in the crumbs that go through the sifter in the frosting. This way, your frosting stays really smooth. Good luck!
hello lizzy i made these awsome cupcakes today but there was one problem the oreo on top was a little soggy.How do you think that happend?
The oreo in the frosting? Stick the topper oreo in just before serving, or else it will pull moisture from the frosting and become soggy.
I might be dumb for asking but when it says Devils food cake mix, plus the other ingredients.. do u follow the instructions on the box PLUS add your extra ingredients OR just the cake mix and your ingredients? Sorry i've never baked AND i'm a guy lol.
Just add the ingredients on the list above. So no PLUS. Good man for giving the cupcakes a try!
Thanks a lot!
Whew! Just finished making these. I had to read the comments to know whether or not to add the water/milk. I went 1-1/4 cup of milk, instead of the water the box calls for.
Btw, my frosting always comes out as translucent-ish? I just dumped it and used cream cheese frosting out of the can. I'm not sure what I did wrong.
Anywho. These turned out GREAT! Thank you so much.
Next week, the cinnamon toast crunch ones.
Delish! Thank you.
I'm not a baker. I'm just a bored college kid on Christmas break. I made a batch of these just to see what they were like… and they were AMAZING. I made multiple batches and so many people absolutely loved them!
Two things: I tried a batch with Devil's Food Cake and another with Chocolate Fudge Cake mix… both were tasty, but Devil's Food Cake mix seemed to have a better taste and was more moist.
Secondly, as I said, I am a college kid … aka… I'm LAZY! I started to buy the ingredients for the icing at Walmart, then saw premade icing that was actually Oreo brand. There were two kinds, chocolate and original, and I chose original. It comes packaged so that all you must do is attach a piping tip to the opening and you're good to go. It's very easy and very tasty, just for those that are lazy like me 😉
Great recipe! thanks so much for sharing!
I love this idea, but why is it that the cream from the oreo melts? How can I fix this ?
For me, sometimes it melts and sometimes is doesn’t…it just depends on the oven I use. You could try putting a little extra cream cheese on each oreo. Good luck!
Hi Lizzy! I love love love your website! I am a really big fan of making cupcakes as well 🙂
I just had a question. when you list the ingredients for the cake, do you mean make the cake batter how it says to on the box and then add all those other ingredients you also listed or do you mean just use the powder cake mix and add all the ingredients you listed and not what it says on the box? thanks!
Just use the powder in the box as an ingredient (So don’t follow the instructions on the back of the box). Thanks for your support!
Thank you so much!! and if i wanted to make the cake entirely from scratch ( My mom doesn’t believe in ready made cake mixes 😛 ) I can just use a recipe for devils food cake right?
Yes, or any chocolate cake recipe. Tell your mother a lot of professional bakeries use cake mixes…or as they like to call them “cake base”
Have you ever tried this with a white or french vanilla cake? Just wondering if it would make a difference on switching cake mixes. Thanks:)
from the planet where I under no circumstances belonged. Every little thing is disjointed. I adjust into my personal
Hey Lizzy! I just wanted to let you know how much everyone enjoys these cupcakes when I make them. They’re a hit! I get requests for them all the time! And I’m actually about to use them to ask someone to prom! Fingers Crossed!
Thanks Again!
AH!!!! Yay, Prom! My Senior Prom date didn’t even know my name…. I think he just wanted some cupcakes 🙂
Hi, these look divine. Any idea how long they will keep in or out of the fridge before I serve them? Thanks!
If you serve them within 24 hours you are fine. But more than that… if you live in a hot place I will usually keep the frosting in the fridge (but make sure you remove it a few hours before using because it will be hard as a ROCK)
I am making these for my son’s birthday party and need to make about 72. I am hoping to make them ahead of time and was wondering if you ever froze them? I would defrost them the night before the party and then frost them, but was wondering how they would taste after being frozen… Thanks.
They will taste fine after being frozen, the thing that it messes with most it the texture of the outside of the cake. It can make it sticky. Honestly 72 cupcakes is only 3 batches. I would just bake them the date before, seal them in tupperware and then frost them the day of the event. Sometimes it’s just easier to do all the baking at once and not try to make room in the freezer and worry about them defrosting. Hope that helps!
with cheese frosting?looks niceee =)
Hi!! I have your cookbook (love) and am thinking about making one of the cookies and cream cupcakes in it. Can I just chop up the oreos and place them into the batter instead of on the bottom? They never seem to work for me. I also might be converting it to a cake recipe too. Can’t wait for your new book. When does it come out? I could bake all day and every day using your recipes. 🙂
Yes! You can just put the cookies in the cake! I LOVE doing that with a white cake mix actually! My new book will be out March 2014!
Hi! I love your website and your recipes. I am just wondering if you use a particular type of butter when you want your frosting to stay white like the frosting used in this recipe? I always find that my butter cream frosting has a yellow tinge to it, but maybe I have just not found a butter that is the right colour?
Make sure you’re using REAL butter, a lot of shortening companies will make their packaging look like butter when it’s not, it gives a yellow tint. I use unsalted butter from Costco!
My 6 year old daughter is starting a cupcake business and we are trying different recipes.We go out everyday and sell cupcakes. We were so excited when I came across your website! I’m trying the red velvet and Oreo cookie cupcake with the Oreos in the middle and some with then on the bottom. I am crossing my fingers that they come out right. Any advice on starting with a certain type of cupcake or just with starting a cupcake business?
P.s. I love how u break everything down!! Thanks so much.
Just start out simple and then move on to fillings and fancy buttercreams!
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I made these and they were delicious. I baked them at 335F so as not to burn the Oreos on the bottom in my dark non-stick pan.
This blend of oreo powder that adds to the delicacy of cupcake
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These turned out perfect. I love your recipes. I have both of your cookbooks and recently discovered your website.
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